Free to Run in Palestine
In Palestine, girls and women are not free to run.
For over 50 years, Palestinians have had their fundamental human rights violated on a daily basis in an environment of violence, insecurity, inequality, and inhibition to their freedom of movement. As is the case in many parts of the world, girls and young women are considerably more disadvantaged by the mobility constraints than boys due to safety concerns of their caregivers, gender stereotypes and norms, and the necessity to uphold family honor. It’s not just that they can’t walk and play freely in the streets, but they don’t have full access to their fundamental human rights of education, employment, health and family life. It’s no wonder that the mental health of Palestinian girls and young women is amongst the worst in the world. A 16-year-old girl raised in Gaza has already experienced five major periods of hostilities in her lifetime. The war that began on October 7th, 2023 in Gaza is certain to exacerbate existing historical trauma across the whole population, especially girls and women - a trauma that lives in the body for a lifetime.
But imagine if girls and young women in Palestine could simply…run freely outside.
What would running offer an individual girl’s wellbeing? Could long strides, self-propulsion, big breath help her navigate the stress of war and displacement in addition to the hardship of just being an adolescent? How might a collective of girls and young women moving freely - shift gender norms in a patriarchal society - especially one that is militarized, occupied and so fundamentally constrained?
We know that running can’t change everything - but it can absolutely transform girls’ wellbeing and societies’ views of what is possible for girls and women. We know this because we have seen it happen for over a decade in the war-torn countries where we have worked - Afghanistan, Iraq, Democratic Republic of Congo, etc.
Two years ago, Free to Run conducted a strategic assessment of potential areas of geographic growth of our work. We prioritized areas that…
Are the most gender Inequitable on earth - where girls and women aren’t able to access their rights;
Have little/no legacy of girls and women’s sport participation (especially running); and
Are impacted by conflict (amongst a dozen other indicators).
We landed on Palestine as the place that we felt we had the most to offer. (Which is ironic, because a decade ago, Free to Run founder Stephanie Case was living in Gaza and having preliminary conversations with potential partners about potential growth into the region). Our leadership was determined to ensure that there was a strong appetite for our programs and that our entree was aligned with our feminist human rights values. I spent months searching for a women-led, local organization with experience running sport for social change programs that we could collaborate with to ensure that we were not creating competition for resources. And we wanted to make sure that we were not perpetuating neo-colonial cycles of the humanitarian field that have exploited and starved local economies (including NGOs) under the guise of support. When we connected with Palestine Sports for Life, founded and led by Tamara Awartani (a champion athlete and social entrepreneur in Palestine), we saw immediate synergy and a shared interest. We quickly started designing a joint program and seeking resources to make it a reality.
This July, Free to Run and Palestine Sports for Life (PS4L) are launching our joint program, aimed at building the resiliency of 200 adolescent girls and young women in Palestine through running. The year-long program will take place in 10 sites across the occupied West Bank - from Jenin to East Jerusalem - and will build on the powerful work PS4L has been doing to strengthen communities through sport throughout Palestine. With calculated and intentional design and preparation, women trainers from their communities will enable girls and young women to feel the power of running.
This work in Palestine is inspired by the same concept that fuels our work in Afghanistan and Iraq: our innate belief in the freedom and right of all people to move, to run, to experience joy, and to discover their highest potential. While the intention for this program has been years in the making, there has never been a moment in history where a running and resilience program for girls is more critically important.
I welcome you to join us on this journey as we continue to grow our work in the places on earth where girls and young women need it most.
In solidarity,
Sarah Murray
Executive Director, Free to Run