Effects of the electricity and water shortage on life of a family in Gaza

Rula Abu Ghazi, 22

I used to really love our apartment, which is on the sixth floor, but since the electricity and water crisis began, following the bombing of the power plant on 28 June, I can't live here any longer. I beg my husband to rent a ground-floor apartment, or at least one on the first floor, so I won't suffer from the water shortage.

We get electricity for eight hours and then it stops for eight hours. We get water about two hours a day, and not always when we have electricity. Without electricity, the pumps don't work, so there is no way to push the water to the tanks on the roof. The result is that we don't get water in the apartment. In the course of a week, we get enough water for about two days.

We have water tanks on the roof that can hold a total of 1000 liters of water, but there is never enough water to fill them. My son and I often go to my parents to shower, and my husband goes to his parents. We traditionally wash our body after going to the bathroom, but now we use toilet paper, which makes us feel unclean. How can somebody go to the bathroom without water?

Most of the time I am unable to do a wash, and the dirty clothes pile up. My husband has to go to work with sweaty-smelling clothes, and this creates tension between us. Sometimes, I have no choice but to cart the clothes to my parents' house and do the wash there.

It is impossible to wash dishes every day, and they pile up as well. The dirt sticks to them, and they are hard to clean when we get water, making dishwashing a very tiring task.

In the morning, when we have electricity, I am under great pressure to accomplish lots of things: vacuum the carpets, do laundry, wash the dishes, cook. I know that I won't be able to do it all. We had no alternative but to buy mineral water and use it for household chores.

My husband's parents live on a lower floor, and sometimes I bring water from their apartment.

Rula Muhammad Faruq Abu Ghazi, 22, and a mother of one child, is a resident of Gaza City. Her testimony was given to Zaki Kahil on 12 September 2006.