Ka hīkoi tātou

A short one from me this week.

A few weeks ago, I got curious after hearing that the Gaza strip, from north to south, is 41km long. I used one of those sites where you can move countries around to see how they compare to others. This is the Gaza strip, next to Christchurch.

Over two million people live (lived?) in this piece of land. Just under 400,000 live in Christchurch; 628,000 in Waitaha Canterbury as a whole.

Over 12,000 people have died in Gaza in this most recent war on Palestine. Israel has dropped over 25,000 tonnes of bombs on this small strip of land since October.

If you were to walk from Darfield to Christchurch; from Leithfield Beach to Christchurch, you would walk the Gaza strip. 41km is so far to walk when you’re told to leave at such short notice. Just not quite far enough away to drown out the sound of bombs dropping on your home.

Next Saturday, join me to walk ten laps of Hagley Park - 41km - in vigil for Palestine. We’ll meet at 8am outside the museum and walk clockwise. You can join for as much or as little of the hīkoi as you like. Bring water, bring sunblock, bring some kai. See you there.

Here’s the waiata that’s singing round and round on my head - thank you, Lee, for this taonga and for the title of this quick post.