No more Silence

It started just like any picnic that was arranged spontaneously after the phrase "we're doing nothing too" and "so let's go to the beach". But when the car moved I thought we were taking a different road so I asked I discovered that they changed the destination and we're going to the lake.

The setting is very relaxing; green grass, hundreds of palm trees, a couple of meters deck next to Khalid Lake. Usually we sit in the area before al-Nour mosque. But our relatives were waiting for 200 meters after the mosque. They are planning to leave UAE for good and thought it would be a good chance to take a voyage in the lake. Without farther waiting we took a boat and enjoyed the cold wind which seemed a glimpse of Baghdad's winter.

Two other families joined us. One joined to drink tea and leave and the other came to stay. The place was crowded as usually but there were no signs of joy. Even the children playing here and there were not loud nor seemed funny as usual. Talks varied from news on TV and crab hunting activity to 5 –years Miriam who started to pick her clothes by herself.

A police box followed by police motorcade passed by and my father said "they must be transferring criminals" and he continued his previous subject. The number of policemen kept growing in the area. Looking at the road there were still more and more police cars. I stood up and looked around and found a gathering of people next to the mosque. I thought it was a fight or something like that but after a moment I figured it out. This must be for Gaza.

The number of people started to grow and they started marching towards us. My mother suggested pulling our seats and stuff to make way for them. My sister and I hurried spontaneously and joined the march. After a couple of minutes mom and dad were next to us. Once the march passed us we returned to our place but my sister and I were not satisfied. We left our company and joined the crowd to support Gaza.