QUARANTINE - DAY 29 - 3rd April 2020 No one has been particularly surprised to hear the announcement that the quarantine is going to be extended by another 30 days as most of the world is in lockdown. Additionally thousands of Palestinian workers are expected to return from Israel for the Easter break. So for many it will feel like starting all over again to contain the virus. Um Khaled reflects on life as Bethlehem worries about the returning workers: Hello all.... I am a married woman with three children, I live in Beit Jala. I have great hope in God Almighty that this disease will end as if it had never existed ... I have a lot of optimism that we will sleep and wake up as if nothing has happened ... I have a great belief that there is a vaccine for this dreaded virus in one of the countries that will be distributed all over the world; all those infected with it will recover and life will return to as it was before - even for the better, God willing ... As for me, I used to go to visit my family in Al-Dheisha camp at the weekends with my children, visit my relatives and my friends, and go to Bethlehem in order to buy provisions for the week. But this terrible virus came and prevented us from leaving our house. The authorities closed all roads immediately after the announcement of some infected cases within a foreign delegation who were staying in the Angel Hotel in Beit Jala. They imposed a curfew so that the disease did not spread. So they asked us to stay in our houses in order to protect ourselves and our family. We responded to their demands immediately and without hesitation .... After almost fourteen days, seventeen patients who were in the hotel recovered. We were very happy for this news and we were hoping to hear the ban on all the city was to be lifted, but unfortunately we heard about new infected cases who were working in the interior of the Palestinian territories - from Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and Artas. As well as from Hebron, Tulkarem, Ramallah and Gaza. This alarmed the Bethlehem governorate and they closed all entrances between these cities and surrounding villages. And so we are still in our homes waiting for relief from Almighty God ..... My husband is a worker. He has stopped working since the announcement of the quarantine. He did not expect the situation to get this bad. He has a lot of financial obligations that he cannot meet now. We are now in a difficult situation because there is no breadwinner for us other than him. He is now always thinking about the basic needs of the house, and how he can afford them, because he has not worked for more than 28 days, But thank God, we have our health and this is enough for us ... As for my children, they are not used to staying at home for a long time. They used to go to school and play with their friends ..... And here we are today, on the twenty-ninth day There are no new cases in Bethlehem, but it turns out that there are 15 new cases in the Ramallah and Jerusalem governorates. Will we hear about even more new cases soon ??? !! Because of the workers who are returning from the occupied lands and disregard their lives and the lives of others, we are going back to zero. We are completing the twenty-ninth day of quarantine in our homes again ... This experience taught me a lot - the most important of which are: It has increased my belief in God Almighty, that he is able to end this world within a few minutes, and that we are nothing but guests on this earth who created us to worship its Creator, glory be to Him ... Greetings to you all, Khaled's mother https://www.bethlehem-town.com/ |
