Sunday, October 15, 2006

Kafra and Siddikeen

It started raining last night, not the sweet gentle rain, it was crazy. I've never heard so much thunder, with such horrible intensity and relentless frequency in my life. It was like mother nature was screaming her lungs out. Rain was pouring as if heaven has exploded over our heads. All night, and all day today. It calmed down an hour ago. When this storm started, the first thing I thought about was the tent I saw in Kafra.

Last Wednesday (4 days ago), Jojo and I took Ahmad and Joseph to a trip to the South to check it out after the war. We went to Saida, Sour, Qana, Siddikeen, and Kafra (Jojo's village). We were stunned, especially as we drove in Siddikeen. Siddikeen is a poor village next to Qana, it was packed with small houses before the war. I know it cause we used to pass by it on our way to Kafra (there's no buildings or villas there, Siddikeen is one of the poor, quiet villages). We drove around it, and there was nothing, literally nothing. With no exageration, only 2 houses remain, nothing else. There are a few houses that have been massively destroyed, and all that's left of them is a roof (no doors, no walls, no windows, no furniture, no nothing, just a shaken floor and a roof). We saw families living in these houses, having their ftar under that crumbling roof (we passed by them at around 6:30 so it was time for ftar. We ate in the car). The entire village is being sold as iron rods and stones, that's all that's left of it. People say Siddikeen is being sold in kilos, and sadly, it is true.

Kafra is no better. When we drove in Kafra, it was around 7 p.m., and was already dark. We passed by a house where Jojo's relatives used to live (her mother's uncle's house), there were 2 tents in a flat land. The mother was cooking infront of the tent, 3al daw 2andeel el-kaz [by the light of an oil lamp], and the entire family was sitting in the tent, on the small land where their house used to be. What did they do in this storm? What did those families in Siddikeen do? With no walls, what in the world can a roof do?