It's 3.30am. Have been up for half an hour already. Can't sleep .... I've a headache and a sore throat. Hope it's not Ebola ... we've had several groups of Sierra Leoneans and Camerooneans these few days. They cough and spit right in front of your face. Absolutely awful.
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Ah Ling's herbal tea to calm
abd strengthen me |
I think maybe I know why I can't sleep. The night before, there was a fight between 2 groups of youths right in front of our door. I heard the initial commotion - which was a loud argument - and went to the terrace to look down. Within minutes there was a fistfight and that spread up to the Armenian Catholic Church, ie the 3rd and 4th Stations of the Cross. I had a bad feeling some of my friends were involved. Earlier that day they told me about guys coming to our Quarter carrying knives and causing trouble. I guess I was pretty worried for my friends. And I was right. Yesterday evening I met my best friend who had a bandaged arm. Didn't see the other guys. Probably suffered bigger injuries. I think that is still upsetting me. It's such a violent neighbourhood ... and all these young people who have no education or work, know only violence.
Ceasefire at last in Gaza. This time it ought to last for 72 hours. Hopefully Gaza will get the medical aid it requires to treat the thousands of injured. The worst thing about this war for us outside Gaza is to face friends on both sides of the divide. They expect you to take their sides and that is difficult as no one is right, no one is wrong. But no one wants to hear that. So you end up losing more friends in the process.
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