Nahr el Bared Camp
Sunday - January 25 - 2009
Facilitators: ACS MS Drama class, Jo-Ellen, Lina, Bassem, Jimmy, Ahmed
I saw her discreetly trying to slide some fruit into her jacket. Her eyes caught mine – and I think she felt a bit bashful. I smiled at her, signaling to her that this was okay. Embarrassed, she only managed half of a smile back for me, and then hesitantly finished up putting a bit more in her coat pockets. By the type of food she selected, it seemed like she was doing this not so much to have a sweet snack for the bus ride home, but rather, and most probably, to bring back for her family in the camp.
As I continued to eat my slice of pizza, eyes still on her, I found it difficult to swallow. My throat seemed a bit closed, like the feeling you get when you’re about to cry, and my chest, as if a knot were in it. I steadily kept my focus on her – waiting, hoping, she’d be able to transform back into a care-free kid again, smiling, laughing and singing. I needed her to give me some break from this heaviness I felt. She did eventually – and soon I found her skipping about with the other girls.
A bit later, as I watched her getting her face painted, I thought the knot in my chest would then untie a bit. It didn’t. And the throat thing – that didn’t subside either.
At the end of the day, once loaded on the bus to depart back to Nahr el Bared, she stuck her hand out of the window to take mine. It didn’t seem like a hand-shake. But rather, we just joined hands – and I just stood there. “Shukran,” she said. We just looked at each other, hands still connected.
I squeezed her hand, and the bus left.
