Rembering Mazen

Rembering Mazen
Yumi, who's been living as well as working in Rafah, the southernmost town of the Gaza Strip, for nearly a year and half, engaging in a psycho-social program for the Palestinian youth in Rafan as a Japanese NGO worker.
This is not the first sad news that I received from her, but another sad news about a kid in Rafah. On 30 August, one of the children she's been working with, Mazen (15), was shot to death, IN FRONT OF his house, which is located very close to the border ... probably one of the most dangerous borders today. Please spare a little of your time to read the letter from her and a moment to pray for Mazen. Read, “A moment for Mazen”
Another Day, Another Life I had a feeling that one day it would happen. In June 2003, I started working with youths living closest to the Rafah border. These kids live in the most extraordinary circumstances where, for the past 4 years, they've had front-seats to the sound of gunfire and periodic explosions on a nearly daily/nightly basis. The very proximity of their homes to the border increases their exposure to danger. Military watchtowers, built behind the 8m iron wall along the border, often fire at will at the surrounding houses and any moving objects. The areas closest to the border are also subject to frequent military incursions of all scales, large and small, which, in the name of “security”, often leave behind demolished houses, destroyed infrastructure, injuries and death. More... A letter, “A Death in the Family” The following letter was written by a Japanese, Yumi Terahata living in Rafah, the southernmost area of the Gaza Strip. The letter was written shortly after the death of her "brother" .