One kilometer, 0.625 miles, 15 seconds. Those are the numbers that every single resident of Sderot knows by heart. Those numbers describe the time and dust it takes for a rocket fired from Gaza to reach Sderot. As we were standing on the border of Gaza our hearts pounded like a beating drum as the leader of our tour answered his phone and said, “Muhammad don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” How would you feel hearing someone say that as you were on the Gaza Strip. We later realized that he was kidding, and sighed in relief and we all laughed it off. However, this is not a joke for the people that live in Sderot. Warnings like this are the harsh reality of daily life. Imagine yourself in the the Israelis shoes only having 15 seconds to take cover before a missile will explode right next to you. How would you live your life under these circumstances?
Sderot is a western Negev city in Israel. It has a population of about 20,000 people. Overall it’s a pretty small city that’s trying to stay alive and vibrant. When we arrived in Sderot we first had lunch – the famous middle eastern cuisine of shawarma, which was packed with Israeli favors. We then met two men, Julio from Argentina, and Joel. They explained to us how it felt to be living in Sderot. The one thing we learned was about 60% of these kids became traumatized which lead to PTSD that lasted a lifetime. They then walked us over to the police station and showed us all of the missile scraps. This made the experience immediate.
Now ask yourself this, how long do you take a shower for? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? In Sderot they take one minute showers with their clothes all ready outside the door just to be prepared if a siren goes off. They have to change these little things in order to live their life fully. They don’t let the danger of these missiles affect their daily lives. Life is about comprise and in Sderot it’s no different.