Gaza

Gazastreifen - bei diesem Begriff werden wohl den meisten von euch Kriegsbilder von Detonation, zerstoerten Haeusern und weinenden Kindern in den Sinn kommen. Auch ich hatte grossen Respekt vor meinem bevorstehenden Aufenthalt und meiner Arbeit in Gaza. Vorgesehen war, das ich mit den zwei deutschen Psychologen Stefan Flegelskamp und Agnes Dudler nach Gaza reisen werde um dort in der ersten Woche bei ihrem Workshop zum Thema Psychodrama teilnehmen werde. Dies ist ein psychotherapeutischer Ansatz, mit dem Traumata von Kindern auf symbolischer Ebene (mittels "Theaeterli) aufgearbeitet werden. Fuer mich war dieser Ansatz etwas ganz neues und ich war schon gespannt, inwiefern dies auch mit den kulturellen Differenzen umsetzbar ist. In den folgenden zwei Wochen arbeitete ich wieder bei PMRS und war mit den Mobilen Kliniken unterwegs. Hier war es fuer mich sehr spannend auch den Vergleich zur Arbeit der PMRS im Westjordanland zu machen und ich muss sagen, ich war sehr positiv beeindruckt!

Es gibt so vieles, das ich gerne ueber Gaza berichten wuerde, ich koennte stundenlang ueber die schlechte Lage in jeglichen Bereichen referieren, ausgeloest durch die totale Isolierung des Gazastreifen durch die Blockade Israels und seit neuem auch Aegypten, die einen Zustand der Hoffnungslosigkeit kreirt, der innerhalb Gazas radikale Stroemungen and die Macht treibt und der Zivilbevoelkerung jegliche Luft zum Atmen nimmt.

Stets schwebte ich zwischen Gefuehlen der Bewunderung fuer die tollen und ambitionierten Leute die ich dort kennenlernen durfte und dann wieder Hilflosigkeit, Unfassbarkeit, Wut und Trauer ueber die schlimmen Schicksale, die wohl jede Person dort mit sich rumtrug. Ich kam mir so oft fehl am Platz vor, mit meinem schweizer Pass und all meinen Freiheiten. Die Leute dort begegneten mir jedoch mit einer solchen Gastfreundschaft und Aufrichtigkeit, dass mir meine anfaengliche Unsicherheit und Vorurteile immer mehr genomen wurde und ich sie als Folge einer verdrehten Medienwelt beurteilte.

Die Leute in Gaza fragten mich immer: "How do you like Gaza?" und es fiel mir nie einfach diese Frage zu beantworten und noch immer bin ich auf der Suche nach einer Antwort. 
Einerseits hat man das Meer, das einem ein Gefuehl von Freiheit vermittelt mit seiner Weite und dem unglaublichen blau, aber bei genauerem betrachten sieht man in der Ferne die israelischen Kriegsschiffe, die die illegale Blockade aufrechterhalten, an den meisten Orten schwimmt niemand, da das Wasser dermassen verseucht ist und am Strand patroullieren Sittenwaechter der Hamas, die auch ja schauen, dass kein Aermel zu weit nach oben gekrempelt ist... es gaebe so viel Schoenes in Gaza aber von allen Seiten tuermen sich entweder echte oder virtuelle Mauern auf, die die ganze Bevoelkerung mit ihren Wuenschen und Ambitionen in einem Gefaengnis halten. Diese ganze auswegslose Situation brachte mich sehr zum Nachdenken, was gut ist, aber auch sehr anstrengend und aufwuehlend sein kann.

Ich denke oft an Gaza, es war eine sehr wichtige Zeit fuer mich und ich vermisse meine Freunde - und das Meer... Immer wieder wurde mir bewusst, dass dies das gleiche Meer ist, an dem ich fast jeden Sommer tolle Ferien verbrachte, ohne zu wissen, dass auf der "anderen Seite" eine solche Realitaet existiert. Die Weite des Meeres ist sowohl Freiheit als auch eine Mauer, denn sie schafft eine Distanz, die uns blind werden laesst fuer "das Gegenueber".

While waiting to cross Erez-Checkpoint to enter Gaza suddenly an Israeli tank appears

Erez-Checkpoint: 10 minutes walk through the tunnel that connects Israeli-Checkpoint with Hamas-Checkpoint

That's how they drive in Gaza: Kids on their lap, using cooking oil cause there is no fuel, safety belts are not available (some clame it's not worth it, cause the chance of getting bombed is higher anyway then dying of a car accident) and you have to always have an eye on all the donkeys and motorbikes that are populating the streets.

