Wed update from Khaya Dinsky

A letter from another Ashkelon resident. ,First of all, since I know that these letters of mine are being forwarded, I'm reminding those that don't know me:I live in Ashkelon. My 19 year old son is a student in Beersheva. There are no classes in the university because of the situation here and he is with his father near Jerusalem. My 17 year old daughter, Simha, was at her father's house near Jerusalem when the operation in Gaza started. She insisted on coming home. Yesterday, Simha's youth movement took a busload of kids out of Ashkelon for a fun day.They saw a movie and got free popcorn and soda and pizza for lunch and then went to a community center for activities like a clown, animal therapy and arts and crafts for the small children, and laughter therapy, and juggling for the older children. There were about thirty kids aged 4-18 and several accompanying adults. One adult brought her elderly mother in order not to leave her alone.Simha said that the movie coplex was opened specially for kids from the south and that all the theaters there were filled with kids from youth groups all over the areaSorry, interrupted by a siren.As I was saying, the theaters were filled with kids from youth groups all over the area that is in rocket range.Sound like a fun day,no? Well, Simha came home all upset. Here is what she had to say:They waited in a bomb shelter for the bus to come. Meanwhile they got instruction.They were told that there is absolutely no standing or moving around on the bus, for anyone until they are out of rocket range. There were told that if the siren goes, there's no way they could all get off the bus in time and it's dangerous for anyone to be standing(shcrapnel or flying glass)so the home front command said that if there's a siren everyone has to crawl under their seats.Simha found that idea terrifying. Because what if a rocket hit the bus and it caught fire???That would leave them all trapped.Simha said that the activities were fun but .... She said she felt like the people that were there(Kfar Saba-look on a map)were like from another country.Specific examples that she gave :The clown had some music (that he always uses) one of the songs started with what sounds like a siren. Kids froze or screamed or ran or tensed up. Simha yelled at him to stop the song. He didn't understand what the problem was.Another example:After school hours, kids from the local youth group there started coming. One of the kids said to one of our kids:"You smell bad, like you haven't showered in a week."The Ashkeloni kid said:"I really haven't showered in a week." The kid from Kfar Saba looked at him like he was some kind of fread and said:" iiiicchh!"Simha also said that the kids from Ashkelon told them that their teachers have all called them(some several times ) to see how they are and that they miss school and want to go back already. The kids from Kfar Saba thought it was strange that anyone would want to go to school and couldn't understand why the teachers are callin if the kids didn't do anything bad.Then the day ended (around 5:30 in the evening) and they had to come home. There were kids that cried and tried to run away. They didn't want to go home, they were afraid. Simha said there were even a couple of kids that had to be picked up and physically placed on the bus/When they got back into rocket range, the person in charge announced that they are not allowed to stand up and they have to be quiet(no singing or yelling) so they can hear if there's a siren because they are back in rocket range. Simha says kids started crying and screaming and banging on the windows.The end to a lovely day.As they approached Ashkelon there was a siren here. The adults in charge decided that no one is going to wait for a bus. They took all the kids that were supposed to go home by bus, divided them up and drove them home.That was the fun day Simha had. By the way, three rockets fell before when the siren went. At least one in a residential area, landed in the yard. Damage to the house and surrounding houses and cars. Lots of anxiety patients. One went into breathing difficulty. No injuries. KHAYA