Wednesday 11/10/2023

10th of October is my mother's birthday, after we were forced to leave our house in Al Shujaiyyeh neighborhood, she sat on the chair saying: "If every mother hid her son, who's going to defend the land?"

Her words remind me of every time she told us to ablute (wodu) before we leave the house, you never know what could happen, she said. My mother has given it all to God a long time ago and that explains my emotional strength in dealing with what's happening.

We're going through catastrophic times, I don't deny that, death is everywhere, screams are always in the background, these are all truths I can see and hear. The ministry of health issued a statement saying there's a shortage in corpse bags, but it's easy, Arab states will send more bags.

 My cousin is trying to lighten up the weight of death through a birthday cake, while also honoring the sacredness of death. What worries me is to have the cake decorated in ashes because they keep targeting life. And we are milking life by resisting death. But my mother replaced her birthday cake with her will: if every woman hid her son, who's going to defend the land?

We're being ethnically and collectively cleansed while everyone watches. And what I want to say is: the guilt of your silence will haunt you while our souls will be blessed in the presence of God.