Ayala Ait ’23

Posted on December 29, 2023

For the last few weeks, there has been a sense of routine, at least in a technical sense, although everything is still uncertain. I arrange driving lessons, placement tests for the army, and even regular private lessons, and just hope that they will happen, because it is impossible to know what restrictions there will be and who will be allowed to work.

In the city where I live, there are no missiles, so there are a lot of evacuees here, and you can find something that needs to be done everywhere you look. It is a bit of cliché, but in a certain way doing volunteer work helps me no less than it helps those I am supporting – I am busy with things that are more useful and positive than sitting at home watching the news. Thanks to this great need for volunteers, I have been doing things I never thought I would do, such as agricultural work in the fields.

I am going to school and to practices almost like normal. We even have tests again at school. But still, we have an air raid drill every morning after prayers; many of my teachers are serving in the army on reserve duty; and once a week our entire class goes to volunteer.

In the city where I go to school, there are some sirens, and once already it happened that after I left school, there was a siren and I had to run back to school. We have a minute and a half to get to a safe room, so I made it in time, and just a few seconds after I got in the safe room, we heard the boom. I thought it was the Iron Dome shooting down a missile, but it turned out that a missile had landed right on the next street.

I am hoping to get back to a stable, secure situation, even though I know many things will have to change. In the meantime, I am just trying to help wherever there is a need, to stay busy, and to be with my family.