After about 17 months of war, amidst the winter frost and the destruction spreading everywhere, Gaza welcomes the holy month of Ramadan. For the second time after the war, the holy month misses all its usual traditions of joy, happiness and streets filled with celebrations, but it always remains a welcome guest despite the crises and hearts burdened with sorrow.
Children of Gaza
“It is difficult to describe the impact of this war on children after they have endured months of physical and psychological horror, and have been deprived of their childhood. Now every child in Gaza is in dire need of psychosocial support.” Ros Pullen, from UNICEF, told UN News.
It is definitely difficult to change the reality in the sector now to support these children, but perhaps the month of Ramadan will bind their innocent hearts, and the manifestations of celebration of its arrival, despite the harsh conditions, can draw a smile on their faces. The colorful Ramadan lantern may make them feel happy, and create new Ramadan memories for them, vibrant with the colors of life inside their steadfast city, perhaps making them forget the horrors of war.
Humanitarian aid.. Lifeline and happiness
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that thousands of food parcels and aid boxes have been sent to Gaza since the ceasefire agreement came into effect. Is this aid just a basic means of food?
Rehan Shurab, a resident of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, was able to make lanterns from aid boxes, to spread joy among the people of the Strip and welcome the month of fasting.
Rehan has been working in the handicrafts profession, marketing them through social media for several years. She started with crochet dresses and then moved on to making lanterns from wood and colorful and varied fabrics.
After the war, the bombing of her house, and her displacement to tents, she decided to return to her activity and resume work on her project from inside a tent in Khan Yunis, but she faced the problem of lack of capabilities and the unavailability of tools and materials for making lanterns.
Rehan was able to transform this small and primitive tent into a place to recycle aid boxes and cartons, as they are the only available material in the Strip. Based on her experience, she shaped the carton into Ramadan lanterns of different sizes.
To decorate the lanterns, Rehan extracted tent cloth, wool threads, and old satin from under the rubble of her destroyed house and other buildings destroyed by the occupation. Using simple methods and tools, she stuck the cloth onto the paper lanterns to give them bright, cheerful colors.
Rehan also recycled cotton and wool threads, and designed crescent shapes and small Ramadan decorations, which are among the most important traditional aspects of welcoming this holy month in Arab and Islamic countries around the world.
This is not the only attempt to make lanterns by recycling waste and old things. The children of Rafah city had previously succeeded in creating lanterns and Ramadan decorations from the remains of books and school supplies, which were no longer used after schools were closed due to the war. They decided to cut them and color them to become colorful and beautiful paper lanterns, which decorate the alleys to make the displaced happy before the start of Ramadan.
They say that "necessity is the mother of invention", so what if this invention brings joy to the hearts of children who have been tasting the bitterness of death every day for more than a year and a half! It is the eco-friendly “Gaza Lantern”, which carries a message from its children to the world that they still have dreams of peace, life and a better future.
