It’s late afternoon on a beautiful day in Southern Israel. The children from Kibbutz Kfar Aza barrel into the classroom where after-school activities are held. Their teacher struggles to wrangle them as they peer into the lens of our camera, making goofy faces. Ben presses record all the while, capturing the joy of their childhood. At first glance it appears normal, even idyllic. Yet the reality is that these children live under the direct threat of rocket attack from bordering Gaza, just a half mile away. Bomb shelters are situated next to the soccer field and bus stop so that in the fifteen seconds between hearing the “Code Red” warning siren and the rocket impact, they can run for cover. “Our lives are dictated by our proximity to the Gaza Strip,” says community member Chen Abrahams. She remembers bicycling to Gaza to buy hummus and swim at the beach as a child. “So I have a vision for a different reality,” she says mournfully.
Chen and other kibbutz members were instrumental in helping us gain access to the children whose lives we worked to capture on film; our goal being to illustrate the experience of children living on the border with Gaza. We knew that the experience had made an indelible mark on the children, but we were worried that they would be unable to verbalize and express their story. Yet when we sat them down for interviews, we were amazed about how clearly, openly and honestly they spoke about their feelings when they hear the “Code Red” alarm. One child mentioned how she brings her dogs to the shelter and pets them. Another says she plays games so she can ignore the noise. “Our parents wanted us to forget what was going on, but I still remembered it,” said another young girl. We discovered that children can, and should, be given agency in their own story. They are incredibly perceptive and reflective, even at a young age. And such clarity can be incredibly informative to us adults.
Below is the final short video we produced:
