October 9, 2024 • 63 mins
On this week's episode of Locatora Radio, we commemorate the one year genocide in Gaza. Diosa is joined by Hamza, Ahmad, and Tarneem Jaber, three Palestinian siblings who crossed the Rafah border in April 2024. They describe their lives before October 7th, their lives during Israel's siege of Gaza, how they escaped, and where they are now.
Please support the three siblings who kindly shared their stories by contributing to The Mermaid Jaber Scholarship Fund. This scholarship which will provide them with the means to complete their education.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/locatora_productions
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Look at Our Radio is a radiophonic novela, which.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Is just a very extra way of saying a podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm fiosa fem.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I am ma la munios.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We're podcasting through another Trump election year. We've been podcasting
through election years, a global pandemic, civic unrest, political controversies,
the Me Too movement, the rise of TikTok, and we
are still here.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
We're not done telling stories.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We're still making podcasts. We're older, we're wiser, We're even
podcasting through a new decade of our lives.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Since twenty sixteen, we've been making Loca thro Our Radio
independently until we joined iHeartMedia's Michael Dura Network in twenty
twenty two.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
From our lips to your ears, fall in love with
Loca toa radio like you never have before.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Welcome to Season nine. Love that first listen.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ola la Loka Motes. Welcome back to season nine of
Loka Dora Radio. I'm the Osa. Loka Dora Radio is
a podcast dedicated to our chiving, are present and shifting
the culture forward. You're tuning in to Capituro Rocientos Ate
two seventeen. We're bringing you a special episode that commemorates
(01:21):
the one year of the genocide in Palestine. I'm recording
this episode remotely, which means we're outside of the studio.
We're on zoom, and the quality may sound differently. I'm
also sitting with Ahmad, Hamza and Tarnim. They are three
Palestinian siblings who crossed the Rafa border and are rebuilding
(01:44):
their lives outside of Gaza. Their family remains in Gaza.
You will hear them describe their lives before October seventh,
their lives during israel siege of Gaza, and how they
escaped to Cairo, Egypt, and now how they're attempting to
rebuild their lives. Today's episode does not follow our typical
(02:08):
interview format. We are honoring their voices and stories, so
you'll be hearing from them for the rest of this episode.
We hope you listen with an open heart and can
support the stories of these three Palestinians.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
My name is Turning Jabber. I'm nineteen years old. I'm
a Palestinian girl, especially from Gaz. I spent my whole
life living in Gaza with my family. I spent like
the whole childhood school and I was planning to start
my university in one of the Palestinian university in gas.
I was going to join the medical field to be
(02:49):
a medical student. And it's been my first week as
a university student. To us just you know when the
person just join and new, like this was totally a
new part for me in my life and a new experience.
I was just so much excited to join this this
(03:09):
especially that I was the youngest in my family, so
all of my brothersss have entered and joined the university
before and medical school especially, so my life like literally
was like I can't actually like explain another word than
being like perfect before seventh of October. Even if like
(03:32):
when you want to just compare my life like our
life and listening in life in generally and especially the
people they live in Gazam with other people around the
world lives literally you will find it so much hard.
But for us, we just feel like fine, at least
we have a life.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
We have a home to.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Stay, a schools, university, food, and that's it. We will
really we were just focusing on the very basics in
the life.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
We didn't need extra things. We've been like really like
when we just were opening internet and social media and
see people going and in travel and that things were
so much easy for the people outside just like like
sitting together and okay, let's let's have like a ticket
to somewhere and they go. That's it. It was like
this is for us was a dream or something like that.
(04:27):
So our life was really was good for us. At
least I was living with my family and like the
last two months, especially before seven of October, I was
just finishing my last year in school and I was
just having a high average and people were coming to
(04:50):
visit us and just say like congregulations. And the other
event that happened is like my older brother have got married.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
So this was.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Another very beautiful experience in our lives because like he's
the older and it's the first time.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
And the third thing is like.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
We like my family like spend their whole life just
working hard for like two things. The first thing is
just teach us and the second thing is just having
our own home. So when we just in August especially,
we moved our own home and we just lived the
(05:33):
two months August and September there and it was literally
a dream.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
We were like literally living in a dream.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
And I don't know, something tell me in this period
of time that I was just taking photos for everything.
For everything, I just was taking photos and videos. Something
was selling me inside. Just take them.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
They would be memory one day.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So yeah, that's it until seventh of October when just
our lives changed, like upside down, completely changed.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
I am I'm Zober twenty four year old. I am
a six year medical student. It was visual to be
graduated from my medical school in June twenty twenty four,
but unfortunately, due to the war, I missed that year.
(06:31):
Twenty three. Twenty twenty four was a really special year
for me because this is the year of my graduation.
So after five, after six six years in the medical school,
I gonna graduate.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
Yeah, I will by then this sixth By by then
of my.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
Sixth year, I will be done with all of my
medical subjects. He was subjects like internal medicine, and so
that's really exciting to me. And I just entering the
sixty school at the sixth year, full of energy, full
of excited excitance. So I'm gonna graduate. So that's my situation.
(07:15):
And the other thing that I have only two beautiful
memories before the war, moving to our new house and
the marriage of my brother. So by the way, my
brother yesterday got a daughter. So yesterday his wife delivered
(07:36):
a daughter. So my only two beautiful memberies before the war.
This is it was our new house and the marriage
of my brother and our un unfortunately, and we missed.
I missed my school, I missed, we missed our house,
and we are far away from our family, especially the
(08:00):
new daughter came. So that's the situation to me.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
My name is Ahma Chaber. I am twenty two years old.
I used to be there tintel students in Gaza, but
unfortunately the world just disturb ubed my education on there
and I just I stopped because there's no education, there
is no adversities, there is no schools in there in Gaza,
(08:28):
like everything were destroyed and the stopped because of the war.
We were in Gaza like we were too heavy. Actually
we were living the best life ever in Gaza, like
all of us were or all of us were in
medical schools. Me, my brothers and sisters, all of us
(08:49):
are aductors. I mean, so our family just were living
in that zone of doctors like we had a great
life actually, but the war came and just disturb upt
and destroyed everything. Before the war, we just we lived
and or we moved to our new home which we
which was the dream home. Actually it had like it
(09:10):
has been a long time dreaming of living in a
home that like this. But after the war, like they
were just like because of the world, they destroyed our home.
They bombed actually once the the the army just break
into like our street, the last we were we were
living in. They destroyed the home. So like our dreams,
(09:32):
everything we were, we were like we were dreaming with
like we lost everything, like we lost life, we lost
we lost we lost moments, we lost a friends, we
lost family, we lost everything. When they're everything had been destroyed,
and just the question we have like we have no idea,
why what's this? What was like, what's the relation between
(09:53):
us between the world doing everything?
Speaker 7 (09:55):
All right?
Speaker 8 (09:55):
Like we are students, we are just studying. We are
we have dreams, we have like we have life as
anybody around the world, any any people around the world,
any studid anybody in my age, I mean outside of
Gaza has like has dreams, has life. Anybody in there?
So like why why why why? Like why only only
(10:19):
we we are just special on this? Why to suffer?
Why to have, Paine, Why to be stressful in this?
Speaker 7 (10:25):
Why?
Speaker 8 (10:26):
Why to be lost?
Speaker 7 (10:28):
Why? Why?
Speaker 8 (10:28):
Like why a man like me twenty two years old,
just staying in Cairo without his family, half of them
in the war. I'm staying alone there having nothing to do.
I'm I'm like, I'm living pain because of nothing. I
didn't choose. I just I found myself on there because
I need to complete my education. Unfortunately I didn't. I
didn't like I can't or I don't have a solution
(10:50):
just to complete it? Just why what did I do?
I did nothing. I was I was just building my
life to be I have I like like I have
no odination, what like I have no relation about what
happened the seventh of October? And this is like, see you,
(11:10):
what's happened the seventh of October? Or like what caused me?
What caused my family? It caused everything?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Don't go anywhere, Locomotives will be right back.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Thank you to the three of you for providing us
with some insight as to what your life was like
before October seventh and what you've been what you and
many others have had to deal with since the three
of you talked about the home that you lived in
and how it was your dream home, and so I
want to ask you about living under occupation. You described,
(11:49):
you know, having this somewhat like dream home and you
were accomplishing your dreams, you know, but can you tell
us what it was like to live under occupation? Even
before October seventh.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Actually before a couple of days I meet, I met
a new friend here and she was just like asking
me about girls, of the situation and things. So I
was just explaining for her and how I came and
these things. So I just noticed one thing that while
she was asking me questions, like in every sentence I say,
(12:20):
she told me, but you used to, but you lived before,
but you tried this before and you used to. So
it's been like a question marks and in my head,
why like why why we why we like why we
have to use to these terrible things? Actually living in Gaza,
like my whole life, it's been just in imagine, like
in my imagination. It's in my imagination in girls, especially
(12:44):
because always look like like a small point but circling
with a siege.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
That's it a brizen. Literally it was a brisen.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
But even this we just like ask the Balstinian the
girls and people, we like we create life, we do live.
We just we made this siege and we make this
present full of colors and life and just beautiful things.
We just like the families, the best Scenian people there
just had to like teach their students and give like
(13:14):
the most intelligent students from this area, just to show
the people and to show the ward that this is
really a place somewhere and the world have a human
being that have the rights.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Spending our whole life living in such things was so
much hurt.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Imagine like literally we have We were having like a
schedule for the electricity for the water, like the electricity
is coming four hours, and it cut twelve, didn't come four,
it cand of twelve.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
That said, this is our life. We were just waiting.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Imagine that you're sitting and oh my god, I'm waiting
just the electricity to come for like four hours so
the internet can come in this just four hours. Imagine
what can you do in just like the for hours,
charging a phone, having internet, washing connection, doing like turning
the machine the washing machine, or what can you do
in this the four hours? But we never like we
(14:11):
never said anything. We know, like it's a problem, and
we say before, but we never like nobody used to
know about what we left and what we suffer there.
The same problem was for water, as schedule, as special boards,
the same problem where for if you want to leave,
if you want to just.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Go outside to complete your study, to have a job
or anything. This was the top and hard, like hard,
very very difficult thing.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You know, it was so much hard for someone to
just live Gaza especially it was a bresent. Like imagine
how much it will be hard for someone living in
a bresent and you just need to leave. The same
was for us. So that's why I was telling that
we never left Gaza before, not because of anything like
even not having fun for study, because it was something
(15:03):
so much hard, because that was such like as a
small city, we have like just like a few a
few hospitals, a few schools and a few universities. But
even this it was so small, it was so like
it was busy, like it was full of people. Like
I think, like you have three millions people lived there
in this point in the world, and all of these
(15:25):
three millions people were suffering, were some were living the
same hardness We're trying just you know, you know when
you just live just to skip the day, You just
live this day to like, just to spend this day,
and I'm waiting for tomorrow. You reach tomorrow and just
you skip this day to reach for the other. This
was literally our life. We were just skip it.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
We skip it and you see what's the next step
in our life?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And that was it literally without like as I said before, alive,
with only the basics and some basics, we couldn't even
let or see or dream of having it.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
Can you imagine that three million people live in three
hundred and sixty kilometers and Gaza was under sea from
nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 7 (16:17):
They believe there if.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
They are lucky, the bower come every day about six
hours if they are lucky. So sometimes you spend the
whole day without electricity, and of course there is no electricity,
there is no internet and no other So the basics,
the basics of having alive, let's say you can find them.
