Gaza residents welcome Ramadan amidst rubble

Ramadan of mercy, forgiveness and salvation has arrived. Palestinians have had to welcome this holy month amidst the rubble of the Israeli aggression. One of them is Maysun al-Barbarawi from the Burej refugee camp in central Gaza. He welcomed the Islamic Ramadan in his tent. Simple decorations hang from the dilapidated ceiling, and colorful paintings on the cloth walls—all made by the residents of the camp on the occasion of the arrival of the holy month.

Maysun smiled at her 9-year-old son Hassan, “I brought you decoration tools and a small lantern.” However, that smile was tinged with fatigue, and the joy of being able to buy a Ramadan lantern for his son.

Maysun, who is in her fifties, said, “My resources are limited, but at the end of the day, the smiles of my children are the most important thing. I wanted to use this decoration to relieve some of the sadness and sadness that the war has created in us over the past two years.

Maysun, 52, known as ‘Umm Mohammad’, is a mother of two. ‘My eldest son is 15 and my youngest is 9. They are my most precious possessions. Every day when they are safe, I feel grateful and happy.’ Maysun spoke with pride, but there was also fear in her words—the constant fear of losing her children during the war that haunted her.

Like other Palestinians in Gaza, this Ramadan is a bit different for Maysun, because there is currently a relative calm, or ceasefire. The situation is a bit different compared to the past two years, when the war was at its peak, with more than 70,000 Palestinians killed in a horrific Israeli attack on Gaza.

Maysun explains that the situation is not completely calm. Everyone knows that the war has not stopped; There is occasional shelling. But the intensity is less intense than during the war.
On the first day of Ramadan, Maysun helps with the administration of the camp, making bread and helping to distribute dates and water just before the call to prayer.

“This is our third Ramadan in displacement,” she says. “We have lost our homes, our families and many loved ones. But we have neighbors and friends in this camp who share the same pain and suffering. We all want to help each other socially.”

Maysun lost her home in southeast Gaza at the beginning of the war. After fleeing with her husband, Hasuna, and their children, she finally settled in Burej, which she describes as a very miserable situation.

“We are trying to find life and joy from nothing. Ramadan and Eid come and go, but our situation does not change.”

Source: Al Jazeera.