JAKARTA — As the humanitarian crisis of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinians since October 2023 increases, so does the awareness and understanding of what is happening there. Now it is strange that there are people who have a conscience, but do not care about their brothers and sisters in Palestine.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), since the outbreak of the armed conflict on October 7, 2023 until now, the number of Palestinians killed has reached more than 36,000 and 86,000 injured. A total of 36,171 people were killed in the Gaza Strip and 519 in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, there have been hundreds of parties, including companies, organizations, institutions, groups, communities, and individuals who have expressed their support for the Palestinians with Dompet Dhuafa. The implementation of this support is poured out with donations through Dompet Dhuafa, to then be forwarded to Palestine.
PT Artistik Salindia Lima, the publisher of the “Painting Slides With Heart” workshop in Powerpoint & Keynote presentation slide design, also took part. His expertise in design was utilized to invite the public to help the Palestinians. Directly led by the Founder, Andy Sukma Lubis, Melukis Slide held a campaign program titled “Kaos Setitik Harapan untuk Palestina”, by selling t-shirts with Palestinian map designs.
The t-shirt sales during the one-week campaign period resulted in a donation of IDR 15,738,000 that was handed over to Dompet Dhuafa at the Philanthropy Building, South Jakarta, on Tuesday (07/23/2024). On this occasion, the donation was handed over by Andy Sukma Lubis who was welcomed and well received by Utammi Sri as Senior Officer of Partnership and Cooperation of Dompet Dhuafa.
Regarding the current condition of Palestine, Utammi Sri explained that Dompet Dhuafa conducts humanitarian response in Palestine through three schemes. First, the distribution of aid through the Indonesian government and other institutions. Second, sending a team of Dompet Dhuafa volunteers directly from Indonesia to the border in Rafah. Third, through local partnership cooperation with humanitarian organizations in Palestine.
“Currently, we are responding through local partnerships in Palestine. Our intention to help the struggle for freedom of our brothers and sisters in Palestine will continue. Of course, this needs support from all parties. Alhamdulillah, this time the support from Melukis Slide adds to the energy of our support for Palestine. Hopefully, more and more people will be moved to support Palestine,” said Tammi.
Read also: Famine in Palestine, Buttonscarves Aid via Dompet Dhuafa Has Been Enjoyed by South Gaza Residents
Replying to Tammi’s response, Andy Sukma said that kindness and care are a collection of humanity from donors and the entire Melukis Slide team. He admitted that he remembered the words of one of his teachers, namely “Life in the world is only once. So make your work from the knowledge that Allah entrusts to you into a path that gives birth to a legacy. Knowledge will one day be accounted for. So, while you are still alive, what can you give to others”.
Another thing he always remembers is the words of a motivator Jamil Azzaini. That the meaning of the phrase thank you is what has been received, given back to others. In this case, Andy and his team recognized that they received knowledge from God in the form of design skills. Therefore, he then channeled the knowledge to benefit others.
“Alhamdulillah, Allah has given us the knowledge of design, so we use it to design T-shirts. Meanwhile, Palestine is in dire need of our help. So, with scratches on a slide sheet, which is our expertise, we made T-shirts for a donation program. Today we handed over the donations from the donors who participated in the Setitik Harapan T-shirt program for Palestine. Hopefully this will be a kindness and blessing for the donors and all those involved that will be recorded in the sight of Allah,” he explained. (Dompet Dhuafa)
Text and photo: Riza Muthohar
Editor: Dhika Prabowo