Finding friends, and God, among bullets in Rafah

HUSEIN MASHNI

Whenever I hear the song, “Going to California,” by Led Zeppelin, I’m

transported back to my days as a teenager fishing with my stepfather

by the Truckee River in Reno, Nev.

The song “Holiness,” by Wayne Watson, takes me back to the Los

Angeles International Airport in 1989. I was on my way to Israel to

see my brothers and sisters, who I hadn’t seen in 15 years.

There are so many songs associated with so many memories and

times. But it’s a real rarity, at least in my life, that a song and

the events that are going on when I heard it strike such a note

inside of me that they are permanently entwined in my memory. But

that’s what I felt a few days ago. The song is the Arabic version of

an American worship song. I don’t know the English words but the

translated Arabic lyrics are, “Over all, we lift your name. Forever,

we will proclaim your kingdom. Always true, you are to be worshipped.

Forever ever Lord, we lift you high. Jesus, your name is great.

Jesus, your name is great.”

I woke up last Sunday and had a strong feeling that I had to go

see my friends in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. I am the

choir leader at the only evangelical church in Gaza, the Gaza Baptist

Church.And that night we would sing that worship song in church.

On Sunday evening, around 7:30, I finally started heading down to

RafahI got to the main Gaza Strip checkpoint, called “Abu Holie,”

which is usually so backed up it takes hours to pass through. But on

this night, there were hardly any cars. I passed through with a few

minutes to spare before it closed at 8 p.m. I made it to Rafah, where

I met with some friends who work with the deaf. They took me to visit

a friend whose brother was killed in a missile attack two days

before. The brother was 16. He used to work as a delivery person with

a horse and wooden cart. I was told the horse hadn’t eaten in days

because the only person who ever fed him was that 16-year-old boy.

I shook hands with all the men at the wake and tried to offer what

little comfort I could to my friend, the brother of the deceased. I

think the best I could do was just be there. No words are needed

sometimes.

Then, we went to visit another friend. This one is a 16-year-old

deaf boy. He was shot in the leg a day earlier. A group of his

friends were also at the house.

A friend I didn’t get to visit was one whose home, which is right

on the border of Gaza and Egypt, was leveled a day before. I didn’t

know where he was.

I went to the deaf center that night with my friends. We had a

late dinner and slept. Early the next morning, two of my friends woke

me up. They said their father heard on television that Rafah would be

surrounded and closed off in a few hours. The closure, according to

the news, would last three days. If I didn’t leave then, I would be

stuck there for days.

I got in the car and left because I had to be to work in Gaza City

by 10 a.m. the next morning. As I was leaving, reporters gathered at

the city entrance, where the tanks would soon be stationed. When I

got to Abu Holie, there was about a 30-minute delay, but fortunately

I got through. Later, on the radio, I heard that gunfire had erupted

at Abu Holie checkpoint about 15 minutes after I passed through. The

next three days, I was constantly on my cellphone trying to reach the

friends I left behind in Rafah. Because electricity was cut off, they

were unable to recharge their cellphones. They could only speak a few

words before the phone batteries died. Water and phone services were

also cut off.

But the few words they spoke were enough, in the midst of all the

horrendous news coming out of Rafah, to know that they were still

alive and well.

One day, a few months ago, I got angry at God because of some of

the desperate poverty I see in Gaza. But when I got back to my office

that night, I saw a poster on the wall that I never noticed before.

It said, “God is greatly to be praised.” There was no explanation

with the verse. It just stated the fact that God is so good no matter

what we might see around us at any time. He is the river of grace

that is flowing endlessly, in spite of the evil in our world.

“Over all, we lift your Name. Forever, we will proclaim your

kingdom. Always true, you are to be worshipped. Forever ever Lord, we

lift you High. Jesus, your name is great. Jesus, your name is great.”

* HUSEIN MASHNI is a former Daily Pilot education reporter who

became a Christian Missionary in the Middle East. His articles appear

in Forum on occasion.