Sderot, Israel—
One can get from Ashkelon to Sderot by simply looking at the sky.
Dark, billowy clouds add contrast to a Carolina Blue sky. Birds fly by. And then comes the white blimps.
No, these blimps aren’t advertising a product or aren’t there for the big game.
These blimps provide the “early” warning for the code red alerts that the citizens of Sderot and Ashkelon experience.
People have about 15 seconds after hearing the alert to find a safe place. Think about making a life or death decision in 15 ticks of the clock.
As our small group of American journalists drove closer to the town square of Sderot, the joking stopped, the conversation came to an end. We passed by cows crazing next to a gas station. We showed up at our 9 a.m. elementary school appointment.
What we noticed immediately was how quiet the school was. Almost too quiet.
Then our first really striking moment. There in a classroom, a third grade was holding a model seder. Children read from the Haggadah, sang songs. Nobody had to discuss what the meaning of this holiday was all about to these children.
But in case you need a vivid picture, more than one told us that they don’t sleep in their own bedrooms at night. They are too afraid to be alone. Others told us that they live on upper floors of apartment buildings, exposed to anything that could be fired their way.
“Kids are different here,” said principal Dina Houri. “Kids know how to help one another if they are hurting. These kids need a ton of love, a ton of understanding. And we don’t compromise their education, and we don’t teach them to strive for anything less than to be the best they can be.”
“May we never know another code red,” said one student. “May we live here in happiness and peace>”
Ms. Houri explained that the children put a great deal of stock in their school experience, because they feel good around one another. They typically don’t go to birthday parties or go out in the evening too often.
“It’s surreal,” she continued. “You have to turn down the radio in the car so that you are sure to hear the code red. And there are some days when all you can do is put your head down and pray to the Lord above.”
Every teacher in this school is trained in trauma management. Yet, the principal explained that there are days when teachers are also afraid to travel to school if there’s been a flurry of rockets.
If you ask the girls, they’ll tell you that want to do everything any other kid might want to do in Baltimore. One child says she wants to grow up and become a lawyer, another a designer, another a teacher.
“The power of prayer will help us through this,” said their principal. “It helps ease the scale of fear.”
Still, as one child would say later in the morning, “the first thing we are thinking when we come into a room, is where are we going to hide.”
“It’s our reality,” said the principal.
“It’s a lunatic reality,” added another adult with the group.