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On the 1st of November 2025, I am participating in the Studio 70 x Form 12 Hour Yoga Marathon for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
MAP have been working in Palestine and Lebanon for more than 40 years, working with Palestinian communities to deliver locally-led health and medical care to those worst affected by conflict, occupation and displacement.
For many years, there has been a concerted effort by Israel to commit mass scale ethnic cleansing in Palestine, by preventing innocent civilians from accessing vital medical care.
Whilst the recent reported ceasefire in Gaza is welcome news, MAP’s vital work is now more important than ever, with a huge number of hospitals and medical facilities having been destroyed by Israeli bombardment, and many families remain displaced, homeless, critically injured, malnourished, and are living in extremely poor conditions with no shelter or sanitation.
MAP has warned that while a ceasefire is essential, the journey toward recovery from Gaza’s health and humanitarian catastrophe will be long and difficult. Famine, injury, disease, forced displacement, and the near-total collapse of Gaza’s health system mean that Palestinian lives remain at grave risk even as the bombs stop falling.
MAP remains an outspoken voice for real peace in Gaza. They demand that, to Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians, including extermination, collective punishment and genocide, must be brought to an end, permanently. They also demand that those responsible for violating international law must be held fully accountable and a comprehensive arms embargo must be imposed on Israel.
MAP’s local teams have endured unimaginable conditions for two years, yet the organisation has delivered its biggest humanitarian response in its history, demonstrating extraordinary resolve and commitment. MAP stands ready to scale up its medical and humanitarian response further, and help rebuild Gaza’s shattered health system as soon as access is restored.
They need our help to do this, and to restore some semblance of normal life to those impacted by this horrific genocide.
You can show your support by donating to my page today. The funds I raise will go towards MAP's Palestine and Lebanon Emergency Response
Please, donate however much you can. Any donation, no matter how small, is much appreciated.
Thank you.
Ailsa x
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As you prepare your breakfast, think of others
(do not forget the pigeon’s food).
As you conduct your wars, think of others
(do not forget those who seek peace).
As you pay your water bill, think of others
(those who are nursed by clouds).
As you return home, to your home, think of others
(do not forget the people of the camps).
As you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(those who have nowhere to sleep).
As you liberate yourself in metaphor, think of others
(those who have lost the right to speak).
As you think of others far away, think of yourself
(say: “If only I were a candle in the dark”).
“Think of Others” by Mahmoud Darwish
