At West England Bylines we believe that it is vitally important to share the experiences of the ordinary Palestinian people in Gaza.
The poetry featured here is from a series of poems written by Palestinian children in Gaza. They are part of a collection that first appeared in two online books, Moon Tell Me Truth and Oh Big Blue. Both books were published by The Hands Up Project, an organisation devoted to connecting young Palestinian people with children around the world. Using drama, poetry and story-telling, the project provides opportunities for shared self-expression, creativity and mutual understanding for children traumatised by war.
The team at West England Bylines has arranged with the Hands Up Project to re-publish contributions from their two poetry compilations. We are grateful to the project for giving us this opportunity to share with our readers the deeply affecting thoughts and feelings of Gazan children. We hope to publish other poems from the collection on a regular basis over the next few months.
Fatema Saidam’s poem, Eyes are for looking, is re-published here from Moon Tell Me Truth. She wrote this poem in the spring of 2023 when she was 9 years old. Fatema and her entire family were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their home on 17 October 2023.
The second poem, I Always Dream of a Life, is also from Moon Tell Me Truth, and is by Obada Mohammad Abu Oda, aged 14. Obada was killed by an Israeli strike on his home on 25 October, 2023.
This is part 1 of a series. Click here to read part 2
This moving requiem was made to commemorate the lives of Fatema, Obada and the many other students and teachers who were killed between 2023 and 2024 during the war on Gaza.
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