After business mogul Arcadi Gaydamak gave the residents of Sderot a pleasant week in the resort city of Eilat, the Education Ministry woke up and made a modest contribution to the children of the bombarded town.
On Sunday morning, a group of schoolchildren arrived in the big city of Tel Aviv for a half-day trip.
The short trip, which only lasted about five hours, was enough to cause the children to fall in love with the ongoing calm. They began their trip with a sandwich at Rabin Square, quickly made their way to the planetarium at the Israel Museum, and then made a last stop for lunch before heading back to Sderot.
"We arrived in Tel Aviv in order to relax from the Color Red alarms and the Qassams," said Aki Akiva, "but I don’t think it will help us. We need at least five days, and if it goes on like this, we have to stay in Tel Aviv until the war is over."
"We have to turn to a road of peace or return fire, but in the meantime it is better to be in Tel Aviv. I would also prefer to move to Tel Aviv, but it's very expensive to live here," he added.
At Rabin Square (Photo: Ofer Amram)
Na'ama Azran thanks God every day for protecting her friends and family.
"I am extremely afraid of the Qassams, especially since a Qassam fell next to my sister Hagar. Once there was also a Qassam next to me, but luckily there was the Color Red (alert system) and I quickly went into the bathroom. I counted '21-22' and then I heard a 'boom.' The Qassam landed nearby, but we have already gotten used to it," she said.
Daniel Hazan also fell in love with Tel Aviv and said that she prefers to stay in the city at least for the coming year.
"It's true that I will miss my girlfriends, but I can correspond with them on the computer," she said, already thinking about the future. "It's definitely better than being afraid and staying at home all day."
'We are still children like all other children'
Going out was a refreshing change for Saar Vanunu, who cannot get used to the lack of breaks at his school.
"We are tired of staying in a classroom for eight hours and not going out to the yard," he complained. "We find things to do, like playing cards or talking about friendships and websites, but we would like to play outside."
"The fact that Qassams are falling on us doesn’t change us. We are still children like all the other children. Every time after missiles fall, in the morning each one tells where the Qassam fell, but afterwards we already discuss normal issues."
Nitza Dahan, one of the tutors at the Gil School, understands her students: "If we as parents are afraid, it's not difficult to imagine how they fell. I have five children and the small one is six months old.
"During the entire pregnancy we were thinking if she should even be born into all this mess. And the truth is that she suffers – I don’t take her out for walks and she is in a reinforced room for half a year now. What kind of life does she have? We are sick and tired of this situation already and solutions must be found."
"My daughter, who is now in the 12th grade, may not even complete her matriculation exams. I worked 12 years for her and we invested so much in her, and now it is possible that nothing will come out of it," she said.