Despite media spotlight on Sderot, residents of regional kibbutzim say ongoing Qassam fire causes them anxiety, too
By Mijal Grinberg
"How come Sderot kids going on a trip and we aren't?" mumbles 10-year-old Oren from Kibbutz Nir Am, as she plays with her friends. She and some of her friends feel that their fear and anxiety receive less attention, despite the fact that two Qassam rockets hit the kibbutz in the past week alone. A third rocket hit its outskirts.
The regional council of the area surrounding Sderot is called Sha'ar Hanegev, and includes numerous kibbutzim. Many of the rockets hit in the council's territory, as well as in the territory of other regional councils adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The rocket warning system in Nir Am is connected to that of Sderot. And even though the media spotlight remains focused five minutes away, in Sderot, the residents of area kibbutzim say they too have suffered from the situation.
Sculpting clay Qassams
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Shlomit Siboni, 59, teaches ceramics in Nir Am. Among her students are kids from Sderot and nearby kibbutzim. All have one thing in common - the Qassams. Sometimes, in order to diminish their fears, they sculpt the rocket out of clay - and they are always talking about it. Siboni too, and not just the children, suffers from anxiety. "How is the anxiety expressed?" she asks herself aloud, with the answer coming in the form of her tensing up when the telephone rings. "Every ring, every sound, causes you to jump, you think, here comes the alarm," she said.
The girls on the lawn confirm the feeling. Eleven-year-old Michal Samhi says she is afraid to go to her grandmother's house, both because of the way she has to go to get there and because her grandmother's roof isn't as safe as the one at her house. None of the homes have been reinforced to sustain a Qassam strike. For a moment, the girls become construction experts, explaining where there is plaster, and where there is concrete - where they should go, and where they should avoid. The kibbutz's famous outdoor areas, one of the great advantages of life there, have lost their appeal in the current situation. "Kids are afraid to play outside, they stay at home, with their parents, afraid to leave them," says Amit, a children's counselor. "For a bit of nature, they go elsewhere," the kibbutz secretary, Avi Kadosh, says sadly.
Comparing distress
Orit Nutman Shwartz, head of the social work department at Sderot's Sapir College, conducted a study, along with Dr. Rachel Dekel, that focused on the effects of Qassam rockets and compared the distress felt by Sderot residents with that felt by residents of the kibbutzim.
The study, which was conducted prior to the 2005 Israeli pullout from Gaza, found different responses. The effects of repeated traumatic events found in 37 percent of Sderot adults while in only 15 percent of adults in the kibbutzim. Basic physical signs of anxiety, such as sweating and shaking, were found in an equal number of adults in the kibbutzim as in Sderot. Three times as many rockets had fallen in Sderot as in the surrounding kibbutzim at the time of the study.
According to Kadosh, when a Qassam hits the kibbutz, an emergency team treats people, while another team speaks with other kibbutz members to see how they are doing. He believes the conversations show a high level of distress among kibbutz members. "People used to invite family and friends here for the weekend, but today people are afraid to invite, and no one wants to come," he says. People used to be embarrassed to talk of their distress, he says, but now the "dams have burst." Kadosh stresses the importance of reinforcing the houses, so that at least people will feel safe at home.
The regional council's school has decided students will study in two shifts, so that they all can be in a reinforced classroom at all times.
In a preparatory letter for a protest of the area's residents, one resident wrote the following: "Every time the media says 'a Qassam rocket hit an open area, causing no injuries or damage,' think about the fact that a moment before it hit, there was a loud whistle and then a huge bang. The cumulative effect of all these whistles and bangs is horrific, when one of my kids' first words was 'Color Red' [the name of the Qassam alert] and when my kids wake up in fear in the middle of the night."
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