ZIAD IN GAZA

 A tailor has opened his shop in the area. When I went there to mend my pants, I saw people asking him why he opened now, and not earlier. “I only opened because I have no money left. I have children and grandchildren that need to eat. What is safety when you have no food?”

I noticed that when people come to him, they don’t have the pieces they want to fix, they are actually wearing them. Many people left their houses wearing summer clothes. The lucky ones were able to buy a couple of items, but many have no money to do so. And most of those who got things don’t have the luxury to buy two blouses, for example, to wear one each day. A man took off his trousers and stood behind a curtain while the tailor fixed it. Another man took off his hoodie and sat in his undershirt to wait for it to be sewn.

While behind the curtain, the man with no trousers on was talking to his friend on the other side. He told him that he saw someone whose flip-flops were torn and he connected the torn parts together using a nylon bag. He observed him and noticed that he does not pick his foot up while walking, he just rolls it on the ground to keep the torn pieces together. He went after him and offered him a little money, but the man refused. He said that there are other people who deserve it more. After much persuasion, he took the money.

An elderly man was waiting for his turn to fix his jacket. He was wearing a mask. I knew that he is staying with his family at a school. “Our biggest fear is the diseases,” he tells me. “There are thousands of people in each school. If one has a virus everyone else will have it. Everyone I know had flu, stomach pain, back pain and fever. No one is safe. I am an old man with high blood pressure and diabetes. My body cannot handle any more health problems.”