First perspective: The football dream remains alive in Gaza despite ‘constant fires’
Mohamed Abu Jalda, who is currently living in a camp for displaced persons after fleeing his home, practices on the beach in the Al-Mawasi area of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.
He spoke with Ziad Taleb of UN News.
“I am Mohamed Abu Jalda, a player for Rafah Services Club, a first division team in Gaza.
Mohamed Abu Jalda, plays for Rafah Services Football Club.
I had great ambitions to become a great football player like others outside the Gaza Strip, but because of the war, my ambitions and my life were delayed. Now I’m 20 years old, trying to become a professional footballer but can’t because I live in Gaza under constant fire.
Every day I feel like I’m dying; May God give us patience to endure this life. I am from Rafah, but now I live in Shaboura camp for displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area of Rafah.
It’s been five months since I moved there.
Whenever I have free time and want to play football, I go to the beach, the only place I can play.
Bombing continues in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
We were displaced and no one came looking for us. I want my voice to reach the world.
My dream and ambition is to play football. I’ve had this ambition since I was 10 years old, but now I’m over 20 and I see nothing because I live in Gaza under this oppression.
‘What makes me different?’
Why can’t I become a soccer player? What makes me different from anyone else in the world? I have ears like them, noses like them, and feet like them; there is no difference.
Because of the war, no opportunities came to me. Before the war, I was physically healthy, but now everything has changed due to the displacement we are experiencing.
I try to practice every three days on the beach to fulfill my ambitions and hope my voice will reach the world, because I have the right to become a professional football player like anyone else. other.
I hope God gives me success to become a football player.
I am proud to be from Gaza and I hope to play for the Palestinian national team, because this is my right.
Let them test me and I will show all the skills I have in football.”
