By Safaa El-Derawi, MECA’s Project Assistant in Gaza

The situation is really very bad especially in Khuza’a, Shejayia, and other areas close to the border where most of the houses were erased during the attack one year ago. People are still living in tents and trailers and surrounded by remains of homes.

Nothing has changed since the war.

People are trying to survive and get their basic needs met however they can. It is very sad to see many people begging, asking for money in the streets. Gaza wasn’t like this before. I notice how much it hurts deep inside them to do this.

By Safaa El-Derawi, MECA’s Project Assistant in Gaza

The situation is really very bad especially in Khuza’a, Shejayia, and other areas close to the border where most of the houses were erased during the attack one year ago. People are still living in tents and trailers and surrounded by remains of homes.

Nothing has changed since the war.

People are trying to survive and get their basic needs met however they can. It is very sad to see many people begging, asking for money in the streets. Gaza wasn’t like this before. I notice how much it hurts deep inside them to do this.

Through my visit to schools to check the water systems of MECA’s Maia Project, teachers complain a lot that the children cannot focus. The students are angry; they are violent.

Children in Gaza don’t live their childhood. In most cases they are tying to help their families survive. It’s clear that youth in Gaza Strip are without hope. High unemployment, tough life, no electricity, no activities for them.

People think the war is over but for the people of Gaza it continues because the siege is another kind of war. People are stuck. They can’t leave for medical treatment, for education, to visit family, or for any reason at all.

Even sometimes I feel like a robot. I move through my day with my work and wherever I go there are painful scenes. At night, my humanity comes back, especially when I sleep. I realized the war inside is still there. I have many nightmares. When I visit workshops for children in the Play & Heal program, I see that women, children and youth feel the way I do: We are afraid the war will come back at any moment. In the back of our minds and in the bottom of our hearts is this fear. We still hear bombs sometimes, or the Israeli air force or military ships shooting. Sometimes I feel it’s a miracle that I’m still alive, because everything around us is a sign of death more than life.

But we will continue every way possible to survive.