On a cozy November day, in the bustling city of Gaza, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where the air was always filled with the scent of freshly baked Zaatar Manakeesh and the sound of laughter echoed through the streets, a lovely little girl was born.
Her parents named her Lama.
She was the youngest of her siblings.
Her older sister and two brothers were very excited to meet their new, cute sister. With twinkling eyes and a warm smile, it was clear from her first day that Lama was a very sociable and friendly girl.
As the year went by, Lama started walking and uttering words that only her mom understood.
On her second birthday, Lama received a gift, a big pink teddy bear. This teddy bear was not only Lama’s favourite toy, it was
her partner-in-crime and confidant. She even took it to bed when she went to sleep.
Lama felt that only her mom and this teddy bear could really understand what she wanted to say.
On her first day at Kindergarten, Lama got into her dad’s blue car, as he drove her to school.
On their way, they passed by Saint Porphyrius Church, the oldest church in the city, and believed to be the third oldest church in the world.
They also passed by the Great Omari Mosque, built in the seventh century, as they made their way to the city’s main street, Salah Eldine Street. It was lined with palm trees and had many restaurants, coffee shops, and other shops. But only the coffee shops were open since it was too early in the morning for people to go shopping.
They also passed by the ancient beloved Haroubi’s tamour tree, standing on a traffic island all by itself. There are many myths and tales about this tree. The most famous one is that when Gaza municipality was installing water pipes, the workers dug too close to the tree roots, and the tree threw down a heavy branch that broke the truck as though it was upset and wanted them to go away. Luckily, no one was in the truck. People also believe that this tree brings good luck.
Although Lama was very cheerful during the ride to school, she felt uneasy about being away from her mom and siblings.
At the school gate, Lama’s heart was pounding. She was not sure if she was feeling excited or afraid. So, she stood there for a moment, closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, and let it out.
She then opened her eyes and decided to go to school with her usual smile, focusing on the new friends she was about to meet at kindergarten.
Lama introduced herself to her classmates, winning them over with her warm smile.
When she noticed that one of her classmates was sitting at her desk and crying, Lama walked to the crying girl and sat quietly next to her. She then introduced herself to the little girl and asked her name.
The girl stopped crying and told Lama that her name was Mais. Lama then asked Mais why she was crying. Mais replied that she was afraid and wanted to go home to her mom. Lama answered by telling Mais that she was afraid too.
She pointed to a group of kids and said that probably many of them were afraid, too. With a smiling face, Lama asked Mais if she would like to join her and the others so they could all be afraid together. Mais wiped her tears, smiled, and agreed to join. A friendship was born.
All seemed great, comfortable, and beautiful in Lama’s world, until the beginning of her fourth grade. On one fateful autumn night, Lama and her family were awakened by the sounds of bombs dropping on a nearby neighbourhood.
Lama and her three siblings were terrified. They
ran to their parents’ room and huddled with them.
However, Lama’s father and uncle were both journalists, they put on their press gear in a hurry, grabbed their cameras, and went to cover the incident.
But it was not an incident.
Lama’s family along with everyone in Gaza and the world would soon realize that this was a war, as bombs wouldn’t stop falling for months, and the devastation and destruction to homes, workplaces, hospitals, and schools in Gaza would increase every single day.
As the days went by, the bombing also became closer and closer to Lama’s neighbourhood.
One afternoon, a bomb struck the house of Lama’s neighbours. She was horrified, but she decided to do something about her feelings. Lama grabbed her father’s mobile phone, started filming the devastating scene from her window and talked about what she saw and how she felt.
When her dad saw what she recorded, he encouraged her to continue making videos, and helped her to post them on social media.
Lama used filming as a way to release her fears. She also decided to focus on the children to give them a voice during these harrowing times. Terrified as she was, she still went out after each incident to interview and film affected kids and ask them to talk about their feelings.
As the fighting intensified, many of Lama’s friends left their neighbourhood in Gaza City and became displaced in various areas around the Gaza Strip.
Lama was very heartbroken to lose touch with her friends. Little did she know that she and her family would be displaced too. As the bombing continued in Lama’s neighbourhood, her family decided to flee south to Khan Younis, leaving behind everything they knew and loved.
Since they couldn’t carry a lot of things, each one had to choose what they could take with them and what they had to leave behind, not knowing if they could ever return to their home again. Despite the overwhelming fear, Lama remained remarkably composed and filmed the heart-wrenching event, as she carefully selected her most cherished possessions: her beloved pink teddy bear, a few treasured books, and only the essential clothing items.
She also filmed the treacherous journey from Gaza City to Khan Younis, and interviewed children taking the very same brutal journey.
In Khan Younis, Lama and her family stayed at one of the schools, which was turned into a shelter for displaced people.
Lama was always looking for hope in tough situations, and walked in the schoolyard, hoping to find some of her old friends.
What Lama hoped for happened! She ran into Mais, her kindergarten friend. They were both ecstatic. They must have hugged for an hour before they sat down and started talking, their little hearts filled with joy.
Lama decided not only to document the hardship the children were living through but also to cheer them up.
Every day she walked around and asked kids if they wanted to play, paint, or sing with her. Sometimes they played hopscotch. Other times they went out of the school shelter, looked for colored small rocks from destroyed buildings, and used them to draw flowers and write words of hope on any standing or half-standing wall they could find.
On other days, Lama would gather the kids, and they would all sing and dance Dabkeh together. This type of gathering created a lot of laughter and enabled the children to develop resilience. Slowly but surely, Lama formed new friendships.
Lama also asked the kids about their hopes and dreams. She then asked her dad to post all those videos on social media. She hoped that other children would watch and not only feel heard but would do the same to build their own resilience.
Dressed in her dad’s spare press gear that was more than twice her size, Lama walked around Khan Younis, stood fiercely in the middle of the rubble, and documented the devastation and destruction, in order to show the world, the suffering of her people.
As the situation became increasingly dangerous in Khan Younis, Lama and her family were forced to flee south to Rafah. Once again, Lama had to pack her belongings little as they were, say goodbye to her friends, and go on a perilous journey once again. Despite her heartache, she managed to film everything that was happening with amazing calmness, showing a level of composure far beyond her young age.
When they reached Rafah, there were no school shelters. This time around, there were only tents, which did not offer much protection from the winter cold and rain.
Although life in a tent was much more challenging than the one in the school shelter, Lama continued documenting and posting all the hardships families and kids faced, including lack of food, water, and proper winter clothing.
She wanted to raise worldwide awareness of the situation in Rafah. She also was determined to cheer up the children around her.
In addition to playing games, dancing, and singing, Lama managed at the onset of Ramadan to gather Ramadan lanterns and distributed them to the children. She also managed to procure gifts for Eid for the children.
Lama’s journey was fraught with danger and uncertainty. Yet through it all, she remained steadfast in her determination to make a difference. Because of her courage, resilience and talent, at just nine years old, Lama Abu Jamous is now known as “The Youngest Journalist in Gaza”.
