Yasmine Story 7

Yasmine here… miraculously spared by the angel of death after the shelling of the past few days, next to which we had never seen before.

I had told you before about my safe house “under the staircase”, and I would like to update you about that. I left my safe house 3 days ago because it is no longer safe. A house across from us was targeted and that bombing seriously damaged our home. We thank God that we are breathing and as the popular proverb goes: “in wealth and not people”!

Today, Mohammad, my husband, went to check on the house and the damage incurred in the last shelling. He first went into our beloved baby Sofia’s room, the little birdy of my heart. I kept her toys and clothes, and her oxygen concentrators that gave me a few additional months of her life… and the memory book that I had started for her since the first day she lived inside of me! I insisted on going to check on them everyday, and smell her in them. Today, Mohammad went to find nothing in place! A shattered window. Dirt and sand filling up the place. When we fled the house, I could take nothing except her favourite toy with me. That toy is always with me, even in my normal days, inseparable from me.

I felt my heart sink when my husband sent me the picture of the room! The smell of dust and gunpowder overshadowed Sofia’s smell in the place… her toys scrambled here and there… and the memory book full of dirt and gunpowder! I miss her so much. I miss visiting and talking to her. I weep everyday longing for her.

The thought of death used to terrify me, but not anymore, for perhaps I can meet my only sanctuary and my eternal love, Sofia, without fear or pain…

Yasmine Ayoub
MHP at UPA – Gaza, Palestine