So, on top of worrying every day that a Quassam rocket could have killed them or a visceral response to the “code red” alarms this town faces, these people have a baseline of terror putting “code red” into an even more horrifying definition.
Mrs. Katzir runs the shelter with her staff on the grounds of Kibbutz Beit Kama. Almost all of her residents had a father or brother or relative as their perpetrators.
So, in addition to worrying about the communal alarm sounding, they had a private one going off as well.
“I think the situation with the Quassamim makes it worse,” she said of the molestation. “You can see a regression in the way people are functioning. Plus, if you have a vulnerable population to begin with, you can only double its vulnerability when you face the stress of rocket attacks.”
She said she has noticed that in this town, the males seem to become more aggressive with the stress, while the girls keep it in. The girls, she said, will more often than not, cut themselves they are in such distress.
Creating a home is the most important aspect of Eden, she said.
“They feel like it is their house,” she said. “They show a basic need to belong to a place where people care, a safe place.”
Mrs. Katzir is also the mother of three, a son and two daughters. Her son is a swim team member, and she is always answering questions from friends and relatives outside of Sderot, “why do you stay there? Is it safe for your children?”
“It’s a real dilemma sometimes being here,” she said. “Sometimes we deny it is happening. We’ve lived here since way before the Quassams, so what would be the message for our children if left here. And plus, we love our home. Everything is simple and modest and quiet.”
Eden is supported as part of the UJC’s Israel Emergency Campaign’s Yuval or “Helping the Helpers” project. At Eden, therapists work with residents to not only work through their deep wounds of molestation but also the attacks from Hamas.
“We give them the tools to raise their self images to survive in a normal life,” she said. “We all have a duty to be responsible for someone and something,” she said. “We help these girls and women. They are living through a crazy situation. We want to help them heal.”