Conversations across a divide: People who are outside a war zone check in with family, friends, and strangers inside. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: The Hammash family’s group chat unfolds over texts, starting before the war. (8 minutes)Act One: When Yousef Hammash left Gaza a year ago, his sisters decided to stay behind. We hear about the toll that separation has taken on Yousef and the sister he’s closest to, Aseel. (30 minutes)Act Two: Mohammed Mhawish, a reporter who left Gaza a year ago with his family, talks to a young woman in Gaza about how she manages her hunger. Israel blockaded all food from Gaza for more than two months. (15 minutes)Coda: Chana gives a short update about Banias, a 9-year-old girl in Gaza she's been speaking with for months. (4 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.
Full Episode
A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeaped in today's episode of the show. If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org.
From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Hannah Jaffe-Walt, sitting in for Ira Glass. Family Group Chat, created May 19, 2023. Two years ago. Before. Yusuf Hamash, send this link to Asil, Salsabil, and Heba so they can enter the group. Manal, we are all gathered together. What a blessing. Heart emoji. I don't have Hassan or Ahmed. Yusuf must add them.
I sent the link above, you idiots, so you can send it to them. Yusuf reshares link. Send them the link. I sent it. Manal, we want to go out tomorrow, to the beach. Okay, why is the group called the Shitty Family? Yeah, who's the son of a gun who names a group? Laughing emoji. Please, isn't this Yusuf's doing? It's Yusuf. I did it for your sake, sister. God bless you. Pride of the Arabs.
Manal wants to invite us to the beach, Hadil. I want to take you to the beach. When? We're thinking either tomorrow or Monday. I will let my children go, but what day? We're thinking Monday. We need a watermelon. That's the most important thing. You're making conditions as well? The watermelon is more important than you. I'm being mocked. Yusuf, whoever wants to go with us, like this message.
I will set up a time later. Where? To the beach. But what day? Tomorrow, clown face. Yusuf, who started this group chat for his family, he's been on our show before, Yusuf Hamash. He was a humanitarian aid worker in Gaza, grew up there, lived there his whole life. He started this group chat with his family months before the war, before October 7th, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
After that, Yusuf became responsible for moving his whole family, his four sisters, their extended families, from one place to another, trying to escape Israel's bombing. After six months of displacement and near-death experiences and worrying for his children, Yusuf did something he thought he'd never do. He left Gaza. This was last spring. He went with his wife, mother, and his kids to Egypt.
His sisters decided to stay behind. And since that time, almost no one has been able to leave Gaza. That was a little more than a year ago. The group chat is still going. What are they talking about in the WhatsApp group?
I don't know. Daily life, complaining or making fun, sending, I don't know. Sometimes it's jokes, sometimes they're crying. It depends. Voice, text, photos, everything. This is like the refuge for them where they go. More of the sisters are talking and my mother and we just observe.
We, meaning the people who are outside Gaza now. Yusuf, his wife, his kids and his mom. Inside Gaza, the sisters make plans, talk about who they ran into that day, share pictures of their kids, of bombings. They send voice memos to each other to share news and cheer each other up.
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