we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Khaled Al-Ostath

    Khaled graduated with bachelor’s degree from Gaza University, where he studied Arabic-English translation. In 2017, he completed a summer in Washington, D.C., with the New Story Leadership program, which brings Palestinians and Israelis together to share their personal narratives. His “project for change,” which he completed to qualif for the program, was called the Reading Stars of Gaza, an English literacy club for orphan children. Khaled and his team engaged the young orphans with stories and taught them the basic English alphabet. While he was in the United States, he worked as an intern with the United Palestinian Appeal as a translator and with Brian K. Barber, Ph.D. on a book he is writing about Gaza. Currently, Khaled is living in Turkey where he is pursuing a graduate degree in English language and literature at Istanbul Aydin University. He hopes to return to America to pursue a postgraduate degree in education. 

    my work

    My body lives in Turkey, but my mind is in Gaza with my family.
    As Americans sit down to their Thanksgiving feasts, a Gazan family gives thanks for a few delicious morsels.
    It started with intense chest pains. I couldn’t breathe very well. My head got fuzzy and I couldn’t think.
    I yearn to have a decent library in Gaza and for a good environment in which to read. Is this too much to hope?
    What is the best time for figuring out who you are and what you really want out of life? Sometimes it takes a little heartbreak to shake us awake .
    Now, when I see a sunset, I think of her.
    I yearn for a refuge that feels like home.
    I sink in the abyss and stare at my demons.
    This is the way I want to feel about the soulmate I hope to find.
    When she decided to end her life, in a way she ended mine too.
    I wipe away my tears, but this is more than I can bear.
    Home is not where you are from; it is where one belongs.