Grand Globe at HaBaWaBa: the fundraiser for the Italian-Palestinian team
The project aims to help the players of Jerusalem Marlins to take part in the event in Egypt or in the next HaBaWaBa International Festival in Italy
Amid countless difficulties, the dream of Palestinian waterpolo goes on: Fadi Awisat - coach of Jerusalem Marlins Water Polo, a team founded a year ago in East Jerusalem - is keeping it alive.
He found help in Grand Globe, the project launched in the spring together with Italian coach Alfredo D’Ilario, which aimed to bring an Italian-Palestinian team to the HaBaWaBa International Festival 2025, the biggest kids waterpolo event in the world, held every year in Italy. At that time, bureaucracy got in the way, and Grand Globe arrived at HaBaWaBa without the Jerusalem Marlins’ players.
However Awisat and D’Ilario have not given up: ahead of the HaBaWaBa Egypt event in Somabay (scheduled from December 18 to 22, 2025) a fundraiser has been launched on the GoFundMe platform to cover the expenses of the Palestinian athletes. If the amount raised will not be enough to finance the trip to Egypt, the money will still be made available to the Jerusalem Marlins for the purchase of technical equipment - swimsuits, goals, balls, caps - or for participation in the 2026 edition of HaBaWaBa International Festival, scheduled next summer in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy.
Click here to support the Grand Globe project and the activities of the Jerusalem Marlins Water Polo
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