(16:42):
You don't have a right to have these basics. That
was our situation in Gaza. And if you decided that
you want to travel, there is no way to travel
because Gaza are bordered by the occupation and the sea,
and we have a border to Egypt which is mostly
(17:05):
closed and we have you have to pay to bath
from Gaza to Egypt. And because we are lucky also
during the war, for every person, every person bay about
five thousand dollars to bath from Gaza to Egypt, if
(17:26):
even if he's a child, so that's the number is
fixed for every if he's a human, we have to
pay five thousands.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
So that's the way.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
That's and they ask poor people they don't have basic
life right too, to do this.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Moreover that we don't.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
We were we we were not having any medical centers.
So in all Gaza there is only one medical center.
It was called the Chefer Hospital and this was not
really prepared, but it was good for us. This is
the best center in Gaza. And also there's only two
(18:07):
universities for whole for four Gazen people. But for us,
even if this was even if this was our situation,
we were trying to adapt and we were attending the
the universities Gaza.
Speaker 7 (18:26):
Gaza having the highest.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Rate of education worldwide, so people there are trying to
be trying to be something, trying to make their dreams real.
In every every person. Imagine making dreams and trying every
key and work hardly to make his dream real. The
(18:49):
world come and making everything and damaged everything, destroyed everything.
So all of Gaza people missed everything in this world.
Speaker 8 (18:59):
So what we were living in Gaza actually like our
lives wasn't safe for the whole time or wasn't trigular actually,
so like in each like every two or three months,
just we we we just have a military menievas in
in Gaza, like every two or two years, they out
(19:21):
of nowhere they started shooting or bombing home like houses
and just start helding people for for a week or
two weeks. That's that was like the usual actually in Gaza,
not a long ward was just short for like for
like a few days, a week, two weeks. It's too
long actually, like uh, before that world was they were
(19:45):
they were a one before which it wasn't twenty twenty
two to it like the twenty twenty went actually and
before like like like kind of from two thousand and seven,
twenty twenty four or twenty twenty three, there were like
wars a normal one which which we know we are
(20:08):
in a war, or the the menievas that they do
so like our life was just kind of like like
the usual or it is not like not normal normal
people usual life actually, but this was our usual, just
to have wars or to live in bombing and shooting
(20:32):
and about the occupation. Actually, like everything everything was was
hard just to live in there. Everything was hard everything
once you think about anything, if you want to trouble
as any any any any person around the world who
just take his bassport and go to the airport easily,
(20:54):
We don't think that way. Actually, we spend months, lots,
like a long period of time just going just waiting
to apply for a visa because you are gozen for
because you're Balistinian. So you like it takes too long
just to apply for a visa. Maybe you can, you
may get accepted, maybe not. If you got accepted, you're
(21:15):
gonna just got your name and the borders, so you
can just wait your name until they accept you to travel. Actually,
like in twenty twenty, I lost the whole year. I
lost the whole year once I finished my school at
the secondary school. I mean I were like I applied
for a scholarship in that period and I got the
(21:38):
visa and then because like I am from Gaza, because
I'm Palistinian and apply like they like after I think
six six six months, I have been just waiting a
long period, a long time too for my name to
be in the border, just to leave and go for
(21:59):
that skal ship to study outside. They can sell di
visa because like it talked too long because and I
didn't I didn't join and the first semester had finished,
so they cancel that and I didn't travel, so I started,
like I decided just to study there in Gaza. Like
we try to just to make to make hard, to
(22:19):
create a beauty out of hardness, out of out of
pain actually just to yeah, we we just were very
trying to make our lives better. Just we were like
we were very studying in the college and these colleges,
and I mean just because these are the best. You
can just have a life. After you can you can
be respectful from anybody around the world, once you are
(22:41):
traveling or once you are any any blades, because you
are a doctor, like you can just everything can be
easy for you. So like we were trying just to
make our life just easy even if we were living
in this in this situated situation. I mean, the like
like accubation, wars, stressful, everything were hard and there I
(23:05):
mean electricity. So you want you want to study, you
want to download your lectures, the videos, you want to study.
The electricity came for four hours a day maybe like
in the morning once you are in the university. This
this like your four hours came in the morning, maybe
at night when once you are sleeping. Like there's a schedual,
so like every day it's different. Every day is in
(23:27):
a different time. So like as like you and your luck,
you just you have no idea. Maybe just you can
delay you're studying for a whole week because like you
do know the schedule of the electricity. You want to
download your your lectures to study, and just you can
just find the right time for electricity just to download
(23:49):
them because there's no internet connection because there's no electricity.
So like Gaza, like where where we're just people in
Gaza were living this situation, living in that way, and
they weren't satisfied or they weren't heavy living there, but
they were trying so much to make it better to
(24:10):
study by education, I mean by studying. This this was
actually like this this was our let's let's call it
as our gun to fight? Why to fight with our education?
I mean this, this was the only way just to
fight with to go out out out of these borders.
But here we are again. They destroyed everything we have
(24:34):
been trying to edit or to change or to do.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Don't go any more, locomotives will be right back.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
We're back with more. We hope you didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Thank you to three of you for describing what it
was like living in Gasa before and then afterwards. So
the three of you mentioned that you just decided to
leave and you entered Cairo. So how did you one
escape the occupation and bombardment and take us through that
(25:19):
journey of leaving Gasa and what that was like for
the three of you.
Speaker 8 (25:25):
So our family, I was saying that our family just
just decided to lead the three of us to leave
Gaza because all of us are university students, and our
family just said, maybe the only solution just to complete
your life is just to leave Gaza, to leave this war.
(25:47):
And actually we applied to travel from Gaza for like
for too long, like maybe before three three months. We
were like, we apply it and we paide money. Each
of us each was just paid five thousand dollars just
to move that like, to move out, like I mean,
(26:09):
to cross the border. That's it, and you're gonnabate them
just to cross the border. Our family just decided to
stay half of them in there and just to let
us go outside to complete our life. It wasn't like
it wasn't easy to decide to live to leave Gaza
after like I was twenty twenty one, after twenty many
(26:30):
years living in Gaza and in the home like I
mean the family home and out of nowhere, you're going
to just live and be responsible about everything. And it
wasn't easy. Actually we lived the like our our names
just came or we knowed actually from Bioble. Our friends
just called us at eleven BM. They called us because
(26:54):
there was no internet connection in the north of Gaza.
We were leaving the whole war in the north, like
we stayed and our family tail now stayed in the
north of gazas we didn't livet we didn't move, I mean,
so like there there were no internet connections there. Just
anybody just want to know if he got accepted to
travel or not. Just he can't check everybody every day
(27:17):
on the internet connection to make sure like if he
got accepted or not. So like at eleven BM, our
friends were calling us telling us, like you and your
brother and sister get accepted, just to travel out out
outside of Gaza and tomorrow just your names are allowed
to travel. So we were in the north of Gaza
(27:39):
and in like like north in the south, there's a
border in the middle. You want to just move from
here to there, and then you want to go for
the Alfah border just to live out of outside of Gaza.
The day that our names where they shared our names
to travel alien are. We were an a chef hospital,
(28:02):
so like like that streets which is like lead us
to go for the cross, like to cross the north
of Gaza, to cross it, like they're like it was
it was like kind of impossible actually just to to
move from there. And because like lots of stories where
like we were hitting that the army just taking people
(28:24):
to jail, like people in the same age of us
just take them to jail, or like they just kill them,
like because because of nothing, they shoot them in the street.
All of us were just were like because there is
no no there were no way of transportation actually no
cars nothing, just walking. We like we got our bags
(28:46):
were buried them at four four a m. And we
lived home at ten ten am, I think in the
second of April. So we were just we were going
in this street and like you are walking in the
street and you just hear the sounds of the drones around,
(29:08):
which is which include guns and it's it include cameras
which which just video you. Once you are walking and
going and you are afraid, you your brother and your sister,
you are alone in the street. Every everywhere is just bombing.
You are afraid. You have like you don't know what's
what's what's gonna happen. You're gonna arrive, You're gonna gross
(29:29):
across it, or maybe you're gonna die, maybe you're gonna
be taken to the jail. You have you have no idea.
So once we were like we went we were just
walking for kind of four hours, walking to the blaze
which was in the in the middle of goud just
to cross. So like all of us, three of us
(29:49):
just went on there. They like they were just talking
with us with Mike's I don't know, like it was
the first time just to see the the the the
army in the soldiers, they all of them having guns
staying there and they were just they were shooting just
to make to make us afraid. And they had they
(30:11):
had dogs and they let dogs just run. And people
who have just guns with the with the light or
I mean just they were moving it in our bodies
just to make us afraid. Once we were walking there,
and some of them were just riding their cars and
just follow us, follow us like faster, just to make
us afraid and to us to let us run, even
(30:34):
if we were just walking for four hours and we
just we have no idea, just we carry the back
and we just were run. Like they they they deal
with these as games between them, a challenge. We're gonna
kill them bye bye bye by hitting them in the
streets or not. Our life was again with them, a
(30:54):
challenge between them. Just like actually I can remember before
this situation before moving and like yeah, the flower, we're
coming from from that side. So people people, people were going,
people were going and waiting in this street just to
to talk. Some of them just just to stay alive
(31:17):
because there's nothing on the north of Gaza. So one
day we went to to that blaze actually and it's
was like it was a hell just to go on
there like we like out of nowhere. You were just
sitting in a normal way out of nowhere. Just you
you open the right, you open the left. You found
people just falling down full of a blood. They were
(31:40):
shooting randomly, like like you have a backing ground before
going you have a backing ground. You know how how
how evil they are, how like what they have inside,
what they do. So like once we were going on there,
like we were imagining or were we were afraid just
because all like me and Hams were males and any
female we were afraid just to take us and leave
(32:02):
their name alone, to leave or just anything.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Thank you Amar for sharing that. That's terrifying and horrific
that you all had to experience that while you were
trying to get to the border crossing. So once you
cross the border, what happened after that?
Speaker 8 (32:18):
Yeah? Actually once once we like we crossed the border,
we we walked actually after like for two hours I
think till we got a car. It was a car
for like a journalist car actually and just they did
like they found us walking. It was it was like Ramadan.
We were fasting actually that day like it was like
(32:40):
kind six hours walking and they found us in the street,
just tired. So they decided to let us go with them,
and we went with them and Rafa and we stayed
there in a school actually because there is no like
we had like we don't know anybody there. We have
(33:00):
no we don't have a blaze. And it was late
just to go for the border, just to leave Gaza.
