Paul Calvert talks to dedicated humanitarian, Stuart Gonliun, about his aid work helping victims of terror in Sderot.



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Paul: Do people get angry about this? Are the government doing something about it?

Stuart: I think people get angry when Hamas starts firing rockets, like they've done in the last two rounds and they yell 'cease fire!' and Israel says 'OK.' We start to feel like Hamas is calling the shots. You have to remember too that a cease-fire with Hamas is
a hudna, I believe. To a Western mentality, a ceasefire means we're trying to stop violence and come up with a solution to it. To them, a ceasefire or hudna is 'we're getting our butts kicked so let's stop now, let's re-group, let's re-think this, let's re-tool and we'll come back another day hopefully stronger.'

Paul: It's not really peace.

Stuart: It's not a ceasefire; it's 'we need to re-think this and re-group cos we're getting clobbered.'

Paul: How old is the city of Sderot?

Stuart: It was founded in 1952. At that time it was all the people they didn't want in Jerusalem so they dumped them out here in the middle of nowhere.

Paul: Is Sderot a growing city today?

Stuart: There are about 19-20,000 people living here. We're experiencing a building boom like I've never seen before. There are a couple of thousand units being built. If you look out of my window all these high rises are all new.

Paul: So even though there are rockets coming down on Sderot, the city is booming?

Stuart: Literally! No pun intended. But why, I don't know. What's the logic behind it? I have my theories, you know that. But where they are building these apartments, those were all the empty fields that the kassams used to land in. So now we'll see what happens when they start firing like they used to 30 or 40 a day. There are no empty fields now.

Paul: Are you making a difference in the community?

Stuart: Am I making a difference? I would like to think so. There are two different ways to look at that. If I can help you, yes, with food, clothing, shelter, keep you in your house for another month because you fall behind on your mashkanta (mortgage), that's one thing. If I can get you to say thank you to God, if I can get you to recognise that he is there and he's not the one causing all your problems, that he's the loving father that wants you to return to him, then that's even better.

Paul: What's your prayer for the people of Sderot?

Stuart: I think my prayer would be you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your soul. If you can do that, we're half way home. But you have to love him with all your heart. So I guess my prayer is that his children will come back to him and honestly, truly love him. He'll take care of the rest.

Paul: What's your website address for people who'd like to know more?

Stuart: www.hopeforsderot.com CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.