NAGHAM KARAJEH

Gaza- Shorouk al-Jarjawi, a woman in her twenties who lost one of her legs in an Israel’s attack targeting homeless displaced persons, is sitting in a corner of a destroyed school in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza city.

She does not have a university degree but a talent for making sweet pastry. She lost her husband in a bombardment while trying to find something for their family.

Shorouk al-Jarjawi still cannot believe how she survived. “When I saw my husband lying on the ground, I cried a lot. I stopped crying when I looked into my son’s eyes because he needed support,” said Shorouk al-Jarjawi, who lost one of her legs in the bombardment.

 Before the bombardment, she and her family took shelter at the Al-Shifa Hospital, cooking and distributing rice to children and women at the hospital. “We did have nothing: no blanket, no clothes and no flour. But when you see children crying from hunger, you want to do something for them.”

Shorouk al-Jarjawi has been suffering from physical and psychological pain since she lost one of her legs in the bombardment that killed about 20 Palestinians, including her husband. “After the bombardment, I underwent an amputation surgery​​. When I woke up, I screamed. I wanted to move but I could not. My son was one year and two months old, and I was breastfeeding him.”

After losing her leg, her mother began to take care of her and her son. “My mother is over sixty and she suffers from back pain, but every morning, she wakes me up, bathes me, feeds my son, and brings me my medicine.”

Despite everything, Shorouk al-Warjawi never gives up. She decided to start a project inside the hospital. She began to make sweet pastry and sell them to medical workers and displaced people because she was the only breadwinner of her family.

“Every piece of pastry I sell is a victory,” she said. “Feeding your child with what you've earned is priceless. I make sweet pastry just for feeding my son.”

Shorouk Al-Warjawi still faces many challenges because she has to use a wheelchair to move around but moving around with a broken wheelchair in the destroyed streets is almost impossible for her.

“Sometimes I need someone to lift me over the holes, or to fix my wheelchair. I cry not only over pain but also over the sense of complete helplessness. Despite everything, I will never give up the struggle. I want to start my own business and raise my son properly without asking for any help. The war has stolen my leg, but it cannot steal my willpower. When I open my eyes every day, I tell myself: I am still here, I am still capable of earning a living for my son and my mother.”