Andrea Becker

Morning Coffee in Ramallah

Finally home to Ramallah today to find my plants—dried, limp, purple flowers browned. My home dusty and unlived in, dishes waiting in the sink. Since last week, the strong wind from the valley swept the earth that I had used to cover the little box grave for my dog, Nutmeg. 

Teargas, bullets and a cage: Getting to school in Palestine

The breaking points are sometimes small, innocuous. You can’t sleep for a week because the Israeli shelling is so bad, there are continuous and horrible reports of death, but we’re fine- “I’m fine. No, I’m ok. Really.”—- then something as silly as trying to fold an omelette in the frying pan, it breaking, and then- the tears fall. 

Convoy to Nablus: Statement

A joint convoy comprised of representatives from 14 international and 9 national humanitarian agencies working in the West Bank and Gaza set out to Nablus on Tuesday, April 9th. The convoy consisted of 16 vehicles, five of which were carrying basic food and medicines for distribution to the most vulnerable families. 

'There's a terrorist coming'

The sun was finally shining, I start to feel a little better but the feeling is temporary - were I at my place in Ramallah right now, it wouldn’t even be safe enough to step out on the balcony. The shutters would be drawn, I would be in darkness, and my usual short supply of food would have been exhausted long ago. 

Words

Alarm, wake up. beepbeepbeep. My hand hits an unfamiliar bedside table, no alarm. My mobile phone. Groggy with not having slept properly in days, feels like weeks. But alert - the exhaustion of adrenaline pushing through my veins, coffee and wine dried on my lips. I can hardly remember what my own bed feels like.