Silhouettes of improvised tents draw up in a distance as blankets are spread over few poles, fixed in unstable soil. In front of one tent lays a man, a chain leads from his ankle to a wooden bench.
“Don’t wake him upâ€, warns older woman coming from the tent. “Sa'd is my son, he’s asleep and let him sleep. When he is awake he is suffers.†She introduces herself as his mother. “Sa'd is mentally disturbed, but until the war, we didn’t have to chain him like he would be an animal! That ruins you see if you turn around, were our house once. Now we don’t have a home. Before the war, Sa'd was kept in his room, but what is left for us to do here? We live in this tent, about a kilometer from border with Israel. We cannot let Sa'd to roam freely, as he could get shot by snipers. He is chained here for his own safety! I don’t even want to tell you anything more, even if you will publish our story, nothing will change for usâ€.
As she would lose thousands of battles each day, she stooped and angrily moved back into the tent.
"They both had Europe on their minds.â€
Last time she spoke with them was on 6th of September.
“They call my sons and others illegal immigrants but they never ask what pushed them into fleeing. We in Gaza live under illegal occupation, this entire situation is a crime against humanity!â€, she was angered.
A soft and warm sunlight shines through a window of once beautiful house, revealing the reasons for their escape. In a middle of the damaged room, next to a broken table lies a canvas with unfinished painting on it. Ramez’ auto portrait. Like his life out of Gaza, it is left unfinished.
“I left Gaza at night through a tunnel with a group of 20-30 people. On the other side cars took us to Alexandria, where we met more immigrants. We were split. Some people stayed in Egypt and the rest of us were taken to a town Sallum, from where we crossed into Libya. We had to pay another 500 dollars to a new gang of traffickers. They also charged me for my legs. All the way we were treated very badly. Some people were robbed and left behind. We heard stories about people disappearing in the desert and were terrified.â€
Amar took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders.
“But you know, all in all it was worth to try. I still want to go to Europe. There I can find work and get new legs.â€
