New week and escape from war

By Dr. Hassan Humeida

Kiel, Germany: It’s the start of a new week. A week where we wake up normally, start with our usual rituals, get ready for our routines.

We start by getting out of our cozy beds, slowly and lazily stretching out and articulating with some funny, crazy or sometimes silly words and sentences, like “honey, flower, hero; what for a beautiful day, the sun is just shining and smiling for you and for me …”

Other out-of-bed exclamations include “I’m really today looking forward to enjoying the conversation with my boss, I hope I survive today with my manager, it will be a really nice week or more than that.”

As whole, we are preparing for a day with a normal course as usual, be it to take the children to kindergarten, school or to go to the work.

For many people, the new week begins quite normally, may be different sometimes, but only slightly different from the old weekly rhythm.

They get up, drink their tea, coffee, juice or water within their own, safe four walls. They eat what they have stored in their kitchen or bought fresh from groceries. You are lucky enough if you are safe, you are lucky to take a warm shower when it feels cold or to take a cold shower when it feels warm.

People line up to go to work as usual. Some are going to be picked up; others drive private cars or take public transport that carry them safely to their destinations. Everything starts quite normally and people look forward to new encounters in the new day.

However, for the people in war zones, the reality is vastly different.

The day is no longer the routine day, and the week is no longer the traditional old week and this will last until there is peace around them.

The most essential thing for a normal life is totally missing, namely “safety”.

Nothing is enjoyable without safety and nothing is possible without safety.

People who do not feel safe are now on the run for their lives. They are trying to escape, hiding in deep places, or selflessly doing their job in burning danger zones for others.

We need to feel for the families that have to leave their homes overnight, be mentally with the children who could not go to their kindergartens or schools, be praying for the people who can’t reach, let alone, engage in their daily jobs.

Hope does not die for these afflicted people. We remain optimistic, even in the most difficult times of life. May there be a speedy solution to the problem of “war”.

We pray there will be talks that take into account the concerns of all parties involved and that there will be a permanent solution in the form of “peace”. Peace is not only needed by the affected people in war zones, but also by the whole world.

An excerpt from my children’s book entitled “The Home of Noon” – published in 2016 – The escape from the War (1):

“Do you know, my friends, what wars are? Do you know, dear ones, what escape means? – Do you, dear ones, know how to escape wars? – This is my story and my little sister’s story. I will tell you our story; the story of my family at the time of fleeing the fires of war. I will tell you about my long journey to safety in the farthest countries. I will tell you about a second and new home that could welcome us now and bless us with safety for a while…”