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gaza:

The note below was sent to the Spirit21 blog from the UK Director of Islamic Relief, Jehangir Malik. It reiterates a message we have been hearing more and more of. That the people of Gaza do not want our pity, and they refuse to act like caged animals regardless of if that is the way they are treated.

After all the injustice that has been and still is heaped upon them, they carry themselves with dignity, and hope, even the children.

As I retire to the comfort of my room in Gaza at the end of Day 2, I would like to share my feelings with you all.

What I witnessed today is the reality of the horrors of the brutality of war. It is the disintegration of basic values, the same universal values which allow human beings to live with one another.

For us who are far away, on the other side of a television screen, last December seems a distant memory. We may have seen crisis upon crisis across the world, but for the people here in Gaza, what happened eleven months ago is not forgotten. It has utterly changed their lives.

During my visit I have seen them living with death, destruction, grief, misery, bad sewage smells, people locked in like cattle. Everyone has been affected, every man, woman, child has witnessed with their own eyes the tragic reality unfold in front of them. Physical and emotional pain is all around us.

I wish I could tell you that my description is journalistic hyperbolae, designed to tug at your heartstrings and maybe even make you feel guilty at the comfort in your own homes. Simple human stories remind us, however, that this is not a showbiz game, but that real lives have been affected.

I met Mahmud today. He is nine years old, and he has lost his mother. Like many other children he has forgotten how to play, fearful of those attacks in December. Broken by the loss of his family. An innocent child amongst many innocent children, paying a horrific price. I witnessed children in our psycho-social centre today with our excellent team actually being taught how to play like children again. Imagine re-teaching your loved ones how to play a game.

Mahmud broke my heart today. But has he lost his entire family? Or will we help him to realise that Mahmud is our child and we are his extended family.

Through all the devastation and turmoil, there is one thing that I have not seen: hopelessness. The People of Gaza for me embody Inspiration and Hope.

They are a people that defy logic and stand tall with dignity & resolve. They live not just narrate the verse: “With Hardship comes Ease”.

I ask you all to keep our team in Gaza in your prayers, so that they can continue to reach our extended family.

Jehangir Malik from Gaza: the Land and People of Hope.