Smooth the banknote, repair the damaged parts, restore color to those which have faded… In a market in the city of Gaza, a new business is booming: that of repair notes that became useless after the war. Since the 2023 attacks, Israel has banned the entry of new banknotes, an additional way of suffocating Gazans: no coins or notes in currencythey can’t buy anything.
See the need, see the opportunity. Because in times of shortage ingenuity is what awakens in the most primitive way: that of subsisting.
Banks, like everything else, have been reduced to rubble and those who were able to reopen after the ceasefire were counted. There are no ATMs, there are no bills and people need money to buyeat, live.
Money repairer, a new profession in these first weeks without bombs, in which the most coveted These are not sophisticated or cutting-edge machines.. The most coveted are glue and colored pencils, those with which They bring damaged banknotes back to life. And it is the metaphor of what ends up being vital in times of scarcity: the most elementarythe simplest.
There is endless queues to transport what they managed to save from the rubble. Coins and notes which are more than a treasure right away. Both for those who want to buy and for those who want to sell.
A story that I was able to learn about thanks to the work of the BBC correspondent on site. Journalists who, despite all obstacles, continue risking their lives to be our eyes where some insist on putting darkness. Because that’s the purpose of this profession: to tell the stories of those who are silenced, ask questions of the powerful what you do, be their voice, be their eyes…
A job which, in Gaza, proves too dangerous. The latest report from Reporters Without Borders counts the deaths of journalists since the start of the Israeli bombings: 210 lost their lives doing their jobreporting what was happening. 210 professionals who, despite the risk they ran, continued turn on their microphones and cameras so we could see what was happening.
They won’t be able to do it anymore, but the others will. And don’t stop talking about what’s happening in Gaza, this fragile peace that many times, many days, it does not even seem like it, it is an obligation, at least, for all those who were murdered, for these 210 companions. Reparations money report would have been a nice end to a war. Tell how a country moves forward after the bombs. They won’t be able to do it anymore.
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