It was late. It was. We arrived there I think
at four we m it was it closed, the border
very closed at two. Yeah. So once we arrived there,
we stayed on a school for a night. Then second
(33:21):
day just we got ourselves ready and we lived in
the morning by the Therapa border.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So it took about two days for you to get
to the actual border crossing.
Speaker 8 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, actually once we went to like we were late.
Actually our names were shared in the first and the
first of April we crossed Gaza and the second of Abril,
like we crossed the border, I mean the the border,
and the second of April we left Gaza at the
third of April, so we were we were lid late two.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Days okay, and you were still able to cross into Cairo.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
Yeah, because like like we were, we were able to
even like it was late actually, like because we were
late two days. So they kept us for like at
the end because we were late. So but at the end.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
We left time in don't go anywhere, locomotives. We'll be
right back.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
We're back with more. We hope you didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
So you enter Cairo and then and then what happens?
Do you do you know anyone? Do you have family?
Speaker 8 (34:29):
Once we we have be in the border there, I
mean in the in the border, like we have no
idea where are we going? It's the first time to travel,
to move. We have no idea. Actually, like we were
in the border, we were asking each other where where
are we going? Which like are we going to staying
in a hotel? Are we staying on the street. There
was one of our cousins when in Cairo, she like
(34:52):
she came to as a visit in here, so like
she saw our names and the traveling gliz and just
she called my father. She she told him that they can't
join until they can't find an apartment, just to to rend.
So we got a location and we moved to her apartment.
We stayed there actually and once we meet we once
(35:14):
we met Kite then actually we were actually we were
we were late because we were me and Hans. It
wasn't midnight and me and Hamsa were out just searching
for a blaze to rent and searching for an apartment,
a blaze to stay. But like at the first time
once once we lived like we like everything like you
are strange. You are strange in a strange blaze. You
(35:36):
you don't know anybody in there. Everything just came out
of nowhere. You are traveling. We were like we were
sitting in the home normally, and just like our friends
called us, they told us, we show we saw your names.
So like nothing was prepared, even our clothes, our clothes
wasn't he prepared Actually, like we prepared everything in in
the morning, just before traveling a few hours. So like
(35:58):
we went. We went there, we stayed in the hair
apartment and there we got just we found a place
to stay, to stay at and actually life in Egypt,
it's it's too expensive to as students as a people
who don't have work, who took money from their family
and who like their family is staying in the war.
(36:19):
So it was too expensive, too expensive to turn drink
an apartment actually and just drink the normal. This is
the normal that defense one I mean not the one
that you used. You you used to live in in
Ghaza and your normal life just a blaze to stay there.
But there is no choice. Actually, like you you want
(36:39):
to stay. You want to stay in Bible houses because
like people want to trouble, they want the understaying I
mean for forever. So you have to choose a place
to stay at. We're in the apartment and we thought
that we may we're going to get a solution in Cairo.
Actually we weren't totty close to the university. So if
we got accepted, we can be class going to the university.
(37:02):
But unfortunately, like there's no solution here.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Right, you did mention that at the top of the interviews.
So the three of you are no longer living together. Right,
Almost a year has gone or several months have gone
by since you left Kaza. So what does your life
look like now as you attempt to rebuild in different countries? Now?
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Actually, as I mentioned before, it was the first time
for every one of us to travel and to lift
to Gaza. So just this, like this idea, just imagining
this idea was hard, but I was saying, like, just imagine,
like the easiest port is just your brother will be
with you. So when it just when we just go
(37:45):
to Cairo, we stay together and everyone like of us
start searching and finding just a way to complete or
to start or anything just to join universities. So in
the beginning, like it was so much hard, Like I
can't like like literally remember that memory. We loved in
(38:08):
Cairo and in Egypt. The first month was so much hard.
But the only thing that it can just make it
easy for you that my brothers were with me. So
after that when the travel, I stayed alone with me
and Ahmed, and like we stayed maybe alone like for
(38:28):
three months or something until that day after I just
I couldn't find any solution to study in Egypt, so
I just find my way to complete and Turkey. So
it was just the first time for me to leave
like like living to Cairo wasn't that like I know,
(38:50):
like I left my mom, my brother and my whole
family like behind in the north. But I was having
just members of my family with me, and even like
the whole eye I couldn't list like even the school
when it was just going for school, I was going
with them and come back with them, and every single
thing in my life, taking courses, going outside, friends, everything
(39:13):
is just together, so it was so much hard for
me to leave. I remember when just I go like
the first time we go to say goodbye for Hamza
and the air wort and we just started crying the
same thing when that happened for me when I just
say goodbye for Ahmad, And I remember that day when
just he called me mom and detail her. Every couple
(39:36):
of months, I just say goodbye to one of my
family members. The first time I said goodbye to you
when they left you in Girlsa, the second time I
say to Hamsha. And now I'm saying to Turnim. And
every just time, every period, just the people is getting
out of my life and just I'm saying alone. So
(39:56):
that sentence was just fulling my head. Now everyone like
imagine we're a small family. We spend every single thing
in our life together and when one time everything gets
changed to reach like just the level that everyone of
us literally living in a different area. Everyone like no
(40:17):
one is with the other. I'm in a city and
my brother in a city, and Ahmas in a different country,
and my mom and the Nord and my brother is
his wife and he gets everyone like we're just like
we are a family that we are only seven members
of this family, but every single one of us is
totally living in a different place and totally living a
(40:39):
special kind of suffering just to live like the suffering
we live it here, like Ahmad is just still suffering
to find a university so he can complete and not
to search from the very beginning, me and Hamza, we
still suffer to complete our university and to live here
in just a foraging country, a country that they didn't
even speak our language. And the people that we will
(41:02):
never imagine that we will live with them, not just
like come for a couple of days and have fun.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
We will live like a year.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Like for me, I will live seven with this in
this country, in this like foreign country, and the same
things for my family that it's been just a few,
like a few families that they still in the North,
and my family was one of them. They're still in
the North and they just suffering to live. They're suffering
to find food, to find water, to stay safe. They're suffering.
(41:34):
They're running from a blaze to others just to protect
their lives. This was like seven October, and everything happened
after that they was literally damaging everything.
Speaker 5 (41:46):
In my life.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
Like imagine that you have just a simple dream list,
but like after this day and after all of the
situations that happened, everything was canceled and just effecting the
whole thing that you lived before.
Speaker 5 (42:01):
So it was so much hard.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
And and even just taking the choice, like you know,
even just taking the choice to travel and just read
your family behind was so much hard. You couldn't imagine
house the night that we spend Like it's like the
covering the news in Gaza and especially in the North
is so bad, like because you wouldn't have like no,
(42:25):
like there's no a lot of people still in the North,
so getting news or what's happening there or what's the
updates there, it was so much heard. So if you
are lucky and someone just share a news about something
happened in the North, they will just say, like the
top time, like they bump a house in the street,
and your mind imagine that this is the street you're
(42:47):
living in, and just your mind now will start working
which which house, which place is it? My family? Is
it next to them? Is it doesn't affect them, what's
happened to them? Imagine just your mind just will thinking
like overthink and overthink about this, and you couldn't even
(43:08):
have a call, even a cold imagine as symbol like
a call. You can't do it. We don't have networks
to call our family. So even just the symbolest thing
if you like, okay, we didn't like we find it
hard to meet them or to see them. But unless
having a call with them just to make sure, like
are you fine, this is not acceptable. Just imagine how
(43:30):
is the night that you spend like your phone is
not silent, you're just waiting every minute to get any
use to check them to see how the situation there
if anyone shared any news and sometimes like some people
share a news and in the end it turned out
it's not correct or it's not specific this area. And
imagine every time you will be someone who worried about
(43:52):
every single news if it's right, wrong, specific, not specific.
You will be just wearried and imagining like and feeling
you know, just feeling guilty or something and like about
like that you take just this a choice and you
take it. There's just this choice to complete your study.
You just need like to live the worries and this
(44:15):
afraid because you left your family to complete your study.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Thank you tour name for sharing that. That's the same
question to you, what does your life look like now
as you attempt to rebuild in Turkey?
Speaker 7 (44:29):
You know that I was.
Speaker 6 (44:31):
The first one who decided to move Gaza, and I
attempt to time to move from Gaza to north of Gaza,
to the south, then to Egypt. But the first attempt failed.
The first attempt was like I got my bag handbag
(44:53):
and decided that I want to move. I decided this
because I was a volunteer in the Cheval hospital and
in Al Mahma Danny Hospital for six months and emergency
departments and an autobedic department. When I when there's nothing
(45:14):
to do. Really, I doing nothing at the hospital, so
I decided to move. Can you imagine that there was
a young guy, I think he was nineteen. He got
a bullet in his eye. So there is no city,
no X ray, no ultrasound, so we're just waiting. After
after four hours, he started complaining of the materiorial blood
(45:37):
in his urine only and we complete waiting nothing to do.
Speaker 7 (45:42):
We have nothing to do. So after.
Speaker 6 (45:46):
Two hours his family started shouting, he's dying. So I
went there he's dying. So I started give adrenaline. So
I kept doing sib R for twenty five minutes until
his bubils are total telefix dilated.
Speaker 7 (46:05):
So that's me.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
The brain has already dead. So simply I'm telling his
mom that your son has best away. You know that
during the medical school for sixty for six years in
the medical school, we they learning us have to freck
bad news. How to tell the patient that you have something,
(46:29):
How to tell the family that your son or your
daughter has best away. But in this war, simply you
are telling them that your son has best away.
Speaker 7 (46:40):
So I decided to move.
Speaker 6 (46:42):
When I'm so the first time I attend it was
it was failed because first time I got my bag
and move.
Speaker 7 (46:51):
So I was crossing the streets.
Speaker 6 (46:55):
Every street I crossing, waiting so if I shake him,
is there some either or not? So I chinking, is
there is there military vehicles and this is street or not?
So I kept going, going going, So I crossed half
of the roads. Then I find Ahmed behind me shouting,
(47:17):
so come back, come back. The military is in this road.
So I decided to come back. Then we got the
second attempt and we moved to Egypt. Once I arrived
to Egypt, so I started thinking what should I do?
Speaker 7 (47:30):
So, how and where? Where?
Speaker 6 (47:33):
How and where I will complete I will complete my study.
So I searched for multiple so multiple ways to trying
to find a way to complete my study. So if
I compare the situation for me here in Turkey and
the situation for me.
Speaker 7 (47:50):
One year ago.
Speaker 6 (47:51):
One years ago, I was living in a house save
room for me. In this room, you can close your
door and do whatever you want. But now nowadays I'm
living in a student housing, which is I have in
every single room there is five persons. Five persons you
(48:12):
are twenty four, there is extra four persons sharing the
same room with you, which means there is no bribes.
Speaker 7 (48:20):
You can't do nothing.
Speaker 6 (48:21):
You know that sometimes you feel you want to cry,
simply in normal feelings, normal emotion, you.
