Today a group of us went to the current home of some of the Gush Katif expellees, to support and encourage them in the midst of the war. The group of about 50 was from Women in Green, and the town is Nitzan -1/2 way between Ashkelon and Ashdod - and where many of the Neve Dekalim families are still living, after 3-1/2 years. The families live in paper-thin caravillas (trailers) and there is much uncertainly about the future. (Trust me, the walls of those trailers are thin; I pounded on one of them and thought for a minute my pounding would break a hole in the OUTSIDE wall. It thumped like the sound of corruagated cardboard.)
Never mind the future..... right now Nitzan is, like the rest of the south, under warnings and attacks from incoming rockets...being shot from the very communities they were forced out of by our government - from the towns where they lived in Gush Katif. If that's not difficult enough, there are no miklatim (bomb shelters) in this area of Nitzan, leaving the families very very vulnerable to any incoming missiles.
To make up for the inadequate protection, the government dropped in a number of rolling sewer pipes, large concrete ones, that are now kept from rolling by wood wedges. I wrote about them in an earlier article with some pictures. Many of the "pipes" are decorated with a story or idea. We added our own touch.
Our group went to Nitzan to tell our friends we don't forget about them, and we want to let them know we are here for them for whatever they may need. One of the things they need is for people to shop their stores... so that's what we did. Some call it Zionist Shopping....shopping to show support for Eretz Yisrael and to support the people under direct attack.
As always, however, we went to strengthen, but we came back strengthened. Because of their emunah and their courage and strength WE were encouraged. Like I said you have to experience it.
Rachel and Moshe Saperstein were our hosts, and Rachel's main concern was not the 2-3 times daily they need to rush into the sewers (pipes I mean) because of Tseva Adom Alerts (Color Red Alerts of impending rockets) but that, G-d forbid, one should occur while we were there. None did happen while we were there, but we heard sirens in nearby Ashkelon about 12:15, and we later learned a grad rocket had hit that city at that time.
Rachel set out coffee and cookies for us in their home, and took us on a tour of the sewer pipes. Each one has a story....just like each family of Gush Katif/Nitzan.
Here are a few pictures and a few stories to share. For a more complete show of pictures check my picasa web: (please note the pictures there are not labeled as yet)
Having some fun! I guess shopping is always fun for women....but there were several men there too
Rachel Saperstein on the left. Anita Finkelstein and Nadia Matar
Shopping in one of the stores
Women (and Men!) in Green decided to decorate one of the sewer pipe shelters...making the statement on it that "The Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel"
This pipe is quintessential "Gush Katif":
In addition to showing the beauty of the Sea that was the Gush Katif experience, this sewer pipe says "You expelled the Orange - you received the Red. [alert]"
A man bady injured in Neve Dekalim was given his own "personal" pipe. So
edgy and unnerved is he that actually sleeps in it. In this photo one can see his mattress and some personal belongings. (gentleman standing is not the resident, but one of the WIG visitors.)
The picture tells the story. In the background, barely visible is the cardboard house, overshadowed by the storage container to the left, still full of things from Neve Dekalim, and suffering moisture and rodent damage, and the sewer pipe bomb shelter... the saga...but not the ending yet!
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