'Kites for Gaza' event draws families to Point State Park in support of Palestine

Kites of all shapes, sizes and colors could be seen flying in the air at Point State Park in Pittsburgh on Saturday — or at least trying to fly — as part of a Kites for Gaza event.

Emily De Ferrari was one of the organizers of the pro-Palestine event, and she said all afternoon, she witnessed a “relentless hope” from about 80 people throughout the day trying to fly kites with not that much wind.

“Then, at the last minute, the wind kicks up,” said De Ferrari, 72, of Point Breeze. “Is that a metaphor or what?”

She and other organizers have been working to gather the supplies for the kites, including old sheets and string. They cut the sheets up, she said, and a lot of the supplies came from thrift stores. Supplies were also donated from Creative Reuse, Allegro Bakery and Food Not Bombs.

“We’ve just been sourcing stuff as cheaply as we could to put the kites together,” said De Ferrari, who is a retired midwife.

There were around 30 RSVPs for the Kites for Gaza event, and she said she had no idea what to expect.

“Clearly, we got a lot more than 30,” De Ferrari said, which she considered a good turnout, especially since the event wasn’t advertised much on social media.

It was for security reasons, she said.

“Often, counter-protesters show up, and they say things that are hurtful to the people who are there,” De Ferrari said. “This is going to be families and children, and we just didn’t want that to happen.”

However, De Ferrari said the event was held purposely at the Point because it’s a very visible location for anyone from the public who may walk past.

“People maybe will see that this is about Palestine, and this is about hope, and this is not to give up,” she said.

The event was inspired by the poem “If I Must Die” by Refaat Alareer, a renowned Palestinian poet, said another organizer, Renée Copeland.

Copeland, 36, of Greenfield, said building the kites was a very humbling experience.

“It was really hard — there’s so much to them it turns out,” she said,” but everyone was just so impassioned.”

A group of various organizers came together for the Kites for Gaza event — not just one specific group, according to Copeland. They included: Megan C, Julie Lee, Bekezela Mguni and Nina Ingram as well.

However, many of the kites hanging on clotheslines were previously made by families at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh.

“It’s just been an incredible way to meet and make lasting connections with folks that are aligned in these values of life,” she said. “We truly came together through our concerns for Palestinian life.”

The family-oriented event brought Copeland, who is a dancer and musician, back to her own childhood.

“I found it was a really core memory for me as a child to be brought along to activist marches alongside my parents, and that stuck with me even if I didn’t understand the depths of the issue,” she said. “It all starts from an early age.”

Seeing so many people be brought into the event through foot traffic or just stop on their walks through Point State Park showed Copeland that the Kites for Gaza event was able to bring exposure and awareness to the local Pittsburgh community.

For Debi Johnson, the event was also a way to find community with others who care about the pro-Palestinian cause.

“It’s very lonely feeling grief on your own,” they said, and the event has been a collective grieving process.

Though many of the kites were handmade, some attendees were flying kites with various designs and animals like dragons, lions and birds, for example, according to Johnson, 36, of Brentwood. Others had poems on them.

Flying kites for Gaza has become a cultural movement, they said, because on July 28, 2011, more than 12,000 children in Gaza set a Guinness World Record for the most kites flown simultaneously.

The family-fun event included food, educational presentations, poetry readings, face painting, cultural history for the kids and more, according to Johnson, who is a graphic designer.

“(It was) people just having a good time for Palestine,” Johnson said.