When Australian Palestinian man Shamikh Badra formed the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine, he had one mission — to bring a Nippers program to Gaza.
Around eight years ago, he hoped the classic Australian beach education program for younger children could be taken to Gaza's 45km shoreline, to offer kids there a fun and educational preparation to become future lifesavers.
"We hope to build the first surfing club in Gaza — an Australian-Palestinian surfing club," Shamikh told SBS Arabic, explaining his intentions when starting the club.
"We want to give hope to the children of Gaza and everywhere."
Shamikh and Majed Badra are the creators of a film about the fate of Gaza's first surf lifesaving club. Source: Supplied
In 2019, two young Palestinians were brought over to train at Sydney's North Steyne Surf Lifesavers Club, one of Australia's oldest.
They were meant to return home to establish the Gaza Beach Surf Lifesaving Club but were delayed by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first season of the Gaza Nippers finally began in mid-2023.
Some of the children involved in the Gaza Nippers program have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since October 2023. Source: Supplied
'Children are not numbers'
Israel's assault on Gaza dealt a devastating blow to the program, with some of the children and staff members killed by Israeli airstrikes. The location of others remains unknown.
Shamikh estimates about 12 children and six team members from the program have been killed, but with severely damaged health and communications infrastructure in the occupied territory, he can't be sure.
As the Israeli bombardment continued, Shamikh, who had had some previous film experience, decided he needed to document what was happening.
He enlisted the help of his brother, Majed Badra, who became the director of the film Gaza Nippers: Hope Amid Devastation.
It was first screened at the North Steyne Surf Lifesavers Club earlier this year, and the brothers have plans to show it across Australia and around the world.
Gaza Nippers: Hope Amid Devastation was also screened in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba in September. Source: Supplied
"In the beginning, I was focusing on one child because the message of this is that children are not numbers. They are people. They have a future. They have dreams," Majed said.
"We wanted to focus on that — to focus on one child as an example of many children."
But the director had a problem — more than once the children at the film's centre, and their families, were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
"We had to rewrite and re-edit again and again in order to make the film and raise the voice of other children," Majed said. "It was very challenging."
"The goal of this film is to focus on non-elite voices in order to raise their voices, raise the voices of children and victims."
Some who featured in the final cut of the film were killed as well.
They are among the over 20,000 children killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to Save the Children, almost 30 per cent of the 68,229 the Gaza health ministry reports as killed in that period.
'We will never give up'
Despite the losses they have experienced, Shamikh and Majed aren't giving up on their dream.
"We will continue this project. We will never give up on supporting the children," Shamikh said.
"We want all the people to be in unity against targeting the children during the war."
Shamikh Badra hopes to one day revive the Gaza Surf Life Saving Club. Source: Supplied
A March UN commission found Israel's Gaza war methods, "including the targeting of residential buildings and the indiscriminate use of heavy explosives in densely populated areas", had led to "disproportionate violence against women and children".
The Israeli government has categorically denied the accusation of genocide and has said it regrets harm to civilians killed in attacks targeting militants and their equipment and infrastructure.
Hope for surf club remains
Shamikh intends to continue to work on the Nippers programme and still plans to build the first surfing club in Gaza.
"We know it's not easy, but we will continue," Shamikh said.
For Majed — who plans to make a second film to include the voices of other children who weren't included in the first — a focus on hope amid devastation was key.
"Despite all the challenges and tragic and miserable situation that's happening, we still have hope," he said.
"In the title — Gaza Nippers: Hope Amid Devastation — we insisted that hope was in there, because we will build the surfing club in Gaza."
— This article was produced in collaboration with SBS Arabic
