Illustration
Photo: Dudu Bachar
Fatma forgotten yet again
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Fatma Hussein, a mother of four little children, goes to work every morning as a janitress at a public institution and earns minimum wage. After each long and grueling day at work she returns home, where numerous domestic chores await her. Of course, she does not have a maid.
Fatma's husband is a construction worker and also earns minimum wage. His job is not steady, because on rainy wintery days the construction sites are shut down. Therefore, the Hussein family from Wadi Ara earns NIS 9,000 (about $2,482) on a good month. This money has to be enough for six people, and is also used to support the parents a little. Fatma's parents, as well as her husband's parents, spent their entire savings on building a home for the young couple, as is customary in the Arab sector.
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Life is rough for Fatma and her husband.
Fatma and her family sit in front of the old television set and watch the news broadcast, which is focusing on Finance Minister Yair Lapid's statements regarding the fictitious 'Mrs. Cohen' from Hadera, whose household earns NIS 20,000 ($5,515) a month. Fatma, whose family earns much less, wants to stand up and yell in front of the TV that she was forgotten again, but there is no one who will relay her scream to the finance minister's table. She wants to shout out one thing: I too am a citizen of the State of Israel, and I don't even live too far from Hadera – where 'Riki Cohen' lives. I am here too.
Fatma and her husband pay taxes. They are not draft dodgers, but they did not serve in the IDF due to the existing arrangements in the State of Israel. They want better, more respectful jobs with higher salaries, but their level of education is insufficient. The gaps within Israeli society have not been narrowed in such a way that Fatma's family could have a better life. The jobs available to Israeli Arabs are still limited. This is why Fatma's family is not "middle class."
Fatma says: I also want to provide for my family with dignity, but in the current state of affairs it is not possible. Now they want to take the little I have and give it to 'Mrs. Cohen'. I do not know her, but her situation is far better than mine. I doubt I will be able to get my family out of the circle of poverty. I don't know if my children will be able to escape it either when they grow up. I'll do what I can, but gentlemen, Israel's decision makers, have a little compassion!
My friends and I clean tall buildings my husband has built over the years. Our work is not "respectable," and the country does not have to thank us for doing it, but we are human beings. We hope and expect that the new minister will remember that my family also wants a decent life; not a really "good" life, but one that offers hope and allows us to see the sky from time to time.
The author, a resident of Kafr Qara, is a principal at elementary school and a community activist in the Arab sector.