Speaker 7 (48:26):
Want to cry.
Speaker 6 (48:27):
So I just cover my head and start crying. So
I don't want anybody. I don't want anybody to see
me crying. But I can't stop this emotion. To my
sister or my brother, start telling them what I'm feeling.
One hour later, I feel I am okay. Nowadays I'm
starting crying, crying for an hour.
Speaker 7 (48:49):
Then I have to wash my face and I'm okay.
Speaker 6 (48:52):
I have to pretend that I am okay, but inside me,
I'm not okay.
Speaker 7 (48:57):
That's the situation here.
Speaker 6 (48:59):
I were living with my family, I know all of them,
they know me. And my neighborhood. I know all of
my neighbors, they know me. But here I don't know anybody.
And the second thing that people here considering us as
a stranger.
Speaker 7 (49:18):
You're a stranger.
Speaker 6 (49:20):
I am a human, So why this discrimination? Why are
you doing this discrimination. I am a human like you,
and I don't have any difference from you, but they
are considering us like strangers and refugees, not only strangers,
even if I am studying. So I don't ask you
for help. I don't ask you for shelter. I don't
(49:42):
ask you for money, I don't ask you for anything.
I am a formal person here. I entered formally this
country and I am studying, and they are considering us
like strangers.
Speaker 7 (49:55):
That's the situation.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Thank you hamsa Ahmar. How about you?
Speaker 8 (49:59):
Did you before before the world was like a dream
just to come to Egypt as a tourist because there's
lots of gold places in here, just to visit and
to enjoy your time, to be happy by visiting them,
but actually coming to Egypt in that situation just to
change the whole idea. Just like like we were like
(50:20):
we were happy at the beginning. Maybe maybe it's like
we were just it's like not happy, but I mean
we were. We were thinking that it is a good
place to go to. Once we came and we just
we faced the reality of Egypt. The people here in
Egypt we had everything is different, like kind of like
people you can just I'm sorry for saying this, Like
(50:41):
it's kind of like buying people buy money. So there
is like they how how can do you ask them
to respect by giving them money? This is the only
way here in Egypt and here just everything they said,
everything that every everything happening in Egypt has bad thing.
Everything just they say this is related to you. This
(51:03):
because of you Palestinians Gaus and came to the destroyed
our our country, our city. They make everything just more expensive,
the more expensive everything just yeah, everything they said like
this is because people came from the war and here
just they make everything more expensive. So that's a situation
here like people here three reads us. I don't know,
(51:26):
like I don't know why all of us are like
all of us are people. All of us are normal,
maybe like you are like in your city, in your country,
you are better than him. Actually you are in a
medical school and he's a normal like he maybe he's
not educated and he doesn't know how to write his name,
but like he just here here people saying this. So
(51:47):
he kept saying it. Just he tried or they try
to hurt you saying that words. Actually, according to me,
I don't move the apartment. I don't like to like
I don't like to see many people outside, like Egyptian
people like it's it's horrible actually to deal with them,
to live, to hear them talking about you, your situation.
(52:09):
Everybody just has a different obinion different toos. Like they
think like it's horrible actually to deal with them, or
just to have a normal or a simple conversation in
a street or I mean a supermarket or anywhere. They
like everything bad just related to you. That's it. Like
I tell I didn't take anything from you, nothing I did.
(52:31):
Like I'm not studying, I'm paying for my myself. I'm
paying for my my stuff, myself everything. I am the
one who baying so like once you call like you
are calling me that I am a refugee or just
I run away from my country or I don't know
what a refugee like the meaning of refugee just to
be in a country and the the country just paying
(52:55):
you money because you are you have you have you
have residency on there, you are residents in the in
the country, in this country. But I am not. Actually
I'm paying for everything, and you call me a refugee.
Why we are we are both like like I am
like my country now in a bad situation. Maybe the
next time your country can be in that situation. So
(53:15):
why you treat me that way? Why you told me
that this stuff? And actually Egypt used to have that situation.
I mean, uh, we're like kind of war but between
them themselves, the government what I mean, So like why
to call me? Why why do you treat me that way?
So this is the situation. So like now I'm accordingly,
I'm trying as possible as as I can, as hard
(53:39):
as I can, just to leave rem from him. Actually
now after turname left because like during' this is too expensive,
I just decided to to to rent a room an
apartment I'm living with with a strangers. I have no
idea about them. I have never seen them. Actually I'm
living with a strangers an apartment now, so like there
can just be on you know, on one orally I
(54:01):
got nothing. I don't know, maybe maybe I can get
but unfortunately semester started. I tried outside right in America,
Canada or friends anywhere. I'm trying anywhere around the world
and even not not orop country to to go there,
because like they gonna treat you that way. They're gonna
tell you that way if like they don't respect that thing,
(54:25):
or they don't just tell that you are coming from
a war, or you are just you're living under a
brusshure and you like have your family, and like they
don't they don't think about that situation. The only think
about that you are like you came from there. You
make everything worse. That's it. So I hope, like I
hope I can't get like I got a chance just
to travel from here just to continue my education, to
(54:47):
study outside and anywhere, just to continue from the their
deer outside in any country around the world, any blaze,
any I have no idea where, but I mean any blaze,
any anniversity just could like offer me just to complete
my education. I have all my documents, I have everything,
but unfortunately, unfortunately here in Egypt, there is there is
(55:10):
no chance.
Speaker 1 (55:12):
Thank you, thank you so final final question and final yeah,
just just thought if you want to share with the
listeners is what is your message for them? What do
you want the world to know? What do you want
people listeners to walk away from by listening to this episode?
Speaker 8 (55:29):
So they are listeners, Actually what you are seeing in
the TV or listening on the radio or I don't know,
if you are following the news about Gaza, this is
only a point in d C you like you are
seeing nothing. This is normally like they don't share everything.
(55:49):
They don't share everything for people because like about they
don't they care about people feelings. I mean people who
are living on the situation like living in the war
in Gaza, just they they suffer and see more, and
they see a lot more than the people who are
out like who are watching from TV or who just
(56:11):
following news outside. Keep supporting Gaza, keep just helping them,
keep just working on a stopping the war. And this
is a personal just a personal message for the people
or for anybody who can listen I am here in Egypt.
I'm stuck. I have no idea if I can just
(56:32):
complete my education or not. If anybody, if you or
any any person who could help help me. Just who
you know, anybody in a university, a doctor or professor.
I don't know anyone in the university. Anybody, Just who
can help me to find a chance, just to complete
my education, to complete my my dental school, to start
(56:54):
from the their yer. I have everything everything, I have
my my documents, all of them. So of please, anyone,
anyone just who can who can help in this this way,
just a blease help?
Speaker 1 (57:07):
Thank you Hamsa. How about you? What is your message
to our listeners?
Speaker 8 (57:11):
To me?
Speaker 6 (57:12):
My message is when I were in Gaza, I was
thinking that humanity, human rights is a big lie.
Speaker 7 (57:20):
But when I left.
Speaker 6 (57:23):
Gaza and they start dealing with this world, I realized
that the human rights and the humanity is a big lie. Unfortunately,
I realized this people performing racism towards us. And the
big thing that if we compare other situations in the
(57:44):
world with our situation, they are considering people from the
same situation but different country as humans and they give
them their rights. But for us, they consider us as
refugees and they don't give us the basics of our rights.
(58:04):
We don't ask anybody for anything. But why you are
performing racism towards us, I don't know. This is the
first thing the thinking and think that if you are
considering yourselves as a humans, please do your best to
stop the genocide in Gather, do your best to stop killing.
(58:27):
Everything has damaged and the whole city has damaged. We
are now having about sixty thousands militaris and this war.
So these sixty thousands are humans, so care about them.
They are not numbers. They are humans. They have a
right to live a level life. They have a right
(58:49):
to die in a peaceful way. And can you imagine
yourself you are when you die, you are hundreds of
pieces they collect you in bocket, that's your body. So
they have the right to live a human life and
die in a baseful way. And that's it. Thank you
(59:09):
very much. Stop this guenicide, Stop this genicide, stop this genocide.
Speaker 7 (59:15):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (59:16):
Hamsa Gardine.
Speaker 4 (59:18):
Actually is just my message for all the people around
the world. Just it's been a year, it's been a
year seeing and listening for all this news. Can you
just please but yourself. I know no nobody around the
world can can can even imagine, but just try to
imagine to but yourself and just like the symbolist situation
(59:42):
in Gaza right now, and imagine, can you afford just
staying alive or staying there just for five minutes or
just after putting yourself in just our place there? Can
you imagine if the same situation is happening for you
and for your country, with the people be silent as
(01:00:04):
the same as there until now, silent about everything is happening.
Imagine that this genocide is happening for another country, a
big country or other country. Would the world be silent? No,
of course no, they won't even complete one day about
all of these things happening. But we complete one year,
(01:00:25):
one year just of suffering living under genocide. Even we
don't have no like even we don't have the basics,
not the basics like they're real in the world. We
don't have water or food to eat or to drink.
We don't have just abees, we don't have a safety
place to stay in. You you just you sleep and
(01:00:49):
you're not sure if you the next day you will
wake up or your will just wake up and finding
your family next to you. Just just my message for you,
Just imagine yourself in the same place that we're been
spending years suffering and just dying in in a slowly way.
(01:01:10):
Imagine any anything, anything can you do can be a difference.
Even sharing, sharing, and you even following the news, going
outside with a lot of people every week and saying,
just stop genocide. This will effect. If you say this
won't effect. No, you will say this is not affect
and the other will say so who will say? Who
(01:01:30):
will care about us? We are a people, We are
the same. All of us are a human being. All
of all of us are a human being, and all
of us have the right just to live in a
peaceful way. All of us have the right just we
need the basic We don't ask you for anything. We
don't ask you just for literally anything. Just stop this
genocide and let us complete our life like the moment
(01:01:54):
that we were living before the seventh of October, and
just give us the chance to live as and a
human being around the world thelist give us this, just
the Simbilist tribes and a human investment.
Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
A special thank you to Caitlin Prest, director of Mermaid Palace,
and host of the Heart Radiotopia for connecting us with Ahmad,
Hasma and Darnim. Caitlin also produced a Gaza monologue series
on her podcast The Heart. Please support that series and
Ashtar Theater, a nonprofit theater training Palestinian youth. Caitlin and
(01:02:32):
Ahmad who You Heard From Today, created a scholarship fund
called the Mermaid Haved Scholarship Fund. By contributing to this
scholarship fund on gofund me, you can support Ahmad, Hamza
and Darnim complete their respective medical school education and restart
their lives outside of Gaza. We hope you can contribute
(01:02:54):
and share the gofund me with everyone in your network.
Thank you for listening to another episode of Loka Dora Radio.
Until next time, Besitos. Loka do A Radio is executive
produced by Viosa Fem and Mala Munios.
Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Stephanie Franco is our producer.
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Story editing by me Theosa.
Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
Creative direction by Me Mala.
Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
Look at A Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael
Dura podcast network.
Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
You can listen to look At Radio on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Leave us a review and share with your prima or
share with your homegirl.
Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
And thank you to our local morees, to our listeners
for tuning in each and every week.
Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
Besitos
Look at Our Radio is a radiophonic novela, which.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Is just a very extra way of saying a podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm fiosa fem.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I am ma la munios.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
We're podcasting through another Trump election year. We've been podcasting
through election years, a global pandemic, civic unrest, political controversies,
the Me Too movement, the rise of TikTok, and we
are still here.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
We're not done telling stories.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We're still making podcasts. We're older, we're wiser, We're even
podcasting through a new decade of our lives.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Since twenty sixteen, we've been making Loca thro Our Radio
independently until we joined iHeartMedia's Michael Dura Network in twenty
twenty two.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
From our lips to your ears, fall in love with
Loca toa radio like you never have before.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Welcome to Season nine. Love that first listen.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ola la Loka Motes. Welcome back to season nine of
Loka Dora Radio. I'm the Osa. Loka Dora Radio is
a podcast dedicated to our chiving, are present and shifting
the culture forward. You're tuning in to Capituro Rocientos Ate
two seventeen. We're bringing you a special episode that commemorates
(01:21):
the one year of the genocide in Palestine. I'm recording
this episode remotely, which means we're outside of the studio.
We're on zoom, and the quality may sound differently. I'm
also sitting with Ahmad, Hamza and Tarnim. They are three
Palestinian siblings who crossed the Rafa border and are rebuilding
(01:44):
their lives outside of Gaza. Their family remains in Gaza.
You will hear them describe their lives before October seventh,
their lives during israel siege of Gaza, and how they
escaped to Cairo, Egypt, and now how they're attempting to
rebuild their lives. Today's episode does not follow our typical
(02:08):
interview format. We are honoring their voices and stories, so
you'll be hearing from them for the rest of this episode.
We hope you listen with an open heart and can
support the stories of these three Palestinians.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
My name is Turning Jabber. I'm nineteen years old. I'm
a Palestinian girl, especially from Gaz. I spent my whole
life living in Gaza with my family. I spent like
the whole childhood school and I was planning to start
my university in one of the Palestinian university in gas.
I was going to join the medical field to be
(02:49):
a medical student. And it's been my first week as
a university student. To us just you know when the
person just join and new, like this was totally a
new part for me in my life and a new experience.
I was just so much excited to join this this
(03:09):
especially that I was the youngest in my family, so
all of my brothersss have entered and joined the university
before and medical school especially, so my life like literally
was like I can't actually like explain another word than
being like perfect before seventh of October. Even if like
(03:32):
when you want to just compare my life like our
life and listening in life in generally and especially the
people they live in Gazam with other people around the
world lives literally you will find it so much hard.
But for us, we just feel like fine, at least
we have a life.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
We have a home to.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Stay, a schools, university, food, and that's it. We will
really we were just focusing on the very basics in
the life.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
We didn't need extra things. We've been like really like
when we just were opening internet and social media and
see people going and in travel and that things were
so much easy for the people outside just like like
sitting together and okay, let's let's have like a ticket
to somewhere and they go. That's it. It was like
this is for us was a dream or something like that.
(04:27):
So our life was really was good for us. At
least I was living with my family and like the
last two months, especially before seven of October, I was
just finishing my last year in school and I was
just having a high average and people were coming to
(04:50):
visit us and just say like congregulations. And the other
event that happened is like my older brother have got married.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
So this was.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Another very beautiful experience in our lives because like he's
the older and it's the first time.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
And the third thing is like.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
We like my family like spend their whole life just
working hard for like two things. The first thing is
just teach us and the second thing is just having
our own home. So when we just in August especially,
we moved our own home and we just lived the
(05:33):
two months August and September there and it was literally
a dream.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
We were like literally living in a dream.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
And I don't know, something tell me in this period
of time that I was just taking photos for everything.
For everything, I just was taking photos and videos. Something
was selling me inside. Just take them.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
They would be memory one day.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So yeah, that's it until seventh of October when just
our lives changed, like upside down, completely changed.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
I am I'm Zober twenty four year old. I am
a six year medical student. It was visual to be
graduated from my medical school in June twenty twenty four,
but unfortunately, due to the war, I missed that year.
(06:31):
Twenty three. Twenty twenty four was a really special year
for me because this is the year of my graduation.
So after five, after six six years in the medical school,
I gonna graduate.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
Yeah, I will by then this sixth By by then
of my.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
Sixth year, I will be done with all of my
medical subjects. He was subjects like internal medicine, and so
that's really exciting to me. And I just entering the
sixty school at the sixth year, full of energy, full
of excited excitance. So I'm gonna graduate. So that's my situation.
(07:15):
And the other thing that I have only two beautiful
memories before the war, moving to our new house and
the marriage of my brother. So by the way, my
brother yesterday got a daughter. So yesterday his wife delivered
(07:36):
a daughter. So my only two beautiful memberies before the war.
This is it was our new house and the marriage
of my brother and our un unfortunately, and we missed.
I missed my school, I missed, we missed our house,
and we are far away from our family, especially the
(08:00):
new daughter came. So that's the situation to me.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
My name is Ahma Chaber. I am twenty two years old.
I used to be there tintel students in Gaza, but
unfortunately the world just disturb ubed my education on there
and I just I stopped because there's no education, there
is no adversities, there is no schools in there in Gaza,
(08:28):
like everything were destroyed and the stopped because of the war.
We were in Gaza like we were too heavy. Actually
we were living the best life ever in Gaza, like
all of us were or all of us were in
medical schools. Me, my brothers and sisters, all of us
(08:49):
are aductors. I mean, so our family just were living
in that zone of doctors like we had a great
life actually, but the war came and just disturb upt
and destroyed everything. Before the war, we just we lived
and or we moved to our new home which we
which was the dream home. Actually it had like it
(09:10):
has been a long time dreaming of living in a
home that like this. But after the war, like they
were just like because of the world, they destroyed our home.
They bombed actually once the the the army just break
into like our street, the last we were we were
living in. They destroyed the home. So like our dreams,
(09:32):
everything we were, we were like we were dreaming with
like we lost everything, like we lost life, we lost
we lost we lost moments, we lost a friends, we
lost family, we lost everything. When they're everything had been destroyed,
and just the question we have like we have no idea,
why what's this? What was like, what's the relation between
(09:53):
us between the world doing everything?
Speaker 7 (09:55):
All right?
Speaker 8 (09:55):
Like we are students, we are just studying. We are
we have dreams, we have like we have life as
anybody around the world, any any people around the world,
any studid anybody in my age, I mean outside of
Gaza has like has dreams, has life. Anybody in there?
So like why why why why? Like why only only
(10:19):
we we are just special on this? Why to suffer?
Why to have, Paine, Why to be stressful in this?
Speaker 7 (10:25):
Why?
Speaker 8 (10:26):
Why to be lost?
Speaker 7 (10:28):
Why? Why?
Speaker 8 (10:28):
Like why a man like me twenty two years old,
just staying in Cairo without his family, half of them
in the war. I'm staying alone there having nothing to do.
I'm I'm like, I'm living pain because of nothing. I
didn't choose. I just I found myself on there because
I need to complete my education. Unfortunately I didn't. I
didn't like I can't or I don't have a solution
(10:50):
just to complete it? Just why what did I do?
I did nothing. I was I was just building my
life to be I have I like like I have
no odination, what like I have no relation about what
happened the seventh of October? And this is like, see you,
(11:10):
what's happened the seventh of October? Or like what caused me?
What caused my family? It caused everything?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Don't go anywhere, Locomotives will be right back.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
And we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Thank you to the three of you for providing us
with some insight as to what your life was like
before October seventh and what you've been what you and
many others have had to deal with since the three
of you talked about the home that you lived in
and how it was your dream home, and so I
want to ask you about living under occupation. You described,
(11:49):
you know, having this somewhat like dream home and you
were accomplishing your dreams, you know, but can you tell
us what it was like to live under occupation? Even
before October seventh.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Actually before a couple of days I meet, I met
a new friend here and she was just like asking
me about girls, of the situation and things. So I
was just explaining for her and how I came and
these things. So I just noticed one thing that while
she was asking me questions, like in every sentence I say,
(12:20):
she told me, but you used to, but you lived before,
but you tried this before and you used to. So
it's been like a question marks and in my head,
why like why why we why we like why we
have to use to these terrible things? Actually living in Gaza,
like my whole life, it's been just in imagine, like
in my imagination. It's in my imagination in girls, especially
(12:44):
because always look like like a small point but circling
with a siege.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
That's it a brizen. Literally it was a brisen.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
But even this we just like ask the Balstinian the
girls and people, we like we create life, we do live.
We just we made this siege and we make this
present full of colors and life and just beautiful things.
We just like the families, the best Scenian people there
just had to like teach their students and give like
(13:14):
the most intelligent students from this area, just to show
the people and to show the ward that this is
really a place somewhere and the world have a human
being that have the rights.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Spending our whole life living in such things was so
much hurt.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Imagine like literally we have We were having like a
schedule for the electricity for the water, like the electricity
is coming four hours, and it cut twelve, didn't come four,
it cand of twelve.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
That said, this is our life. We were just waiting.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Imagine that you're sitting and oh my god, I'm waiting
just the electricity to come for like four hours so
the internet can come in this just four hours. Imagine
what can you do in just like the for hours,
charging a phone, having internet, washing connection, doing like turning
the machine the washing machine, or what can you do
in this the four hours? But we never like we
(14:11):
never said anything. We know, like it's a problem, and
we say before, but we never like nobody used to
know about what we left and what we suffer there.
The same problem was for water, as schedule, as special boards,
the same problem where for if you want to leave,
if you want to just.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Go outside to complete your study, to have a job
or anything. This was the top and hard, like hard,
very very difficult thing.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You know, it was so much hard for someone to
just live Gaza especially it was a bresent. Like imagine
how much it will be hard for someone living in
a bresent and you just need to leave. The same
was for us. So that's why I was telling that
we never left Gaza before, not because of anything like
even not having fun for study, because it was something
(15:03):
so much hard, because that was such like as a
small city, we have like just like a few a
few hospitals, a few schools and a few universities. But
even this it was so small, it was so like
it was busy, like it was full of people. Like
I think, like you have three millions people lived there
in this point in the world, and all of these
(15:25):
three millions people were suffering, were some were living the
same hardness We're trying just you know, you know when
you just live just to skip the day, You just
live this day to like, just to spend this day,
and I'm waiting for tomorrow. You reach tomorrow and just
you skip this day to reach for the other. This
was literally our life. We were just skip it.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
We skip it and you see what's the next step
in our life?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And that was it literally without like as I said before, alive,
with only the basics and some basics, we couldn't even
let or see or dream of having it.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
Can you imagine that three million people live in three
hundred and sixty kilometers and Gaza was under sea from
nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 7 (16:17):
They believe there if.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
They are lucky, the bower come every day about six
hours if they are lucky. So sometimes you spend the
whole day without electricity, and of course there is no electricity,
there is no internet and no other So the basics,
the basics of having alive, let's say you can find them.
