We made excellent time in driving to Gaza and arrived at the Eretz crossing at approximately 8:30 AM and by 9:30 AM were in the taxi driving toward Gaza city with Sabah and Ahmad our driver.
Because of the fuel situation, we made only one stop at Zakher School in the Shijaiyya area on the way to our meeting at the Association of Women, Committee for Social Work in Gaza City. I think it important to name some of the participants in the meeting; Maha, Etedal, Maysoon are members of the Women's society while Fawziya, Awatef and Mohammed represented the kindergartens. (I only wrote first names, with difficulty, and didn't even try the family names.)A most lively and interesting discussion with many excellent ideas and suggestion lasted about one hour and a half.
Toward the end of the meeting, some of the handiwork made by members of the committee was exhibited and needless to say, purchases were made. We all agreed at our next visit to bring more money for further purchases. One suggestion for helping sell these items was to produce a website for internet sales. No promises, but perhaps something practical in this matter will be done.
At the conclusion of the meeting, we made a quick visit to the Mother Teresa Sisters of Charity. Unknown to us, it was their graduation day, but we arrived too late to participate.We made surprisingly good time on departure, only taking one hour exiting Gaza and the rigmarole of passage to Israel. We left Eretz at 2:30 PM.
The interesting thing about the trip was the quiet and peace in Gaza, no explosions, no overhead noises, no masked men and a fairly good amount of activity in Gaza City especially at the general market. I was surprised at the number of vehicles and when commenting on it it, Sabah said: "Don't you smell it? The cars are operating on cooking oil, petrol is too expensive". What cooking oil does to the motor I don’t' know.
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