ZIAD IN GAZA

 

While waiting for a friend, I met a guy I know. He evacuated with his family from the north and is staying in a school. The women and children stay in one of the classrooms; over 60 persons share the room. He said they sleep so close to each other that they couldn’t move. He and the men sleep downstairs in a tent.

“When we first got here, I stopped eating for almost a month,” he told me. “I did not want to have to use the toilet. There is a long wait to get into the toilet, and at the beginning the toilet was filthy. But now, the displaced people worked together to ensure it is hygienic all the time.”

He continued: “Sleeping in the tent during these cold times is awful. Everyone is sick. I had a mattress but gave it to my older brother who suffers from back pain. I put my head on the mattress while the rest of my body is off it.”

Next to us was a man selling some vegetables. A woman approached yet she was hesitant. In our culture, people buy vegetables and fruit in kilos. But the woman took one tomato and asked him to weigh it and tell her the price. Then she added another tomato and did the same. After telling her the price, she opened the small money carrier she had and looked atwhat she had inside. Then she said that she will take one tomato only. The guy I was talking to went and added three tomatoes, gave them to the woman and paid the seller.

“You know what hurts the most?” he said. “You wouldn’t believe it. It is having to buy lemons. In our land we had many big trees of lemon. We never had to buy any. All the neighbours and friends would come to us to take them. It is true that we lost our homes and everything we have. But losing those trees has a deep effect on my soul. It is just too hard, too hard.”

He said that for the first time in his life he thinks about leaving Gaza for ever. “Even my mother is encouraging me to do so. She asked me, if we survive, to leave and never look back.”

When my friend came, I introduced them to each other. When he knew the guy has no mattress. He said: “I think I could help. I know someone with an extra mattress.” The guy, shyly, offered to wait till tomorrow to go and get it, but my friend said we should go immediately. The happiness I saw on the guy’s face when he held the mattress was unbelievable.