I won’t go speechless

The tragedy currently unfolding in Gaza has myriad consequences, but by far the worst and most long-term are those being heaped upon Gaza’s children. For years UNICEF has warned the world that children bear the brunt of the violence that relentlessly hammers Palestine. This week’s horrors multiply the trauma they already feel to an unimaginable degree.

Gaza’s children are left reeling from the violent escalation in conflict, as lives have been lost and families shattered, with devastating impacts on children. Schools and health facilities have been damaged, homes and offices have been flattened, and entire families have been displaced.

One of the precious children directly impacted by this tragedy is my student and friend Yara, age 16. I had the honor of meeting Yara when she was an 11 year old student at the Beit Hanoun school. One of the best and brightest of the class, Yara captured my heart in one of our first sessions together. I asked each student to introduce herself with her name and something she loves that starts with the same letter as her name; for her turn, she said, “I’m Yara and I love you!” In the many delightful sessions that followed, Yara taught me much about the beautiful side of life in her homeland, sharing with me the wonders of Palestinian art, food, music, flowers, and especially the people themselves.

Yara visits Belfast as part of her prize for the 2021 play “Welcome to Earth”

With her excellent English and flair for the dramatic, Yara was a natural in a variety of performances put on by her English drama club along with the Hands Up Project. Just last year, she and two of her classmates along with a pair of girls from Czechia performed the play “Welcome to Earth”, which won the Hands Up Remote Theatre competition and afforded the actors an opportunity to travel to Belfast and perform the play for schoolchildren there. Yara was a natural and a winning ambassador for her country, speaking out for the importance of peace and understanding between all people. Just last week, in a further confirmation of her gifts, Yara played the lead in an online rehearsal of King Lear directed by Peter Oswald, renowned British playwright.

This week, Yara’s home was destroyed by the Israeli bombardment of Beit Hanoun. Because of the lack of internet access, there is no way to check on her and find out her fate and that of her family. It is impossible to imagine the terror she must be feeling, left homeless and undergoing forced evacuation, with escalating violence threatening her at every moment. Here is a bright and gifted young mind, full of hope and promise, whose life and future is being torn from her.

Beyond all the cries for all-out war, where are the cries for care for the children? Yara herself summons up what needs to be said in the video linked below. The occasion was a World Storytelling Cafe, when Yara spontaneously broke into song:

I won’t be silenced. You can’t keep me quiet. All I know is I won’t go speechless.

We must all speak out loud and clear for those like Yara who have been made speechless by this unfathomable humanitarian crisis.