WRITING PROMPTS TO BENEFIT CHILDREN IN GAZA
UNICEF reports that in Gaza, “hundreds of thousands of children and families are caught in a catastrophic situation” and that, ongoing as of November 14th 2023, over 4200 children have been killed and more than 7000 have been injured “due to unrelenting attacks”, while over 1300 others are missing. According to the World Health Organization, one child is killed in Gaza every 10 minutes. Outlining the charity’s Appeal for Children in Gaza, UNICEF spokesman James Elder explains: “Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It’s a living hell for everyone else.” Elder has also called for “children held hostage in Gaza [to] be immediately reunited with their families and loved ones”. Recent updates state that “hundreds of thousands of children … remain trapped in a war zone with little or no access to food, water, electricity, medicine or medical care”.
For the duration of NaNoWriMo, we will be posting a writing prompt every day and in doing so, we are hoping to encourage our community to donate to charities providing medical aid to children in desperate need in this unprecedented crisis.
These prompts have been created by writers from Wales or with a connection to Wales and its magazines and presses. The prompts are on all kinds of subjects, but many are related to anti-violence and the work of empathy, and they are offered with the simple hope that they might encourage people to donate in support of medical aid in Gaza. We include a list of suggested charities to donate to below, highlighting the Appeal to Children in Gaza.
UNICEF “continues to call for an immediate ceasefire as 1.1 million people — nearly half of them children — in northern Gaza have been warned to move out of the way of a widescale military assault, but with nowhere safe for them to go”. Elder concludes: “The humanitarian situation has reached lethal lows, and yet all reports point to further attacks. Compassion – and international law – must prevail.”
DAY 22: THAER HUSIEN
Thrown Off Course
Try to write a moment where a character is thrown off their trajectory or what they expected to be doing. Imagine a scene. A character is going somewhere with a purpose in mind, but they encounter something that stops them in the tracks. Who or what is it? Describe it in detail.
EXAMPLE by Thaer Husien
Sitting in dad’s twenty-year-old Accord flying down the highway like a bullet brushed in chipped paint. Radio makes you lose your faith in music, so the damn thing goes off to opt for silence. The sun sets, but Ramadan’s no excuse to stress out the one chef working a Popeye’s under all this real time chaos. Stomach knots tight when you hear the engine roar to the lead in your foot; all about rushing. Overcast skies rarely compliment the end of a day and this is no different. You hum the bridge of a tune you remember from your favorite café in Ramallah that one summer; never did learn its name.
A woman kneels alone on the shoulder of the highway. That’s what you just saw, right? Definitely. Was she crying, or are you adding imagination? Glance over at the bagged food sitting at the passenger’s side and think of the others waiting. How long before it gets cold? Surprise at yourself forces the brakes five hundred feet away. Take a moment to think of your approach as you unclip the seatbelt. Settle for now on not thinking by the time your hand reaches for the door.
Wind-sound absent with no other cars on the freeway. Awkwardly stuff your hands in your leather jacket; walk with caution towards the woman dressed in black; black cardigan, black shirt, black jeans, and a foot away from the open lane. She mutters a prayer, necklace cross white-knuckle gripped close to her lips.
“Ma’am?” a few times, “Hello?” another.
Walk back to the car and call the police.
Come back with a weak “If you need someone to talk to, I’ll be right here,” and sit up on the median within arm’s reach; speeding cars and silent pleas for salvation.
Please consider donating to a charity providing medical aid in Gaza. We recommend UNICEF’s Appeal for Children in Gaza, but other charities include:
Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
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