(16:42):
You don't have a right to have these basics. That
was our situation in Gaza. And if you decided that
you want to travel, there is no way to travel
because Gaza are bordered by the occupation and the sea,
and we have a border to Egypt which is mostly
(17:05):
closed and we have you have to pay to bath
from Gaza to Egypt. And because we are lucky also
during the war, for every person, every person bay about
five thousand dollars to bath from Gaza to Egypt, if
(17:26):
even if he's a child, so that's the number is
fixed for every if he's a human, we have to
pay five thousands.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
So that's the way.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
That's and they ask poor people they don't have basic
life right too, to do this.
Speaker 7 (17:43):
Moreover that we don't.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
We were we we were not having any medical centers.
So in all Gaza there is only one medical center.
It was called the Chefer Hospital and this was not
really prepared, but it was good for us. This is
the best center in Gaza. And also there's only two
(18:07):
universities for whole for four Gazen people. But for us,
even if this was even if this was our situation,
we were trying to adapt and we were attending the
the universities Gaza.
Speaker 7 (18:26):
Gaza having the highest.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Rate of education worldwide, so people there are trying to
be trying to be something, trying to make their dreams real.
In every every person. Imagine making dreams and trying every
key and work hardly to make his dream real. The
(18:49):
world come and making everything and damaged everything, destroyed everything.
So all of Gaza people missed everything in this world.
Speaker 8 (18:59):
So what we were living in Gaza actually like our
lives wasn't safe for the whole time or wasn't trigular actually,
so like in each like every two or three months,
just we we we just have a military menievas in
in Gaza, like every two or two years, they out
(19:21):
of nowhere they started shooting or bombing home like houses
and just start helding people for for a week or
two weeks. That's that was like the usual actually in Gaza,
not a long ward was just short for like for
like a few days, a week, two weeks. It's too
long actually, like uh, before that world was they were
(19:45):
they were a one before which it wasn't twenty twenty
two to it like the twenty twenty went actually and
before like like like kind of from two thousand and seven,
twenty twenty four or twenty twenty three, there were like
wars a normal one which which we know we are
(20:08):
in a war, or the the menievas that they do
so like our life was just kind of like like
the usual or it is not like not normal normal
people usual life actually, but this was our usual, just
to have wars or to live in bombing and shooting
(20:32):
and about the occupation. Actually, like everything everything was was
hard just to live in there. Everything was hard everything
once you think about anything, if you want to trouble
as any any any any person around the world who
just take his bassport and go to the airport easily,
(20:54):
We don't think that way. Actually, we spend months, lots,
like a long period of time just going just waiting
to apply for a visa because you are gozen for
because you're Balistinian. So you like it takes too long
just to apply for a visa. Maybe you can, you
may get accepted, maybe not. If you got accepted, you're
(21:15):
gonna just got your name and the borders, so you
can just wait your name until they accept you to travel. Actually,
like in twenty twenty, I lost the whole year. I
lost the whole year once I finished my school at
the secondary school. I mean I were like I applied
for a scholarship in that period and I got the
(21:38):
visa and then because like I am from Gaza, because
I'm Palistinian and apply like they like after I think
six six six months, I have been just waiting a
long period, a long time too for my name to
be in the border, just to leave and go for
(21:59):
that skal ship to study outside. They can sell di
visa because like it talked too long because and I
didn't I didn't join and the first semester had finished,
so they cancel that and I didn't travel, so I started,
like I decided just to study there in Gaza. Like
we try to just to make to make hard, to
(22:19):
create a beauty out of hardness, out of out of
pain actually just to yeah, we we just were very
trying to make our lives better. Just we were like
we were very studying in the college and these colleges,
and I mean just because these are the best. You
can just have a life. After you can you can
be respectful from anybody around the world, once you are
(22:41):
traveling or once you are any any blades, because you
are a doctor, like you can just everything can be
easy for you. So like we were trying just to
make our life just easy even if we were living
in this in this situated situation. I mean, the like
like accubation, wars, stressful, everything were hard and there I
(23:05):
mean electricity. So you want you want to study, you
want to download your lectures, the videos, you want to study.
The electricity came for four hours a day maybe like
in the morning once you are in the university. This
this like your four hours came in the morning, maybe
at night when once you are sleeping. Like there's a schedual,
so like every day it's different. Every day is in
(23:27):
a different time. So like as like you and your luck,
you just you have no idea. Maybe just you can
delay you're studying for a whole week because like you
do know the schedule of the electricity. You want to
download your your lectures to study, and just you can
just find the right time for electricity just to download
(23:49):
them because there's no internet connection because there's no electricity.
So like Gaza, like where where we're just people in
Gaza were living this situation, living in that way, and
they weren't satisfied or they weren't heavy living there, but
they were trying so much to make it better to
(24:10):
study by education, I mean by studying. This this was
actually like this this was our let's let's call it
as our gun to fight? Why to fight with our education?
I mean this, this was the only way just to
fight with to go out out out of these borders.
But here we are again. They destroyed everything we have
(24:34):
been trying to edit or to change or to do.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Don't go any more, locomotives will be right back.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
We're back with more. We hope you didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Thank you to three of you for describing what it
was like living in Gasa before and then afterwards. So
the three of you mentioned that you just decided to
leave and you entered Cairo. So how did you one
escape the occupation and bombardment and take us through that
(25:19):
journey of leaving Gasa and what that was like for
the three of you.
Speaker 8 (25:25):
So our family, I was saying that our family just
just decided to lead the three of us to leave
Gaza because all of us are university students, and our
family just said, maybe the only solution just to complete
your life is just to leave Gaza, to leave this war.
(25:47):
And actually we applied to travel from Gaza for like
for too long, like maybe before three three months. We
were like, we apply it and we paide money. Each
of us each was just paid five thousand dollars just
to move that like, to move out, like I mean,
(26:09):
to cross the border. That's it, and you're gonnabate them
just to cross the border. Our family just decided to
stay half of them in there and just to let
us go outside to complete our life. It wasn't like
it wasn't easy to decide to live to leave Gaza
after like I was twenty twenty one, after twenty many
(26:30):
years living in Gaza and in the home like I
mean the family home and out of nowhere, you're going
to just live and be responsible about everything. And it
wasn't easy. Actually we lived the like our our names
just came or we knowed actually from Bioble. Our friends
just called us at eleven BM. They called us because
(26:54):
there was no internet connection in the north of Gaza.
We were leaving the whole war in the north, like
we stayed and our family tail now stayed in the
north of gazas we didn't livet we didn't move, I mean,
so like there there were no internet connections there. Just
anybody just want to know if he got accepted to
travel or not. Just he can't check everybody every day
(27:17):
on the internet connection to make sure like if he
got accepted or not. So like at eleven BM, our
friends were calling us telling us, like you and your
brother and sister get accepted, just to travel out out
outside of Gaza and tomorrow just your names are allowed
to travel. So we were in the north of Gaza
(27:39):
and in like like north in the south, there's a
border in the middle. You want to just move from
here to there, and then you want to go for
the Alfah border just to live out of outside of Gaza.
The day that our names where they shared our names
to travel alien are. We were an a chef hospital,
(28:02):
so like like that streets which is like lead us
to go for the cross, like to cross the north
of Gaza, to cross it, like they're like it was
it was like kind of impossible actually just to to
move from there. And because like lots of stories where
like we were hitting that the army just taking people
(28:24):
to jail, like people in the same age of us
just take them to jail, or like they just kill them,
like because because of nothing, they shoot them in the street.
All of us were just were like because there is
no no there were no way of transportation actually no
cars nothing, just walking. We like we got our bags
(28:46):
were buried them at four four a m. And we
lived home at ten ten am, I think in the
second of April. So we were just we were going
in this street and like you are walking in the
street and you just hear the sounds of the drones around,
(29:08):
which is which include guns and it's it include cameras
which which just video you. Once you are walking and
going and you are afraid, you your brother and your sister,
you are alone in the street. Every everywhere is just bombing.
You are afraid. You have like you don't know what's
what's what's gonna happen. You're gonna arrive, You're gonna gross
(29:29):
across it, or maybe you're gonna die, maybe you're gonna
be taken to the jail. You have you have no idea.
So once we were like we went we were just
walking for kind of four hours, walking to the blaze
which was in the in the middle of goud just
to cross. So like all of us, three of us
(29:49):
just went on there. They like they were just talking
with us with Mike's I don't know, like it was
the first time just to see the the the the
army in the soldiers, they all of them having guns
staying there and they were just they were shooting just
to make to make us afraid. And they had they
(30:11):
had dogs and they let dogs just run. And people
who have just guns with the with the light or
I mean just they were moving it in our bodies
just to make us afraid. Once we were walking there,
and some of them were just riding their cars and
just follow us, follow us like faster, just to make
us afraid and to us to let us run, even
(30:34):
if we were just walking for four hours and we
just we have no idea, just we carry the back
and we just were run. Like they they they deal
with these as games between them, a challenge. We're gonna
kill them bye bye bye by hitting them in the
streets or not. Our life was again with them, a
(30:54):
challenge between them. Just like actually I can remember before
this situation before moving and like yeah, the flower, we're
coming from from that side. So people people, people were going,
people were going and waiting in this street just to
to talk. Some of them just just to stay alive
(31:17):
because there's nothing on the north of Gaza. So one
day we went to to that blaze actually and it's
was like it was a hell just to go on
there like we like out of nowhere. You were just
sitting in a normal way out of nowhere. Just you
you open the right, you open the left. You found
people just falling down full of a blood. They were
(31:40):
shooting randomly, like like you have a backing ground before
going you have a backing ground. You know how how
how evil they are, how like what they have inside,
what they do. So like once we were going on there,
like we were imagining or were we were afraid just
because all like me and Hams were males and any
female we were afraid just to take us and leave
(32:02):
their name alone, to leave or just anything.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Thank you Amar for sharing that. That's terrifying and horrific
that you all had to experience that while you were
trying to get to the border crossing. So once you
cross the border, what happened after that?
Speaker 8 (32:18):
Yeah? Actually once once we like we crossed the border,
we we walked actually after like for two hours I
think till we got a car. It was a car
for like a journalist car actually and just they did
like they found us walking. It was it was like Ramadan.
We were fasting actually that day like it was like
(32:40):
kind six hours walking and they found us in the street,
just tired. So they decided to let us go with them,
and we went with them and Rafa and we stayed
there in a school actually because there is no like
we had like we don't know anybody there. We have
(33:00):
no we don't have a blaze. And it was late
just to go for the border, just to leave Gaza.
It was late. It was. We arrived there I think
at four we m it was it closed, the border
very closed at two. Yeah. So once we arrived there,
we stayed on a school for a night. Then second
(33:21):
day just we got ourselves ready and we lived in
the morning by the Therapa border.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So it took about two days for you to get
to the actual border crossing.
