I often hear about people collapsing because of hunger, but I had never seen that by my own eyes. I used to wonder how someone could lose one’s balance and faint to the ground from malnutrition.
Today, I woke up feeling dizzy, however, I was able to reach the “wall” to lean on. I forgot that I have been living in a tent for some time. I stretched out my arm trying to protect myself from falling. For a moment, I thought that I could stand steady and get over this feeling. I imagine myself regaining my consciousness which I lost for a few seconds; my awareness that made me think that I succeeded in avoiding falling.
Unexpectedly, I then realized that I was lying on the ground at the far end of the tent, that I swept everything in my way. The pots, the glasses. No one noticed me. No one heard me falling.
I stood up again, slowly this time, and walked with a limping leg and whenever I came across someone whom I knew, I tried to walk properly.
Here, in every corner, everybody pretends to walk normally. Everyone tries to keep balance. None of us look at the other. No one asks anything. There is an unuttered agreement. We hide our limps, our hunger. We just walk on without admitting anything.
Hamed Ashour
18/05/2025
