Thursday 23 November
8am The grandchildren of the internet hosting household “partially” adopted a cat. He is a giant cat that was clearly a pet. I may inform he was raised in a home with land; he has all of the options of a pet cat, however he can handle being exterior as nicely. The solely problem is that their mom is petrified of cats, a further cause we by no means let ours exterior the room we’re in.
The cat is allowed to remain on the stairs, they gave him a fluffy mat and provide him meals. Most of the time he stays on the entrance of the home, and generally, primarily within the morning when their mom is within the kitchen, they sneak him inside to play with him. It saddens me that he doesn’t have higher dwelling circumstances, however making an allowance for the state of affairs we’re going by, this is excellent.
The children come into our room to ask for meals for his or her cat. We have a fast chat. The oldest woman says her mom “has no job”. I attempt my finest to clarify the idea of “unpaid labour” and that what their mom is doing is as necessary, or much more necessary, as what their father does exterior the home. We discuss for 10 minutes after which I realise that we’d not even stay to see one other day. So I resolve to finish the lecture.
On their manner out, I really feel somewhat responsible for closing this chance to unfold consciousness, so I rapidly inform them, whereas certainly one of them is holding the doorknob, the opposite holding the meals can and the third wanting exterior: “And by the way, women can achieve anything they want, they can be the managers and leaders of the biggest associations; or, if they choose to, they can be housewives.
“Men can cry, wear pink, express their feelings and they can grow their hair long, and they can be stay-at-home dads if they want to. It is OK for a woman to be a mechanic and a man to be a beautician.”
They gave me a glance that claims: “Can we leave now? We have a cat to feed.” I allow them to go.
In truth, our hosts are gender pioneers. Ahmad has a sister who’s finding out overseas. In the neighbourhood they’re dwelling in, no woman has ever travelled overseas by herself to check. When she was about to journey, uncles got here to their home and yelled at her father for the “horrible thing you are about to let your daughter do”, and mentioned they’d by no means discuss to him once more. Even neighbours shared their disapproval of such a transfer occurring.
However, the grandmother discussed it with her three sons. They all agreed to support their sister. They went to their father and told him they were willing to face the stigma from the community. The sister travelled to study, and since then, she has been an inspiration. Later, two other families sent their daughters to study abroad, and now they consider the sister as a focal point for female students there. After one year, the family repaired the relationship with the uncles.
11am I am arguing with a street seller over the price of plastic bags. These bags have been added to the list of luxury items, when you go to buy anything, the sellers give you the product without a bag because either they don’t have any or due to their excessive value.
I meet a man I do know. He tells me that nothing issues or scares him; the one factor he’s involved about is his spouse. He tells me: “My wife is eight-months pregnant, and her pregnancy has been difficult since the beginning. I am terrified of the options: I hope this whole situation ends before she gives birth.”
I tell him that hopefully this will end soon, even though I am not sure at all. He remains silent while I wave away flies over my head and double check, for the 1,000th time, my phone and my wallet, to make sure they are safe. Losing them would be a nightmare.
Then he tells me: “I read that women in Gaza are giving birth through C-section without anaesthesia. This is one of the scariest things a woman could go through. If this happens to my wife, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
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I attempt to calm him and we discuss for some time. On my manner once more, I keep in mind a buddy who as soon as shared with me how tough a C-section is once I casually requested: “Why don’t all women have C-sections since they will have anaesthesia and not feel the pain of natural childbirth?”
She defined that in a C-section, they lower seven layers of the pores and skin to achieve the child. She shared with me the ache after the surgical procedure, saying: “The first cough a woman has after a C-section is deadly. The pain is horrible.”
I actually hope his spouse offers beginning with full medical care.
4pm Ahmad shared with me an incident that occurred in entrance of him out there that shook me to the core. A person was promoting some blankets on the street. It goes with out saying that the value he was asking for was a lot greater than regular. Another man got here to him and requested him for the value, after which he buys all of them.
The different man took them to a different spot close by and started promoting the blankets for 25% extra.
The distress of costs continues. If you acquire an merchandise yesterday, you can not merely assume the value is identical the following day. One frequent phrase is: “How much is it today?”
I’m petrified of the place we’re heading.
7pm The ceasefire.
All folks have been speaking about is the ceasefire that may occur tomorrow. My mates who’ve a greater access to web preserve sending me updates. Everyone is anxious that something may occur throughout the hours left earlier than it goes by, which can hinder the entire thing.
Waiting and praying for a ceasefire to occur, persons are nonetheless unhappy and exhausted.
People are nonetheless displaced; houses and full areas ruined; many misplaced their family members; goals have been aborted; and the state of affairs is depressing.
A man informed me a few days in the past that he was uninterested in the day by day survival makes an attempt Gazans are going by. How each minute of the day is one other wrestle: for security, for water, for web, for garments, for blankets – and to maintain sane.
I hope, I actually hope, a ceasefire would be the first step in the direction of the tip of this nightmare.
Ziad filed his diary earlier than it was introduced yesterday that Israel and Hamas would begin a four-day truce on Friday morning.