Speaker 8 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, actually once we went to like we were late.
Actually our names were shared in the first and the
first of April we crossed Gaza and the second of Abril,
like we crossed the border, I mean the the border,
and the second of April we left Gaza at the
third of April, so we were we were lid late two.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Days okay, and you were still able to cross into Cairo.
Speaker 8 (33:54):
Yeah, because like like we were, we were able to
even like it was late actually, like because we were
late two days. So they kept us for like at
the end because we were late. So but at the end.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
We left time in don't go anywhere, locomotives. We'll be
right back.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
We're back with more. We hope you didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
So you enter Cairo and then and then what happens?
Do you do you know anyone? Do you have family?
Speaker 8 (34:29):
Once we we have be in the border there, I
mean in the in the border, like we have no
idea where are we going? It's the first time to travel,
to move. We have no idea. Actually, like we were
in the border, we were asking each other where where
are we going? Which like are we going to staying
in a hotel? Are we staying on the street. There
was one of our cousins when in Cairo, she like
(34:52):
she came to as a visit in here, so like
she saw our names and the traveling gliz and just
she called my father. She she told him that they can't
join until they can't find an apartment, just to to rend.
So we got a location and we moved to her apartment.
We stayed there actually and once we meet we once
(35:14):
we met Kite then actually we were actually we were
we were late because we were me and Hans. It
wasn't midnight and me and Hamsa were out just searching
for a blaze to rent and searching for an apartment,
a blaze to stay. But like at the first time
once once we lived like we like everything like you
are strange. You are strange in a strange blaze. You
(35:36):
you don't know anybody in there. Everything just came out
of nowhere. You are traveling. We were like we were
sitting in the home normally, and just like our friends
called us, they told us, we show we saw your names.
So like nothing was prepared, even our clothes, our clothes
wasn't he prepared Actually, like we prepared everything in in
the morning, just before traveling a few hours. So like
(35:58):
we went. We went there, we stayed in the hair
apartment and there we got just we found a place
to stay, to stay at and actually life in Egypt,
it's it's too expensive to as students as a people
who don't have work, who took money from their family
and who like their family is staying in the war.
(36:19):
So it was too expensive, too expensive to turn drink
an apartment actually and just drink the normal. This is
the normal that defense one I mean not the one
that you used. You you used to live in in
Ghaza and your normal life just a blaze to stay there.
But there is no choice. Actually, like you you want
(36:39):
to stay. You want to stay in Bible houses because
like people want to trouble, they want the understaying I
mean for forever. So you have to choose a place
to stay at. We're in the apartment and we thought
that we may we're going to get a solution in Cairo.
Actually we weren't totty close to the university. So if
we got accepted, we can be class going to the university.
(37:02):
But unfortunately, like there's no solution here.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Right, you did mention that at the top of the interviews.
So the three of you are no longer living together. Right,
Almost a year has gone or several months have gone
by since you left Kaza. So what does your life
look like now as you attempt to rebuild in different countries? Now?
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Actually, as I mentioned before, it was the first time
for every one of us to travel and to lift
to Gaza. So just this, like this idea, just imagining
this idea was hard, but I was saying, like, just imagine,
like the easiest port is just your brother will be
with you. So when it just when we just go
(37:45):
to Cairo, we stay together and everyone like of us
start searching and finding just a way to complete or
to start or anything just to join universities. So in
the beginning, like it was so much hard, Like I
can't like like literally remember that memory. We loved in
(38:08):
Cairo and in Egypt. The first month was so much hard.
But the only thing that it can just make it
easy for you that my brothers were with me. So
after that when the travel, I stayed alone with me
and Ahmed, and like we stayed maybe alone like for
(38:28):
three months or something until that day after I just
I couldn't find any solution to study in Egypt, so
I just find my way to complete and Turkey. So
it was just the first time for me to leave
like like living to Cairo wasn't that like I know,
(38:50):
like I left my mom, my brother and my whole
family like behind in the north. But I was having
just members of my family with me, and even like
the whole eye I couldn't list like even the school
when it was just going for school, I was going
with them and come back with them, and every single
thing in my life, taking courses, going outside, friends, everything
(39:13):
is just together, so it was so much hard for
me to leave. I remember when just I go like
the first time we go to say goodbye for Hamza
and the air wort and we just started crying the
same thing when that happened for me when I just
say goodbye for Ahmad, And I remember that day when
just he called me mom and detail her. Every couple
(39:36):
of months, I just say goodbye to one of my
family members. The first time I said goodbye to you
when they left you in Girlsa, the second time I
say to Hamsha. And now I'm saying to Turnim. And
every just time, every period, just the people is getting
out of my life and just I'm saying alone. So
(39:56):
that sentence was just fulling my head. Now everyone like
imagine we're a small family. We spend every single thing
in our life together and when one time everything gets
changed to reach like just the level that everyone of
us literally living in a different area. Everyone like no
(40:17):
one is with the other. I'm in a city and
my brother in a city, and Ahmas in a different country,
and my mom and the Nord and my brother is
his wife and he gets everyone like we're just like
we are a family that we are only seven members
of this family, but every single one of us is
totally living in a different place and totally living a
(40:39):
special kind of suffering just to live like the suffering
we live it here, like Ahmad is just still suffering
to find a university so he can complete and not
to search from the very beginning, me and Hamza, we
still suffer to complete our university and to live here
in just a foraging country, a country that they didn't
even speak our language. And the people that we will
(41:02):
never imagine that we will live with them, not just
like come for a couple of days and have fun.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
We will live like a year.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Like for me, I will live seven with this in
this country, in this like foreign country, and the same
things for my family that it's been just a few,
like a few families that they still in the North,
and my family was one of them. They're still in
the North and they just suffering to live. They're suffering
to find food, to find water, to stay safe. They're suffering.
(41:34):
They're running from a blaze to others just to protect
their lives. This was like seven October, and everything happened
after that they was literally damaging everything.
Speaker 5 (41:46):
In my life.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
Like imagine that you have just a simple dream list,
but like after this day and after all of the
situations that happened, everything was canceled and just effecting the
whole thing that you lived before.
Speaker 5 (42:01):
So it was so much hard.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
And and even just taking the choice, like you know,
even just taking the choice to travel and just read
your family behind was so much hard. You couldn't imagine
house the night that we spend Like it's like the
covering the news in Gaza and especially in the North
is so bad, like because you wouldn't have like no,
(42:25):
like there's no a lot of people still in the North,
so getting news or what's happening there or what's the
updates there, it was so much heard. So if you
are lucky and someone just share a news about something
happened in the North, they will just say, like the
top time, like they bump a house in the street,
and your mind imagine that this is the street you're
(42:47):
living in, and just your mind now will start working
which which house, which place is it? My family? Is
it next to them? Is it doesn't affect them, what's
happened to them? Imagine just your mind just will thinking
like overthink and overthink about this, and you couldn't even
(43:08):
have a call, even a cold imagine as symbol like
a call. You can't do it. We don't have networks
to call our family. So even just the symbolest thing
if you like, okay, we didn't like we find it
hard to meet them or to see them. But unless
having a call with them just to make sure, like
are you fine, this is not acceptable. Just imagine how
(43:30):
is the night that you spend like your phone is
not silent, you're just waiting every minute to get any
use to check them to see how the situation there
if anyone shared any news and sometimes like some people
share a news and in the end it turned out
it's not correct or it's not specific this area. And
imagine every time you will be someone who worried about
(43:52):
every single news if it's right, wrong, specific, not specific.
You will be just wearried and imagining like and feeling
you know, just feeling guilty or something and like about
like that you take just this a choice and you
take it. There's just this choice to complete your study.
You just need like to live the worries and this
(44:15):
afraid because you left your family to complete your study.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Thank you tour name for sharing that. That's the same
question to you, what does your life look like now
as you attempt to rebuild in Turkey?
Speaker 7 (44:29):
You know that I was.
Speaker 6 (44:31):
The first one who decided to move Gaza, and I
attempt to time to move from Gaza to north of Gaza,
to the south, then to Egypt. But the first attempt failed.
The first attempt was like I got my bag handbag
(44:53):
and decided that I want to move. I decided this
because I was a volunteer in the Cheval hospital and
in Al Mahma Danny Hospital for six months and emergency
departments and an autobedic department. When I when there's nothing
(45:14):
to do. Really, I doing nothing at the hospital, so
I decided to move. Can you imagine that there was
a young guy, I think he was nineteen. He got
a bullet in his eye. So there is no city,
no X ray, no ultrasound, so we're just waiting. After
after four hours, he started complaining of the materiorial blood
(45:37):
in his urine only and we complete waiting nothing to do.
Speaker 7 (45:42):
We have nothing to do. So after.
Speaker 6 (45:46):
Two hours his family started shouting, he's dying. So I
went there he's dying. So I started give adrenaline. So
I kept doing sib R for twenty five minutes until
his bubils are total telefix dilated.
Speaker 7 (46:05):
So that's me.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
The brain has already dead. So simply I'm telling his
mom that your son has best away. You know that
during the medical school for sixty for six years in
the medical school, we they learning us have to freck
bad news. How to tell the patient that you have something,
(46:29):
How to tell the family that your son or your
daughter has best away. But in this war, simply you
are telling them that your son has best away.
Speaker 7 (46:40):
So I decided to move.
Speaker 6 (46:42):
When I'm so the first time I attend it was
it was failed because first time I got my bag
and move.
Speaker 7 (46:51):
So I was crossing the streets.
Speaker 6 (46:55):
Every street I crossing, waiting so if I shake him,
is there some either or not? So I chinking, is
there is there military vehicles and this is street or not?
So I kept going, going going, So I crossed half
of the roads. Then I find Ahmed behind me shouting,
(47:17):
so come back, come back. The military is in this road.
So I decided to come back. Then we got the
second attempt and we moved to Egypt. Once I arrived
to Egypt, so I started thinking what should I do?
Speaker 7 (47:30):
So, how and where? Where?
Speaker 6 (47:33):
How and where I will complete I will complete my study.
So I searched for multiple so multiple ways to trying
to find a way to complete my study. So if
I compare the situation for me here in Turkey and
the situation for me.
Speaker 7 (47:50):
One year ago.
Speaker 6 (47:51):
One years ago, I was living in a house save
room for me. In this room, you can close your
door and do whatever you want. But now nowadays I'm
living in a student housing, which is I have in
every single room there is five persons. Five persons you
(48:12):
are twenty four, there is extra four persons sharing the
same room with you, which means there is no bribes.
Speaker 7 (48:20):
You can't do nothing.
Speaker 6 (48:21):
You know that sometimes you feel you want to cry,
simply in normal feelings, normal emotion, you.
Speaker 7 (48:26):
Want to cry.
Speaker 6 (48:27):
So I just cover my head and start crying. So
I don't want anybody. I don't want anybody to see
me crying. But I can't stop this emotion. To my
sister or my brother, start telling them what I'm feeling.
