Couple marches for peace in Gaza.
Carol Trainor and her husband Don Schmidt will travel to the Gaza strip to participate in The Gaza Freedom March along with a 1,000 other people from more than 40 countries. They leave Dec. 26.
Photo/COURTESY
The holidays this year for Carol Trainor and her husband Don Schmidt will be a little different than usual.Although, they'll get to spend Christmas Day with family, they will be leaving the city Boxing Day in preparation for their participation in The Gaza Freedom March along with 1,000 others from more than 40 countries. They'll be joined by approximately 60 people from the Toronto area in the humanitarian mission to bring much needed goods to the citizens of Gaza.Both retired teachers, she with the Peel District School Board and he with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, they learned of the trip to Gaza by word of mouth from a teachers' group they belong to. "We found out in October and hemmed and hawed about it," said Trainor, Wednesday morning. "There's great hardship on the ground there."People from an international coalition, which includes retired U.S. Army colonel and former U.S. diplomat Ann Wright, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouti and Pulitzer prize-winning author Alice Walker, will join the non-violent march of the Palestinian people inside Gaza on New Year's Eve Day to break Israel's blockade of the strip. "We're bringing over warm clothes and educational supplies," said Trainor. "It's my understanding that initially, organizers were expecting about 500 people, but now they've got 1,000. It's mushroomed."The group will meet in Cairo Dec. 27 before travelling to Egypt's Rafah border the following day. The intention is to cross into Gaza on Dec. 29. Code Pink and other march organizers are calling on Egyptian officials to open the border crossing so they can take part in the march and visit the areas most devastated during the Israeli invasion of Gaza. "It's been a year since the Israeli attack on Gaza," said Trainor. She and her husband say they're very excited to take the trip. It helps they've got strong support from family and friends. The couple has been retired for a number of years now, she for seven and he for 10. The Evelyn Avenue residents say they've got the time and the motivation."We thought this would be a good time of year," said Trainor. "It's a time for giving and peace."Organizers say they see the march as part of a broader strategy to end Israel's occupation of Gaza in a nonviolent way.The couple has the support from Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo. In a letter to Schmidt and Trainer, DiNovo calls "on all parties in the Middle East "to bring talks that can result in a lasting peace." There are currently one million people, including 560,000 children, who have a shortage of running water or power, according to the International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza.Trainor and Schmidt will spend a week in Gaza. Married for 44 years, the couple has four children and nine grandchildren.