Gaza Blog: Ramadan
Many people living in the Gaza Strip are unemployed and they are living on the relief programmes or on some good deeds that some kind people give away.“Abu-Saied” Just got back from the nearby relief center along with some of his neighbors; they are riding a small wagon that is towed by a horse and carrying with them some necessities from the relief center.The features of poverty are clear; their clothes are old and shabby; their faces are pale and seem exhausted; they are holding on to their relief goods day dreaming, they know what’s wrong with their life and what is really missing.
This year, Ramadan is different. Children are looking for school uniforms which are unavailable due to lack of fabrics and price increases. Some of the children wear old and rugged uniforms to school. Children and their families look for stationery in empty stationary shops, so they go back and use what is left from the previous school year. Also the schools are in bad shape. They distribute old textbooks to students where you can clearly see signs of overuse because school books are not allowed into the Gaza Strip.
Ahmad listens closely for the announcement of the (Maghreb Prayer) so they can start eating, he does this because there is no electricity in order for him to hear the announcement over the microphone, the power always gets cut off for almost 8 to 10 hours a day. The mosques don’t have electric generators, some neighborhoods have generators and some don’t, in some houses the power cables are hanging from the roofs and into the rooms to overcome the power problem - this problem is a common thing in the life of the people in Gaza Strip.
You don’t really find many goods and merchandise in the markets, and if you do; you will find the prices are outrageous, the merchants say that the prices are high because the goods come into Gaza Strip through the tunnels that is in the southern area of Gaza Strip near the Egyptians borders. Near the tunnels, there are mothers who are weeping over their dead children who were killed in the tunnels, more than 100 people died and almost 700 injured working the tunnels due to the airstrikes that was performed by the Israeli air force since Gaza Strip was placed under siege.
Read more Gaza blogs:
The Village Director and his daily worries
How Farah lived her days during the war
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