One hour later, I feel I am okay. Nowadays I'm
starting crying, crying for an hour.
Speaker 7 (48:49):
Then I have to wash my face and I'm okay.
Speaker 6 (48:52):
I have to pretend that I am okay, but inside me,
I'm not okay.
Speaker 7 (48:57):
That's the situation here.
Speaker 6 (48:59):
I were living with my family, I know all of them,
they know me. And my neighborhood. I know all of
my neighbors, they know me. But here I don't know anybody.
And the second thing that people here considering us as
a stranger.
Speaker 7 (49:18):
You're a stranger.
Speaker 6 (49:20):
I am a human, So why this discrimination? Why are
you doing this discrimination. I am a human like you,
and I don't have any difference from you, but they
are considering us like strangers and refugees, not only strangers,
even if I am studying. So I don't ask you
for help. I don't ask you for shelter. I don't
(49:42):
ask you for money, I don't ask you for anything.
I am a formal person here. I entered formally this
country and I am studying, and they are considering us
like strangers.
Speaker 7 (49:55):
That's the situation.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Thank you hamsa Ahmar. How about you?
Speaker 8 (49:59):
Did you before before the world was like a dream
just to come to Egypt as a tourist because there's
lots of gold places in here, just to visit and
to enjoy your time, to be happy by visiting them,
but actually coming to Egypt in that situation just to
change the whole idea. Just like like we were like
(50:20):
we were happy at the beginning. Maybe maybe it's like
we were just it's like not happy, but I mean
we were. We were thinking that it is a good
place to go to. Once we came and we just
we faced the reality of Egypt. The people here in
Egypt we had everything is different, like kind of like
people you can just I'm sorry for saying this, Like
(50:41):
it's kind of like buying people buy money. So there
is like they how how can do you ask them
to respect by giving them money? This is the only
way here in Egypt and here just everything they said,
everything that every everything happening in Egypt has bad thing.
Everything just they say this is related to you. This
(51:03):
because of you Palestinians Gaus and came to the destroyed
our our country, our city. They make everything just more expensive,
the more expensive everything just yeah, everything they said like
this is because people came from the war and here
just they make everything more expensive. So that's a situation
here like people here three reads us. I don't know,
(51:26):
like I don't know why all of us are like
all of us are people. All of us are normal,
maybe like you are like in your city, in your country,
you are better than him. Actually you are in a
medical school and he's a normal like he maybe he's
not educated and he doesn't know how to write his name,
but like he just here here people saying this. So
(51:47):
he kept saying it. Just he tried or they try
to hurt you saying that words. Actually, according to me,
I don't move the apartment. I don't like to like
I don't like to see many people outside, like Egyptian
people like it's it's horrible actually to deal with them,
to live, to hear them talking about you, your situation.
(52:09):
Everybody just has a different obinion different toos. Like they
think like it's horrible actually to deal with them, or
just to have a normal or a simple conversation in
a street or I mean a supermarket or anywhere. They
like everything bad just related to you. That's it. Like
I tell I didn't take anything from you, nothing I did.
(52:31):
Like I'm not studying, I'm paying for my myself. I'm
paying for my my stuff, myself everything. I am the
one who baying so like once you call like you
are calling me that I am a refugee or just
I run away from my country or I don't know
what a refugee like the meaning of refugee just to
be in a country and the the country just paying
(52:55):
you money because you are you have you have you
have residency on there, you are residents in the in
the country, in this country. But I am not. Actually
I'm paying for everything, and you call me a refugee.
Why we are we are both like like I am
like my country now in a bad situation. Maybe the
next time your country can be in that situation. So
(53:15):
why you treat me that way? Why you told me
that this stuff? And actually Egypt used to have that situation.
I mean, uh, we're like kind of war but between
them themselves, the government what I mean, So like why
to call me? Why why do you treat me that way?
So this is the situation. So like now I'm accordingly,
I'm trying as possible as as I can, as hard
(53:39):
as I can, just to leave rem from him. Actually
now after turname left because like during' this is too expensive,
I just decided to to to rent a room an
apartment I'm living with with a strangers. I have no
idea about them. I have never seen them. Actually I'm
living with a strangers an apartment now, so like there
can just be on you know, on one orally I
(54:01):
got nothing. I don't know, maybe maybe I can get
but unfortunately semester started. I tried outside right in America,
Canada or friends anywhere. I'm trying anywhere around the world
and even not not orop country to to go there,
because like they gonna treat you that way. They're gonna
tell you that way if like they don't respect that thing,
(54:25):
or they don't just tell that you are coming from
a war, or you are just you're living under a
brusshure and you like have your family, and like they
don't they don't think about that situation. The only think
about that you are like you came from there. You
make everything worse. That's it. So I hope, like I
hope I can't get like I got a chance just
to travel from here just to continue my education, to
(54:47):
study outside and anywhere, just to continue from the their
deer outside in any country around the world, any blaze,
any I have no idea where, but I mean any blaze,
any anniversity just could like offer me just to complete
my education. I have all my documents, I have everything,
but unfortunately, unfortunately here in Egypt, there is there is
(55:10):
no chance.
Speaker 1 (55:12):
Thank you, thank you so final final question and final yeah,
just just thought if you want to share with the
listeners is what is your message for them? What do
you want the world to know? What do you want
people listeners to walk away from by listening to this episode?
Speaker 8 (55:29):
So they are listeners, Actually what you are seeing in
the TV or listening on the radio or I don't know,
if you are following the news about Gaza, this is
only a point in d C you like you are
seeing nothing. This is normally like they don't share everything.
(55:49):
They don't share everything for people because like about they
don't they care about people feelings. I mean people who
are living on the situation like living in the war
in Gaza, just they they suffer and see more, and
they see a lot more than the people who are
out like who are watching from TV or who just
(56:11):
following news outside. Keep supporting Gaza, keep just helping them,
keep just working on a stopping the war. And this
is a personal just a personal message for the people
or for anybody who can listen I am here in Egypt.
I'm stuck. I have no idea if I can just
(56:32):
complete my education or not. If anybody, if you or
any any person who could help help me. Just who
you know, anybody in a university, a doctor or professor.
I don't know anyone in the university. Anybody, Just who
can help me to find a chance, just to complete
my education, to complete my my dental school, to start
(56:54):
from the their yer. I have everything everything, I have
my my documents, all of them. So of please, anyone,
anyone just who can who can help in this this way,
just a blease help?
Speaker 1 (57:07):
Thank you Hamsa. How about you? What is your message
to our listeners?
Speaker 8 (57:11):
To me?
Speaker 6 (57:12):
My message is when I were in Gaza, I was
thinking that humanity, human rights is a big lie.
Speaker 7 (57:20):
But when I left.
Speaker 6 (57:23):
Gaza and they start dealing with this world, I realized
that the human rights and the humanity is a big lie. Unfortunately,
I realized this people performing racism towards us. And the
big thing that if we compare other situations in the
(57:44):
world with our situation, they are considering people from the
same situation but different country as humans and they give
them their rights. But for us, they consider us as
refugees and they don't give us the basics of our rights.
(58:04):
We don't ask anybody for anything. But why you are
performing racism towards us, I don't know. This is the
first thing the thinking and think that if you are
considering yourselves as a humans, please do your best to
stop the genocide in Gather, do your best to stop killing.
(58:27):
Everything has damaged and the whole city has damaged. We
are now having about sixty thousands militaris and this war.
So these sixty thousands are humans, so care about them.
They are not numbers. They are humans. They have a
right to live a level life. They have a right
(58:49):
to die in a peaceful way. And can you imagine
yourself you are when you die, you are hundreds of
pieces they collect you in bocket, that's your body. So
they have the right to live a human life and
die in a baseful way. And that's it. Thank you
(59:09):
very much. Stop this guenicide, Stop this genicide, stop this genocide.
Speaker 7 (59:15):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (59:16):
Hamsa Gardine.
Speaker 4 (59:18):
Actually is just my message for all the people around
the world. Just it's been a year, it's been a
year seeing and listening for all this news. Can you
just please but yourself. I know no nobody around the
world can can can even imagine, but just try to
imagine to but yourself and just like the symbolist situation
(59:42):
in Gaza right now, and imagine, can you afford just
staying alive or staying there just for five minutes or
just after putting yourself in just our place there? Can
you imagine if the same situation is happening for you
and for your country, with the people be silent as
(01:00:04):
the same as there until now, silent about everything is happening.
Imagine that this genocide is happening for another country, a
big country or other country. Would the world be silent? No,
of course no, they won't even complete one day about
all of these things happening. But we complete one year,
(01:00:25):
one year just of suffering living under genocide. Even we
don't have no like even we don't have the basics,
not the basics like they're real in the world. We
don't have water or food to eat or to drink.
We don't have just abees, we don't have a safety
place to stay in. You you just you sleep and
(01:00:49):
you're not sure if you the next day you will
wake up or your will just wake up and finding
your family next to you. Just just my message for you,
Just imagine yourself in the same place that we're been
spending years suffering and just dying in in a slowly way.
(01:01:10):
Imagine any anything, anything can you do can be a difference.
Even sharing, sharing, and you even following the news, going
outside with a lot of people every week and saying,
just stop genocide. This will effect. If you say this
won't effect. No, you will say this is not affect
and the other will say so who will say? Who
(01:01:30):
will care about us? We are a people, We are
the same. All of us are a human being. All
of all of us are a human being, and all
of us have the right just to live in a
peaceful way. All of us have the right just we
need the basic We don't ask you for anything. We
don't ask you just for literally anything. Just stop this
genocide and let us complete our life like the moment
(01:01:54):
that we were living before the seventh of October, and
just give us the chance to live as and a
human being around the world thelist give us this, just
the Simbilist tribes and a human investment.
Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
A special thank you to Caitlin Prest, director of Mermaid Palace,
and host of the Heart Radiotopia for connecting us with Ahmad,
Hasma and Darnim. Caitlin also produced a Gaza monologue series
on her podcast The Heart. Please support that series and
Ashtar Theater, a nonprofit theater training Palestinian youth. Caitlin and
(01:02:32):
Ahmad who You Heard From Today, created a scholarship fund
called the Mermaid Haved Scholarship Fund. By contributing to this
scholarship fund on gofund me, you can support Ahmad, Hamza
and Darnim complete their respective medical school education and restart
their lives outside of Gaza. We hope you can contribute
(01:02:54):
and share the gofund me with everyone in your network.
Thank you for listening to another episode of Loka Dora Radio.
Until next time, Besitos. Loka do A Radio is executive
produced by Viosa Fem and Mala Munios.
Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Stephanie Franco is our producer.
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Story editing by me Theosa.
Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
Creative direction by Me Mala.
Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
Look at A Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael
Dura podcast network.
Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
You can listen to look At Radio on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Leave us a review and share with your prima or
share with your homegirl.
Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
And thank you to our local morees, to our listeners
for tuning in each and every week.
Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
Besitos
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!