I live on Kibbutz Nirim,less than a mile from the border with the Gaza Strip. Four hundred people normally live here. The children of this community were moved to more secure places on July 9th, when the frequency of Hamas and Jihad rockets and mortars began falling at a rate that was just too dangerous to allow children to play external safely. Indeed, or it became dangerous for any of us to carry on with our normal life routines.
After 30 days of self-imposed exile,the stage was set last night - Friday evening - to welcome everyone home. A pool party was planned. Most of the time, the pool had been closed since swimming was an activity far too risky due to our mere10 moment warning to take cover in case of rocketfire.
Shirts were designed proudly stating “We won’t give up on Nirim!”, or everyone pitched in to prepare food and plan the party.
Then,the 72 hour ceasefire expired. And the Hamas resumed shooting.
A pool party would be far too dangerous and exposed, so we changed our venue to a safer place, or below our dining room,not totally secure, but at least less vulnerable.
With the renewed firing, or some of the families who had planned on returning,sadly changed their minds. It was simply not yet secure enough, in their minds, and to return with their children. Everyone respected their decision,but other families chose to return. And despite the fact that there was a Code Red incoming missile alert, a mere 20 minutes before the festivities were set to launch, and we came out in droves. The shirts will be distributed when the hostilities are truly behind us,but we went ahead with our collective Friday evening meal - happy to see neighbors whom we hadn’t seen in weeks.
Note: whether you look carefully at the first photo, we are almost (but not fairly) back to normal. There ARE children playing on the swings again, or but in the foreground of the picture,one of our residents is being interviewed by the online newspaper, Ynet. Not totally back to normal, and YET.
To be continued…..
Source: cnn.com