Visited the Family Development Association today to look at some of their Art. They are in Beit Hanoun, in the very north of the Gaza Strip, and first port of call for an invading army.
They are an entirely voluntary organisation, like so many others, who aim to empower and develop Families, and whose programmes include 'Child Development' and Family Counselling and more. Their carefully worked business plan showing inputs and outputs begins: Strategic output 2:1: Improved Psychosocial status of Traumatised Children. Indicators and Testing methods are listed, followed by Assumptions: Decrease in Israeli Aggressions; Decrease in Internal Security Disorders; End of International Siege!!!
Still the fat man opposite was impressed with the work, and there is a brilliant 15 year old political cartoonist.
Outside their building there is a Mosque hit by F16s not once, but twice.
15 of their Children were killed in the bombardment, and they were anxious to show me pictures from before the attacks, and after.
Yesterday I met a man who told me that to stop his young children getting scared, he taught them to listen to the difference between Apache rockets, and those of F16s: something like thwump (F16) and Thwing (Apache), while his friend said that he opened the window to let his four year old see 'the fireworks'. Both had been rung up by an Israeli tape recording telling them to blame Hamas for the war.
This picture shows a child having nightmares at 3 o'clock in the morning - the clock is the small red circle on the right. The tiny child in the giant bed is linked to thought clouds above which contain F16s Apache Helicopters, and tanks, while a red rose is stuck to the painting like a flower on a grave. He looks lonely, doesn't he?
This is the only photograph I got because the light faded, and there has been little electricity for some days. In my hotel they only switch the generator on when busy at night. In the day they switch it on to let me ride the lift to the 6th floor, and switch it off as soon as the lift doors open at the top.
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