The Convoy Thus Far
by Adriano Contreras | Saturday, December 19th, 2009

I am not so secretly located in a sports stadium in Gaziantep, Turkey where well over 200 people will spending the night. This convoy from the London to Gaza has taken quite a toll on those who’ve been around since the beginning. This past week’s schedule in Turkey has not helped at all in easing the discomfort that such a long journey can produce.

Our first week was spent largely on the road and camping out in parking lots, open fields, and rest stops. Sounds dreadful, but some of the locations were just great. While the first night in Brussels, Belgium was an icy cold hell, our night’s stay in Germany was a beautiful rest stop in between snow-capped mountains. Sure we had to pay three euros to take a shower, but after three days without one it was completely worth it.

In 3 days we made it through a bit of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and northern Italy. Everyday was cloudy. Everyday was freezing cold. Each day though we met knew people and laughed at new jokes. Even amidst animosity amongst people, you’ll find them feeding each other or opening up to a different perspective. We don’t always know where we’re going until its time to go and we don’t always get there when we’re supposed to. However when we do finally arrive, conflict and frustration seems to whither. Gaza is the goal.

Our convoy is divided up into teams. Each team has a team leader responsible for getting all vehicles to each destination. It’s difficult. Not every vehicles is the same. The mini-bus I ride in has trouble going uphill. Ambulances, vans, mini-buses, and trucks share the road in an attempt to make a coordinated voyage through various highways and city streets. No one knows, except the team leader, where we’re going so to avoid team members from deviating from the convoy. But sometimes that can be a problem when any given vehicle gets lost and isn’t able to communicate with other people about where they’re going.

The reception to the convoy has been pretty mild throughout the Europe countries. A lot of it has to do with us driving mainly on highways. In Belgium we drove through the city streets but it was late in the evening. In Italy we drove during the day through the city of Ancona and we got a peace sign here and there. Maybe some honks. It wasn’t until we reached Greece last weekend that we got a glimpse of what the reception to the convoy would be like for the rest of the trip.

Apparently 90% of Greeks support the Palestinian plight. It was reflected in our drive through the country. As we waved our Palestinians flags outside the window, people honked and gave us thumbs-up. As I posted earlier, members of the Palestinian community in Thessaloniki as well as their mayor and some Greek parliamentary members greeted us and fed us. Our second day in Greece we drove down to the center of Thessaloniki and people stopped what they were doing to take a look at this invasion of ambulances and buses. Whether we got waves or blank stares, people in Greece knew that we were in town. The locals were open to speaking with us about our mission. At lunch at a Pizza Hut, they were giving away free pizza to our convoy members. David and I went to a local bar and the owner allowed us to use his private wireless connection and made us sandwiches despite not actually serving food there. The people of Greece made us feel very welcome.

Turkey was a whole other deal. From the moment we reached the Turkish border, dozens of people were chanting and waving flags. After crossing the border we had multiple bags of fruit thrown in our cars. People handed us flags to wave and t shirts to wear. I was given this great scarf with the Turkish flag on one end and the Palestinian flag on the other. The IHH charity in Turkey has organized the Turkish leg of Viva Palestina and has produced an incredible welcome to the convoy. I haven’t spent a single dime on a meal since arriving in Istanbul last Tuesday. They have breakfast, lunch, and dinner set and ready each day. After we take off from each location they have bagged food for us that they shove through our windows as we drive off! I’m not sure how to express the welcoming of our convoy here. Its pretty unreal. They make you feel like a rockstar.

Today at dinner we went to this giant reception hall. Hundreds of people from the community shared food with us. I sat down and a local boy chatted me up. He barely knew English. “What’s your name?” I replied, “Adriano. What’s your name?” He said, “Mohammed.” He paused and then said, “I love you.” He went further and said that he also loved Palestine. When he got up and left, his little sisters moved in and decided to take a picture of me as I stuffed my face with bread. It was really awkward. Then they got up and came over to take closer pictures with me. One of Mohammed’s sisters was red in the face. She introduced herself. As did I and then she handed me a rose and shook my hand. She was really nice and shy.

It’ll be a little sad to leave Turkey given the way we were treated here. Tomorrow we head for Syria. I’m looking forward to it though, because the one thing I missed was wondering about trying to find my next meal or internet cafe. The Turks had us so pampered that we didn’t get much time to explore.

If you have any questions about the convoy so far, just ask below. I can’t remember or type out everything single thing but perhaps you can jog my memory.

Onward to the Middle East.

Tags: Belgium, convoy, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Viva Palestina

8:51 pm. Viva Palestina.