Phone Calls from Palestine

Free Palestine. Recognise and liberate Kurdistan and other diasporic communities

This post is not directly related to Palestine but the circumstances are very interlinked. My work with Gaza, the West Bank and diaspora have infiltrated every aspect of my life.

Please know, I am not looking for sympathy, but life has been very hard lately. I am struggling to process certain circumstances.

I am sat here wrapped in my son’s Lego duvet lamenting not being able to see him or spend time with him. But the truth is, I’m not well enough right now for various reasons.

I really don’t know where to start. My work with the people of Palestine has almost driven me insane, through no fault of theirs.

I have seen and heard things which have affected me in such a way that my plight for Palestine has now become so important that it’s placing a shadow over my own personal life. People have left me in droves.

The most pertinent one was my Kurdish partner, from northern Iran, who is no longer mentally or physically able to be with me. This, along with various other factors, placed such an intense amount of pressure on him and I had to be very sensitive about what I shared. He also had his own plight with Kurdistan.

The things I was working on and sharing were hugely triggering for him. Out of respect, I can’t go into the details. And my family just don’t get it – any of it.

But what he had been through spurred me on to help children in the Middle East and West Asia in a bid to never let them feel the same trauma.

The constant drones, shelling and poverty are awful. I have seen children shaking and wetting themselves in fear. We are both hugely traumatised by everything in life right now. It has caused behaviours and anxiety that would otherwise not have happened.

Part of me wanted to rescue that little boy inside my partner, but I couldn’t. Now, I can’t bear to wash the glass he last drank out of. And he is gone, not just because of Palestine.

I hope he finds peace. Inshallah.