Psychodrama-therapist Agnes Dudler is giving instructions to the students of the Gaza Community Mental Health Center how to do a family constellation. This workshops were really mindblowing for me, cause I got to know amazing students (some of them study medicine as well) that although they suffer under the hard conditions of the occupation they believe in their dreams. The women with the "niqab" is explaining in this moment the difficult situation at home with her husband that although he's loving her, he rather wants her to stay home with the children than study. But with the support of her children and her confident and lively personality she tries to follow her ambitions, I was really touched!

Stand Up Paddling in Gaza or rather fishermen at work...

"Min wen ente?" - Some shabab ghazzawi (Gazan guys) want to know where I am from...

...when I turned around they left me this message :)

Yes, there are walls within Gaza as well, surrounding some buildings and all of them are painted in a such colorfull way. The messages: Right for return to their homelands in Israel, freedom of the political prisoners, freedom to move, right of education and health care, reminding heroes of the Palestinian resistance. Generally speaking: Free Palestine

Electricity cut looks romantic but imagine your life with just 6 hrs of electricity followed by 12 hrs electricity cut? Mothers get up in the middle of the night to start cooking or ironing clothes, while their children are waking up to study. There is no shower if the pumps don't work, there is no tv and your visitors have to sit in the dark. And then try to imagine how a stable economy or a hospital with all the machines should work. Of course the important places have generators but since at the moment there is almost no fuel in Gaza, they can't run them anymore and even the power plant had to shut down. Why is there no fuel? Due to the governmental overthrow in Egypt they closed the border towards Gaza. The cheap fuel from Egypt can't be imported anymore so they have to buy the more expensive one from Israel that is delivered through the Authority in the Westbank that also refuses to lower prices.

At work with PMRS

School children were demanding to "see the foreigner"

Our driver with "my baby"

Big party in the middle of the night at Erez-Checkpoint. Some political prisoners got released and whole Gaza is celebrating. Due to the peace talks between Israel and Palestine, Israel decided to release some prisoners. The next day the announced hundreds of new settlements in Jerusalem. All those steps seem just like an appeasement of the international publicity but doesn't really lead somewhere under the hypocritical representative of both sides.

Kufiye-Baby

Majed, a journalist from Gaza that became a good friend and me at the release. At some point I had to cover my hear to not get to annoyed by all the "How to you like Gaza"-questioners

SVP posters are nothing against this...

At a school, teaching the children about first aid. I had to teach them about cases of unconsciousness - great experience!

It breaks your heart to see people living like this. They lost most of their goods during bombing.

My friend Dr. Yunis took me one day on a trip through Gaza. Here we were visiting the farmers, that are trying to cultivate the land again that used to belong to the Israeli settlers (all of them had to leave Gaza in 2005)

At the Bedouins

This was a beautiful morning swim with Majed and his family. His father goes every day after the morning prayers (at around 5 am) for a swim in the sea. It was beautiful to see the sunrise and all the fisherman getting into the sea. Of course I was not wearing a bikini but long clothes! :)

This man came to the clinic cause his scar was itching. He got attacked by an Israeli bomb in Rafah 3 years ago. He had the chance to go to Germany and get this prothesis. I didn't realize it at all until he pulled his pants up.

PMRS president Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi" is omnipresent

On the international solidarity day for disabled people. During the war between Fatah and Hamas in 2007 (the two big partys in Palestine) a lot of people were shot in their knees, sort of a lifelong warning.

At the "Culture Free Thought Association" in Khan Younis, where children get the chance to express themselves through blogs, theater or...

Dabka-dancing

My two good friends from PMRS. Bedouin Hatem and poet Ahmad.

My amazing friend Nabeela invited me to her house and made this...

... most delicious Palestinian food I've ever had!! Usually on Friday after the big prayer all the family sits together and is enjoying a big meal that is taking almost the whole day - I could live with that :).

Big celebration of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) - the communist party. I was surprised that Hamas let them celebrate their anniversary but as friends told me they accept the other big parties in a certain frame.

After this picture I had to leave the celebration as quickly as possible because within some seconds around 15 people were starting to take pictures of me holding the PFLP flag, although I just wanted Majed to take a picture of me as memory, and I really felt unconfortable. Don't know where those pictures ended but I already imagined myself in a newspaper with the title "Swiss representative is supporting Palestinian communist party"

About to buy my thobe, the traditional Palestinian dress (usually it's longer so that's why all my friends made fun about me and called it the cheap form)

Electricity cut again. To visit my friends that live in the 11th floor we are waiting till the elevator works again - I know I am lazy ;)

Sunset at my favourite beach bar