Of bedouins and begging

The old bedouin beggar

Viral infections have shot up to 217 yesterday. Staff at the Ichilov hospital were infected because they disregarded wearing masks and keeping distance. They ate in the canteen like that ... and worse, they had a party in which all attending are now infected. You might have thought medical staffers had more sense than that ... but that's the attitude here ... they're above the law and above science and common decency. Well I'm glad I wasn't there ... for the past here I have had my treatments in one of their clinics there. Now I'm not going back even if if they ask me for a regular checkup. They lost my trust.

The old bedouin woman who sits by the roadside between Damascus Gate and new Gate begging for money is back. She sits under the shade of a tree like the prophetess Deborah. I haven't seen her for 3 months ... because of the lockdown. But now she's back. We usually give her a shekel and she's always grateful ... asking God to bless us. These past few mornings I stopped to chat with her. She can be quite chatty ... talking about the virus, the closure of the City, the weather.

Lunch: bread & meatballs

And talking about begging ... today I had to beg for food at St. Saviour's kitchen. I didn't eat dinner (as usual) last night and missed breakfast today because I have so much work ... so by 12pm I was hungry and didn't want to spend money, so I went to the kitchen and asked for bread. The cook was very nice and gave me a bowl of meatballs as well. That's the life of the poor ... that's what families have been doing these 3 months after losing jobs and businesses. They knock on doors of convents and monasteries ... and eat whatever is given them. After living and serving the poor these past decade, I no longer feel ashamed to knock on doors asking for food. I go to the street doctors that the poor would go to ... paying only 15 shekels for a visit instead of 70 shekels for a "normal/decent" clinic. I line up with the poor to wait for my turn at the clinic. The doctor is old and has parkinson's .... so administering a jab is quite an ordeal. I always have to ask him to warn me first and he'll say "Take a deep breath", and I do .. and he jabs me with the needle ... but his hand shakes and the needle wobbles so it hurts. But that's the life of the poor. And I don't complain. I figured it's not enough to help the poor unless you become one of them ... then you'll understand their difficulties.