ZIAD IN GAZA

 We hear a lot of noises outside, almost every member of our hosting family and the other families staying here are moving around. I get worried, did something bad happen? During the seconds that it takes my sister to go and open the door to see what is happening, my panicking mind goes through a whole plan: I will take this bag, we will get the cats. We cannot take anything else, no time to put shoes on.

My sister tells me that everything is OK. It seems that a woman and her children who evacuated recently and had nothing with them were knocking on doors and asking for help. So everyone starts going through their belongings and giving them anything they could share. I would not say “anything they did not want or had a lot of” because this is a luxury we forgot about a long time ago.

I go out and see a pile of stuff: there are women’s clothes, deodorant, tissues, sheets and some food cans. My sister gets cheese and some food as well. One of the other hosted family members whispers to the grandmother of the hosting family. They both look at the feet of the children, noticing the torn sandals they are wearing. Immediately, everyone goes inside and brings shoes for adults and children and adds them to the pile.

The grandmother asks the woman to give anything that does not fit to those around her in other tents. Before the woman and children leave, the grandmother goes inside again and brings some loaves and a few bottles of water. “I wish I could give you more,” she says.

It all happens in front of me like a cinematic scene, everyone trying to help. No one stopped for a second to question if they should keep something to themselves. On their way out, the grandmother asks the woman to come from time to time, maybe she could help her with something.

I ask the grandmother if she knows the woman, but she does not. What I admire most is the grandmother giving her the bread. These days, everyone is trying to maintain enough food to survive. She shares an old proverb that her own grandmother taught her: “Bites deter hardships.” It means that food – that you feed to others, or any kind of help in general – will push away many bad situations and bad things around you. Any good you do, will get back to you.

However, it startles me how my brain, in any normal situation, would always think about the worst-case scenario. It feels like the blessing of having a normal life is taken from us, for ever.