Tala’s Story: Missing Gaza and Her Friends
Tala was trapped under the rubble of her family’s home in Gaza for two days. She lost her left eye and has had several surgeries. Read her story.
Pictured
Smiling girl in a pink headband and pink vest holding two dolls on a red sofa
FAJR’s leadership on Our TeamSalah and Mira are birds in heaven now. Sometimes I look up at the sky, hoping I’ll see them. I miss them, and I miss Grandma and her molokhia.
“I was at our house, my grandfather’s house. It was big, four stories, and I loved it so much because all my friends and cousins lived in the same building.
“Grandma had made molokhia, and we all sat down together for lunch. We ate fast so Salah, Mira, and I could go play in front of the house.
“Then suddenly, the whole house fell down.
“I was trapped under the rubble. It was so dark, and I was so scared. I could hear dogs barking loudly, and I kept calling out, but no one could hear me.
“Later, they told me I was under the rubble for two days. I don’t know how long it really was. I just remember being so thirsty. All I wanted was some water.”
Tala was pulled from the rubble after two days, with injuries that changed her childhood forever.
She lost her left eye and spent 25 days in intensive care. She has undergone several surgeries. Metal plates were placed in her hand and leg, and screws in her small jaw, after the blast knocked out some of her teeth.
Yet Tala still speaks with a child’s innocence, missing the little things.
“I miss Gaza and my friends so much,” she says. “And I miss how my teeth used to look. My mom used to tell me, ‘Your teeth are like a string of pearls.’”
Then she looks up quietly and adds:
“Salah and Mira are birds in heaven now. Sometimes I look up at the sky, hoping I’ll see them.”
Read about FAJR’s medical evacuations from Gaza and the MedEvac program, or see FAJR’s evacuation cases.
