by Avagador Avshalom
With four more Kassams this morning falling on us in Southern Israel it’s starting to feel like the old days again. The first of four in succession fell at 7:58 a.m. the same time school starts and children are walking to school and there are buses full of children are on their way to school.
All four Kassam rockets landed in open space here in Sderot but that in no way minimizes the anxiety that goes on in a mothers mind who just kissed her kids good by as they walked out the door or the driver who has a full bus of second and third grade children.
What would you do in a situation like that? There is no bomb shelter nearby and if there was how do you get 40 scared, screaming young children off the bus in fifteen seconds… you can’t.
As the bus pulled up to the school you could see the children running into the school which has a fortified wall and roof. And now you as the teacher has to calm your students down and try to teach them.
One of the Kassams landed 400- 500 meters north of the school in a wheat field waiting to be harvested, but it caught on fire before that could happen.
Is it any wonder why children have a hard time learning, sleeping or why they wet the bed at night because they are afraid to get out of the bomb shelter that is now their bedroom? Can you see why parents are over protective and don’t allow their children to play outside?
This is nothing new; it has been going on for the past thirteen years. These children (as well as their parents) DON’T suffer from PTSS (post-traumatic stress syndrome) because there is nothing “Post” about it, but rather they suffer from ATSS Accumulative Traumatic Stress Syndrome because the stress just keeps coming and coming and coming with each “Tseva Adom” that is heard in Sderot.
There is no stopping the trauma and no end to it in site. Oh there might be periods of calm but it is always there in the back of your mind… I know firsthand I live here in Sderot.
These are the people we help and the lives we try to bring comfort to. The support you show us helps us remember we are not in this by ourselves and that there are people out there that are standing with us.
Follow News from JerusalemShare this page with your friends