Children are the assets of any nation. They carry the future of the country, on their backs, but the
children of Palestine carry, heavy burdens, traumatic memories and infinite fear on their little
shoulders. This burden, is sure, beyond measure.
A ten year old girl, Nadeen, expressed herself and shared her experience, as to how Palestinian
children spend their days. She is not just scared about what is going to happen to her, she is more
concerned about her little brother. She wants to make sure that he feels safe in Gaza, in his home, in
his country. She says that she has to hide her own anxiety and distress, so that her brother can stay
calm. Can you imagine the huge responsibility HUMANS have placed on her shoulders? She
further explains how she makes sure that she sleeps right next to her brother, so that in case they
die, they die together. What did she do to deserve these fears at this age? She’s not afraid because
she might lose her school bus in the morning if she won’t sleep on time, she’s not afraid to lose the
basket ball match in the school, she’s not afraid to fail in her exams next week. Her fears are
different. Different than her age fellows, who are living in privileged parts of the world. She says
“seeing buildings fall down, and seeing people like this is not safe. I get scared from the dark, I
don’t like the darkness, so when the electricity turns off, I don’t like it. It scares me”
She makes lots of videos, in order to let people know about how she spent her day and to let people
know whats going on in Palestine. She shared her dreams, that she wants to study and become a
doctor, she also said it’s her dream to help all the children who have been kicked out of their homes.
She said she has millions of dreams, but how she ended her sentence reflected the immeasurable
pain she is going through, she ended up saying that SHE IS TIRED.
Edan
Another angelic boy, named Edan, who is 11 years old, shares his experience. This boy lives in
Israel with his parents. He expressed how he wants to think about fun things like playing with a car,
rather than being worried about another bomb strike. He told about a bomb shelter they have in their
home, when they hear sirens and when they hear ‘Code Red’, they close themselves in this shelter.
It’s hurtful how he relates to a siren as something, after listening to which he knows he has to run
for his life, and that his life is in danger. He said going to school is not a good option right now,
because there might be a bomb strike, despite the classrooms are all bomb sheltered. Point to be
noted here is, what kind of trauma these children go through every day, knowing that the schools
they are attending are bomb sheltered. The traumatic part is, knowing why they are bomb sheltered,
well, because they can be bombed any time.
Children, may they be on any side of the border, should be and must be protected. No child in the
world deserves to be scared of bombs, of attacks, of losing their friends and family, of being left
alone, of being left homeless, and of being deprived of their basic right to life. No matter which
religion they belong to, what race they belong to, what Ethnic background they belong to, it should be
the responsibility of every human present on the face of this earth, to protect them from this kind of
vulnerability.
Leave a Reply