Terry Newman: Nova festival exhibit shows survivors still paying dearly for October 7
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The exhibit continues in the next room which is dark and smokey, with a thin-layer of sand on its floor. Several screens show videos without placards which illustrate Hamas' rampage, including the attackers shooting at vehicles of those trying to escape as well as a recording of a terrorist calling his family to tell them he murdered Jews: 'Dad, I'm calling you from the phone of a Jew. I just killed her and her husband with my own hands. I killed 10! Dad, I killed 10 with my hands. Dad, open WhatsApp and see how many I killed.'
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The darkness continues as visitors walk through a room with tents and camping chairs with phones of festival-goers plugged in and charging while being introduced to more video stories from survivors.
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How the exhibit chooses to tell these stories may seem counter-intuitive for their lack of anger. Survivors give full accounts of running and hiding under vehicles or bushes, often injured, or hiding in bomb shelters, while those around them were less fortunate as successive grenades were lobbed into the structures. One man describes keeping a woman, a mother of three, who begged him to save her, alive. They both hid under a vehicle and were later rescued. A medic recounts how the bodies kept coming in, and how painful it was not to be able to save them all. One patient, he told us, had been shot so many times by an AK-47 that he wasn't sure that she'd survive, even with his help. The video ends with their heartfelt reunion. All of the videos in the exhibit emphasized the importance of community and how they helped each other through the nightmare.
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Towards the end of the exhibit is a warehouse of found items from the festival site which you can pick up and hold, including hats, shoes, purses and wallets. In a video in this section of the exhibit, a woman responsible for collecting and identifying the owners of these items discussed the difficulty of collecting jewelry from the grounds, and, in one example, of having to send earrings back to the families of two women who had been burnt and were otherwise unrecognizable.
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In one corner, a countdown clock reminds visitors that there are still hostages who need to be brought home. In another, visitors can leave cards of remembrance on a long table where the hostages' pictures line the wall.
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The exhibit ends with a message of hope and a declaration that they will all dance again.
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In their efforts to support festival survivors — who the exhibit explains are experiencing psychological trauma including flashbacks, anxiety, sleep disorders, and difficulty functioning day-to-day on top of the difficulty of grieving for friends and family who were killed or kidnapped at the event — the Tribe of Nova Foundation has held healing sessions which have been well-attended by survivors and members of bereaved families, 140 memorials and 120 community day gatherings focused on healing and enhancing mental health. In addition, the foundation has provided US$ 900,000 in emergency grants to assist bereaved families and survivors with living stipends. They have also helped festival survivors, who were largely in their mid 20's to 30's, navigate the arduous process of securing government benefits.
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Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Palestinians say Israel and its allies fired on crowd near Gaza aid site. Hospital says 6 killed
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Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Eid al-Adha celebrated globally with less spending, high prices and fewer animal sacrifices
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CTV News
5 days ago
- CTV News
Gaza marks the start of Eid with outdoor prayers amongst the rubble and food growing ever scarcer
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