Lentil Bread and a Cry for Flour: A Glimpse into Gaza’s Daily Struggles
In war-torn Gaza, survival often comes down to creativity and resilience. Shams Aldoja, a resident of Gaza, recently shared a powerful and emotional Facebook post that captured the raw reality of life under siege—through something as simple, yet symbolic, as a loaf of bread.
“Lentil bread is the worst experience. Don’t be fooled by the way it looks—I worked hard kneading and mixing it, but it just crumbles. It still needs flour. And the taste? Lentils, lentils, lentils… worse than food stolen from an orphan. But that’s all we have, and thank God for it.
If the soup kitchen made lentils, we’d be dipping lentils into lentils.
My stomach can’t handle more of this mess.
We need flour.”
— Shams Aldoja
In her words, we find frustration, fatigue, and irony, all wrapped in a plea that resonates across Gaza today: the desperate need for basic food supplies. Flour, a staple once taken for granted, has become a rare commodity in many displaced households.
What stands out in Shams’ post is not just the scarcity, but the emotional toll. There’s humor and heartbreak in her comparison of dipping lentils into lentils. There’s exhaustion in her body from kneading, and deeper still, exhaustion in her spirit from the repetition of hopeless attempts to maintain dignity amidst collapse.
This is not just a story about food—it’s a story of survival, of coping, and of human resilience under the unimaginable. When lentils become bread, and bread becomes bitter, it’s not only the taste that tells a story, but the voice behind it.
Gaza doesn’t just need food. It needs justice.
Lentil Bread and a Cry for Flour: A Glimpse into Gaza’s Daily Struggles
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