A fundraising concert by the Stay Human Collective will take place on Wednesday April 30th in Whelan’s Dublin, featuring a host of renowned Irish artists. All proceeds will go to the Stay Human School in Jabalia, Northern Gaza, which currently provides education for 50 children as well as essential food, fresh water, baby supplies, and financial support to the local community.
Funds raised will support the school’s day-to-day operations and provide essential humanitarian support to the community during this ongoing crisis. Beyond academic learning, the school serves as a place where children can rebuild friendships and find psychological support in a safe environment amid the devastation.
The fundraising event will feature performances from veteran Dublin band Sack, chart-topping singer-songwriter Mundy, Wexford-based group Novatone, solo artist Alice Jago, and Brian Brannigan of critically acclaimed A Lazarus Soul.
Comedian Kevin Gildea will be keeping things on track throughout the course of the evening as MC, while Dublin artist Stefan Murphy will perform a specially written song ‘Prayer for the Palestinian people’.
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Spokesperson Moira Cassidy, who is organizing the Dublin concert, said: “We’re so grateful to all the artists who will perform on April 30th in Whelan’s to help raise funds for the Stay Human Collective in Jabalia. We really want to support the community in their mission to keep Palestinian children’s dreams alive through education. Education offers a form of hope in the midst of the trauma and suffering these children have and are enduring. The school is basically just four walls in a bombed-out area in Gaza, but since opening in September it has provided not just education, but distraction from the horrors they are enduring. In the school, these young children, many of whom are orphaned and have medical or psychological issues, can have some semblance of normality. The Stay Human school has become an essential space in their lives which we want to help continue and expand for the other children in the community who are eager to attend.”
The Stay Human Collective began as a grassroots mutual aid initiative in mid-2024 with members from Ireland, Italy, the UK, Egypt, and Palestine who started crowdfunding as an emergency response to provide humanitarian aid to families in Jabalia. The project evolved when local team members in Gaza transformed part of a damaged building into a classroom, recruited three teachers, and gathered educational supplies. Since September 2024, the school has offered Arabic, English, and Mathematics to children in the community.
Abed, who works on the Stay Human initiative in Jabalia with his wife and teacher, Aya, explains what the school means to the students: “The Stay Human school gives the children hope in darkness. It gives them a chance to learn, play and socialise with their peers. It’s a chance for some feeling of normal life. We are grateful to all our donors and especially to the Irish people who have stood in solidarity with us.”
The Stay Human Collective Fundraiser Concert takes place at Whelan’s on Wednesday 30th April 2025. Tickets are €25.50 and are on sale now at whelanslive.com. Doors open at 7.30pm. For more information or to donate directly to the initiative, visit stayhumancollective.com or their Instagram and Facebook profiles.
