In the heart of a small land where dreams are often swallowed by the shadows of occupation, there
lived a passionate girl whose spirit refused to be extinguished.
From the earliest whispers of her childhood when dandelions used to bloom without constraints,
she carried with her a flame of unwavering belief, a belief that one day, despite the weight of
oppression, despite the scars of the never-ending gloomy nights and the hunts of the ghosts of
despair, she would rise.
She used to wander through the narrow streets under the dim light of the glorious moon, where
every corner echoed with loud laughs and muffled cries, filled up with missing memories from the
distant parts of the world and inchoate love stories without endings.
Amidst the chaos, she found solace in writing while gazing at the harmony of the shiny reflected
sun rays on the vibrant sea waves.
Yet, fate, it seemed had its own designs. In the blink of an eye, the tranquil rhythm of her life was
shattered by the thunderous roar of the war. Her home, her sanctuary, reduced to rubble, her
memories turned into small fragments thrown into the grey streets. The halls of her university, once
filled with promises and ambitions, now haunted by the echoes of destruction. And the faces she
held dear, lost to the merciless tide of death.
With each upheaval, her dreams seemed to slip further from her grasp. Leaving behind only
fragments of what once was. Her homeland, once a sanctuary of warmth and belonging, now a
bleak landscape scattered by ruthlessness and madness.
Displaced, time and again, she traversed the unforgiving terrain of ambiguity. Forced to seek
refuge in places where the very air seemed hostile to her presence. And though surrounded by the
bustling masses, she found herself ensnared in the suffocating embrace of loneliness and
lostness.
Yet, through it all, she clung to the flicker of hope that waved on the distant horizon. For her,
survival was not merely a matter of existence but a testament to the resilience of her spirit.
Each shattered dream, each stolen memory, each defeated soul, only served to fuel her
determination to defy the odds and ends.
She stood relentlessly in her conviction that one day, the sun would rise again over her homeland,
casting its warm embrace upon a land reborn.
And so, she pressed on, guided by the whispers of possibility that danced on the winds of change.
For in her heart, she carried the dreams of her people, dreams that would one day blossom into
reality, casting aside the darkness of repression to reveal the light of freedom.
Ahlam Hwaiti
Ahlam Hwaiti is a law student in her third year of college in Gaza.
Photo Credits: Gaza Beach: General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada
Palestinian sunbird in one of the orchards west of Gaza: Ayman Dardona
