Scottish grandmother volunteers to help displaced Gazans

The National

7 hours ago

'You can't justify that – a three-year-old child is a three-year-old child,' said Smith, from Berwickshire. 'It does not matter where on the planet they are from, they do not deserve to be targeted, maimed and murdered.'
Equally harrowing was hearing about a young mum who lost her baby and one arm when an Israeli explosive hit as she was breastfeeding.
It's only now, a month since Smith returned to Scotland from Cairo in Egypt, that she is able to talk about her experience because the trauma she witnessed was so overwhelming.
READ MORE: Freedom Flotilla urges UK Government to 'protect' ship from Israel as it nears Gaza
However, she is determined other Scots should hear about the thousands of Palestinians who have escaped the bombardment of Gaza but whose current living hell has been largely overlooked.
Most were allowed to cross the border into Egypt because they needed urgent medical treatment for injuries cause by Israeli explosives but are now trying to survive in some of the worst slum areas of Cairo without status, jobs or welfare.
'What I saw and heard in Cairo was catastrophic – not just the aftermath of war but the bureaucracy of abandonment, the quiet violence of being rendered invisible,' Smith (below) told the Sunday National.
There are more than 100,000 Gazans now living in Cairo with no legal status.
'They are not refugees. They are not asylum seekers. Nor do they want to be. They want to go home. In the meantime, they are people with no rights, no support and no safety net — invisible in a sprawling, chaotic city of over 10 million. Their kids can't go to Egyptian schools and none of them are allowed to work. It's the most impossible situation for them as if they haven't been through enough,' she said.
Smith spent a month volunteering mostly with Network for Palestine, a charity set up by Palestinians to help the evacuees. Her trip was entirely self-funded as she felt she could no longer see the carnage on the TV news without trying to help.
A long-time supporter of Medical Aid for Palestine, she had previously worked with Palestinians in the West Bank under the auspices of the British Council in 2010.
'Of all the countries in the world, Palestine is the most like Scotland,' said Smith, right. 'They have some of the best of us – gallows humour, hospitality, national and civic pride, warmth and openness, innovation, resourcefulness and they love a hoolie.'
One of the hardest aspects of her visit was seeing the effects of war on the children. Before the current Israeli onslaught and even under occupation, the children were bright and full of energy. The Gazan children in Cairo, by contrast, had completely shut down.
READ MORE: 'Joy, celebration and warmth' of Palestinian art to be showcased at Edinburgh Fringe
On her first day Smith met a three-year-old who had not spoken for months. A day or two later, she was invited to an Eid party at a hospital in a slum area known as Garbage City. There are more than 150 Gazans living in the grounds of the hospital, mostly injured children.
'The party was organised and paid for by a couple of ordinary young lads from North London and there were bouncy castles and music,' Smith said.
During the event, a minibus drew up full of injured kids recently arrived from Gaza. As the children got off the bus, Smith saw they were missing limbs and had other life-changing, visible injuries. They were thin, grey, silent and just stood on the sidelines watching.
When Smith met parents, she was struck by how they immediately wanted to show her pictures of their former homes, family, friends, parties they had held for their children and barbecues in their Gazan gardens. At first she found it strange but then she realised they wanted her to know that their current circumstances did not define them.
'It was to say 'I had a life there, I worked as a computer technician, my husband was a paralegal, we had this car, my kids went to this school',' explained Smith.
'Although they have lived under military occupation in a huge compound, they have obviously striven to be educated, happy, free spirited, creative and resourceful.
'Even in their temporary homes in Cairo, even in pain and limbo, they show strangers photos of their lives before to say – this is who I really am. They are not their current situation.'
On her trip to Cairo, Smith took £5000 she had raised plus four reconditioned laptops and an iPad.
'I wish I had been able to take much more as many of the children are trying to keep up their education but can't go to school so are trying their best on their mums' phones,' she said.
'Palestinians have one of the highest literacy rates in the world at 99.25%. That's higher than the European average, much higher than the US and even higher than Israel. Education is not just a value – it's a form of resistance.'
A ray of light is two Montessori schools that have been set up for the children, while Network for Palestine is working hard to cater for all the families' other needs.
'Network for Palestine in Cairo are absolute heroes and have helped more than 25,000 women, children and families,' said Smith.
'On the days I spent at their HQ, the phones never stopped, the human traffic over the door was relentless and the staff and volunteers were clearly pressed at every turn.'
Operating in not much more than a single room only one year ago, the network's HQ has grown so much it is now like Glasgow's Refuweegee charity 'on steroids', according to Smith.
'It is an absolutely huge donation centre with clothes for women, children and men, food, furniture, offices and meeting rooms for all the social work as well as counselling rooms where children, young people and their families get expert support from clinical psychologists trained to support the kind of trauma they have and continue to live with,' she said.
However, even those delivering help, who are mostly volunteers, are buckling under the pressure.
One said: 'It's emotionally, psychologically and physically exhausting just to keep going, especially when you haven't processed your own trauma and you're faced with the trauma of others that seems never-ending. You are desperate for every piece of news from Gaza, but you're also scared to know what's happening.'
Now back in Berwickshire, Smith is doing all she can to raise awareness.
Smith said: 'One thing people said to me time and time again is that they just want to be seen. They want it acknowledged that they deserve to live and deserve to be.'