We are getting used to the rhythm of village life in Yanoun. Life here begins between 4-5am. By 7am the shepherds are out with the sheep on the lower slopes of the hills, the only land now left to them for pasture. And the women start making bread in tabouns, which are small outbuildings which house a sunken cooking fire.
We try to take a walk between 7-8 am just to see that all is well and observe any changes on the hilltops. We may call in to one of the houses to buy fresh food for breakfast.
We headed north to visit the village of Yanoun in the West bank, where I will be spending my three month placement together with my Norwegian, Swedish and South African team mates.
Yanoun is in a very beautiful location, nestling among limestone hills reminiscent of the Peak District. Like many of our own villages, sheep are the main business. We meet the mayor of the village, as he grazes his sheep between the olive trees in the valley below the International House, where we are staying.
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem courtesy of alertnet.org
There are hundreds of aid workers in Gaza. This narrow piece of land is so poor that most of the population relies on some kind of aid.
Aid workers also have their own stories about what happened in Gaza – stories that many people don’t get to hear.
They are Gazans too, and they also have to deal with losing loved ones and finding their homes destroyed, yet must still find the strength to help others.
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem courtesy of alertnet.org
Amid the rubble and destroyed buildings people are trying their best to return to normal life – if there ever was such a thing in Gaza.
Part of that process is the children going back to school. Some of the schools have reopened and the pupils are eager to return.
The children of Gaza are mentally strong, they have to be. But at the end of the day they are still children and how strong can they be?
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa courtesy of http://www.alertnet.org
A ceasefire has been announced and the shelling has stopped. At the beginning I didn’t believe it as in the early morning I could hear the sound of heavy fire and then the sound of the F-16s and the drones which never left Gaza’s sky for three weeks.
Outside my home I saw more people going out to visit their families and loved ones and to find out how they have coped and to catch up on news. Many sorrowful stories are being shared today.
I saw a numbers of moving cars. I saw a lot of displaced people rushing to see what happened with their homes. Many tents have been set up to receive mourners so people can pay their condolences.
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