ZIAD IN GAZA

 I have been sick for almost a week. I couldn’t leave the mattress on the ground I have been sleeping on except to go to the toilet. Due to new members joining the hosting family, some changes were made and I gave them the couch I was sleeping on to take outside. Now I sleep on a mattress so thin that I forget sometimes it exists.

My body simply decided to fail me and not resist any more. Every part of it is aching and the fever refuses to leave me. My friend checks on me via a message and says that she sends me all the love in the world. In the past, I used to believe that love makes miracles. But can love really end our suffering? Can it get me out of my sickness to find that I am back to my house, my street and my life?

All I want is to sleep for half an hour, only half an hour.

 My friends come to check on me.

“It is definitely because of the bad and expired food we have been consuming,” one says. Unfortunately, my friend is right, there are many things we eat that have passed their expiration dates, but what other option do we have? In the past, we would have never bought something that has less than one month left, now, we consume it gladly. Also, if you find a half-rotten piece of fruit or vegetable, you would pretend it is not and eat the good part.

My other friend looks at him and says: “Aren’t we all expired? Our bodies still function, yet our hearts, brains and souls have expired a long time ago. So, why not be feeding this body expired food?” He answered in a joking manner, yet misery came out of every word.

Before leaving, the married couple tells us that they are planning to start selling sweets in the street. They said that half of the ingredients is not available, and the remaining half is super expensive. But they want to try, hoping they can make a little money to keep surviving. They have no money left after almost five months without work. We all encourage them and wish them luck, saying we will be their first customers.