Gaza Blog: Love during the siege
A few days ago, Fatima, a young girl from the SOS Children's Village experienced moments of joy and disappointment at her engagement ceremony, to which many friends and neighbors attended. They talked and had drinks and refreshments; they congratulated the bride, but her fiancé did not join in the ceremony. He is an Egyptian living on the other side of the town of Rafah, and is banned from entering the Gaza Strip due to the closure of the borders (Cross Point), despite the fact that his home is not far away from the Village. The crowd congratulated him by phone and wished him a happy married life. Later, some pictures of the event were sent to him via e-mail.
A year ago, Fareed, her fiance, asked permission to marry Fatima from the Village Director (Fatima is an orphan who lost both her parents). When the time came for Fatima to cross the border to be with her Fiance, she headed to the border whilst it happened to be open for three consecutive days. More than 5500 passengers headed in that direction, including Fatima. Her friends and children lined up in the Children's Village to wish her farewell, the tears of separation were the master of that moment. The temperature was very high that day, but they kept waving to Fatima until she disappeared. Unfortunately, Fatima returned after a 17-hour wait at the cross point. Only 230 people made it over the cross point. Fatima's dreams were shattered. Fatima was full of bitterness as she was not able to reach the matrimonial home which is located only 20 minutes walking distance away!
She is now waiting along with the thousands of other people for the terminal to open its gates again. Will her luck change and allow her to go through?
Read more Gaza blogs:
The Village Director and his daily worries
How Farah lived her days during the war
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