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Growing Up in a Community near Gaza, Trauma Remains with You for Your Entire Life

(Times of Israel) Sivan Rahav Meir - The youth of the Gaza envelope - the area surrounding Israel's border with Gaza - have lived with 18 years of rockets and 8 months of kite and balloon arson. Shaked Rinek, 17, from Kibbutz Nir Am, sent me the following description of the life that she and her friends and neighbors are living: Living here is something that remains with you for your entire life, because it's simply impossible to forget past traumas. I have a fear of bunk-beds, because when you are in third grade and you fall out of bed in the middle of the night because you missed the ladder due to your panic from the Red Alert siren, it's traumatic. When you can't bear to hear loudspeaker announcements, the sound of moving chairs, the roar of a nearby plane, megaphones, car engines, or any sudden loud noise, that's also from trauma. Going to sleep on a mattress on the floor of a security room is traumatic. Running in a sprint at speeds you did not know you had. Traumatic. Seeing Grandma and Grandpa struggling to reach the security room on time is traumatic. This is my life and the life of everyone who lives in the Gaza envelope. I know that we deserve for the situation here to be different.
2018-11-21 00:00:00
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