Gaza Blog: The Village’s Director and his daily worries during the siege
Since I started working at the SOS children’s village eight years ago, working with the staff and the children was very exhausting and tiring, I was working till late hours of the night; it was very important because the village needed this work, after a little while, I got to know everyone in the village (Children, workers, staff members) as well as their problems, worries and hopes. But I felt that we are in a safe place and I did not have to worry about anything at all.
In year 2000 the second Intifada started in Gaza strip, and it really got worse in 2002, and the village was in the line of fire or maybe we can say, it was like a target for the Israeli settlement that was just a little more than 100 meters away. We were all at a great danger from the random shooting and bullets zooming by which it may kill or wound one of us. I’ll never forget that day when “Summer” the social advisor came really frightened and shocked that she couldn’t even talk because of a bullet that passed in front of her face at a very close range, I can still recall how we all use to escape to the underground shelter because of the heavy shooting that was going on at that time. But after the Israelis withdrew from Gaza strip, this bad image was vanished and we lived safely in the village, we were doing our daily tasks and living a normal life, we use to go to the beach in the summer time and stay there until late at night, the kids play freely without fear, and all of this made me feel a little comfortable. All of this didn’t last long at all, in year 2007 Gaza strip become under siege and after a little while life become harder due to the shortage in many of the life necessities that I had to go out searching for these things for hours and hours almost daily and the children had to give up many items because of this reason.
At a certain moment I felt scared and depressed at once, when the shelves of the grocery stores are running out of food and households supplies and it’s like a miracle to get any at all, I use to spend a whole day looking for propane tanks for the families in the children’s village, and then I started to improvise some alternative ways to overcome this problem, for example cooking on fire logs in the village’s yard or buying fast food for the children sometimes, I also had to use the bicycle and send the children to their schools by bicycle as well, despite the fact that some of the roads are not suitable for riding the bicycles.
Anyway, my life and the people in the village started to change because of the situation and the shortage of the things that we need to survive, the prices went up to five times the regular price, and this is one of my daily problems that is caused by the siege along with many more things that I use to do inside the village. The thing that it worries me the most is maybe one of the kids gets sick and I may have to take him outside of Gaza strip for medication, because Gaza strip doesn’t have the proper service and also doesn’t provide the right medication and health service to the people, so, that why many people try to get health care outside the Gaza strip, and now Gaza strip is shut tight and travelling outside is near impossible, but I hope I don’t have to this and I everyone will remain in good health. Yesterday I heard that the border checkpoint is going to open to people who are going in or out, the border is only 2 kilometers away from the village, I felt some kind of freedom, even though I am not planning to travel abroad in the mean time, also I noticed many of the mothers and aunts are in a state of joy that I haven’t seen for long time in the village, and then I knew that some of their relatives are back from outside Gaza strip after a long journey of getting a health care. What I really hope for, is to see Gaza strip in peace and calmness, and the borders to be opened so that anyone can travel freely to anywhere he/she desires, it’s really great to have the feeling where you are living in a total freedom and peace.
Read more Gaza blogs:
How Farah lived her days during the war
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