Living with Rockets: The meaning of Independence in Sderot

The Malka family

Carmit and her husband, Oshri were born and raised in Sderot. Carmit recalls a wonderful childhood, where she was free and happy to play on the streets of Sderot. "My parents were poor, hardworking individuals. I remember growing up, feeling safe and secure in Sderot. I was happy."

"Why can't my kids have that kind of childhood?" Carmit asks.

Their sons Noam and Idan, ages six and four, were not home when a rocket exploded on the Malka's home, Tuesday morning, April 29, at 9:00am. The family had left 30 minutes before, as the parents brought the kids to school and went to work.

The Kassam rocket destroyed the Malka's bathroom, which they use as a bomb shelter.

Most of the families in the Malka's neighborhood do not have bomb shelters. There is a public bomb shelter at the end of the street for the families to use. But as Oshri Malka states, "Even if I was an Olympic athlete, I wouldn't be able to get to the shelter within 15 seconds."

I visited the Malka family a day after the rocket attack on their home. Carmit was still visibly shaken. She tells me that she and the kids went for treatment at the Sderot Trauma Center after the attack. "I see all these Sderot mothers getting their medication and valium pills at the center," says Carmit. "I don't want to end up like those mothers. . .but I'm afraid I will because of this situation."

The Malka family is in no mood to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary. "I feel like hanging up a black flag above our home," says Oshri. "There will be no mangal (barbeque) this year in our backyard for our neighbors and friends."

The Malka family has temporarily been provided with a hotel room in Ashkelon until more permanent living arrangements are made. It could take up to eight to 12 months before the Israeli government provides the Malkas with financial assistance to repair their home.

"We are fighting two battles," says Carmit. "The first is with this Hamas rocket. The second is with the Israeli government and the Israel Tax Authority."

 
Levi Vananu and Robbi Elimelech

Levi Vananu, Robby Elimelech, and a few other Sapir students have been renting a home in Sderot for over a year now. On Sunday, May 4, Vananu's bedroom was hit by a rocket around 3:30 pm in the afternoon. Vananu left his bedroom/work room and entered his home's bomb shelter once the Red Dawn alert went off.

A few seconds later, a Kassam rocket blasted through his bedroom wreaking heavy damage to his room and destroying the bathroom. A gaping hole left by the rocket appears above Vananu's bed, as dirt, rubble, and pieces of glass cover his bed and floor. The rocket finally landed on Vananu's bed.  Vananu said that his collector's edition of a Bob Dylan poster was completely destroyed in the rocket blast. Thankfully his laptop remained intact.

As we visit his home an hour after the attack, Vananu shows us a pot of beans that he was busy preparing a few minutes before. The force of rocket explosion managed to knock dust and dirt into the pot as well as into the kitchen. Vananu and those who were with him in the house were safely in the bomb shelter at the time of the rocket explosion .

Dror and Rochelle Ronnen

The Ronnen family are neighbors of Levi Vananu. Their home was also damaged by the Kassam rocket that exploded in the Vananu home. Pieces of rocket shrapnel shattered the windows in the Ronnen home and destroyed the front door to their home.

Dror built his family's beautiful home thirty years ago with the help of friends and family. "We invested everything into this house," says Rochelle.

Rochelle was the director of a pre-school program in Sderot for many years. She was forced to stop when the rocket fire began. Dror explains how it became impossible for his wife to manage 50 children under the constant 'red alert' sirens and rocket explosions. "She was devoting more and more time to telephone calls with the kids' parents who were calling to make sure their children were safe. She felt she just couldn't handle that responsibility anymore, so she left."

"We had the opportunity to leave Sderot at the beginning of our marriage, but we decided to stay for the community warmth and atmosphere," says Dror.

"The most difficult reality of living in Sderot today is the feeling that the government is not behind us. We are left here like orphans---to fend for ourselves in this rocket situation."

Last year, during Yom Ha'atzmaut, there was a 'red alert' siren in the middle of the Ronnen family's barbeque. The family calmly went into the bombshelter, waited for a few seconds, and then proceeded with the barbeque.

"This year we didn't have the traditional family barbeque here in Sderot because of what happened to our home. Instead we had the barbeque in Kibbutz Dorot, near Sderot, at friends."

"This is not independence for me," continues Doron. "Independence means I can celebrate Israel's 60th Independence Day knowing that not another 'red alert' siren will go off and not another rocket fired at Israel. Independence means that I sit with my family and enjoy our barbeque in peace and quiet here in my home," concludes Doron.

All Photo Credits: Anav Silverman, Sderot Media Center