החיים בישראל ומאכלים
We came to the airport. We got off (the plane) and they brought to each of us…a piece of bread with jam and a plastic cup of tea. Afterwards, they took us out into the car. All night we travelled in the car, and they brought us to Shaar HaAliya. We arrived there, and they brought us into a tent. We were with ten families there. We all sat, my mother started crying. “It’s nothing! We’ve arrived in Israel! Let’s be happy!” the children (said). I was the most happy. My mother was searching for my brother. She said, “where’s Dani? Where’s Daniel?”. They said to her, “they took him, the army. They sent him to the army.” (She said,) “and where’s my sister?”. (They said,) “they took her to the transit camp. She went there. She’s older, she can work and manage.” And I stayed (there) with my siblings. We would cry. Every day my sister would go bring us (food) to eat…from the kitchen…for all of us. We stayed (there) for eight days, at Shaar HaAliya. After, they came and put us in a car. We didn’t know where they were taking us. We didn’t speak. They told us to get into the car, they put us in the car…all day they moved us from place to place. They brought us, we came in the evening…at night…they brought us to Pardes Hana. A big, big tent. (There were) men, women…this one was crying, this one was (doing something else). They brought us eight beds and mattresses and a blanket each, and we slept. We stayed there for a week. We started going out to look how (the place) here was, what was there. My dad was crying (because) we had nothing to eat. They would go to bring us food, (but) we didn’t like the food. Afterwards, they said to us, “you know, if you are old (enough), you and your brother (can) go to work in Hadera”. We didn’t sleep all night. We had a watch on our hands. We told our mother to wake us up at five (in the morning) (so that we could) go to Hadera and go work. My brother Latif, who was known as Yitzhak, and Ghazi and I went to work. We got to Hadera…we had money. We got into the car, and told him (the driver) “to Hadera”. I knew a bit of Hebrew. We were wanting to go to…we went. We stopped there…there was some kind of station. A man came with a wagon. He came and said to us, “do you want to work? Do you want to work?”. I said to him, “yes. My brother and I…”. I already spoke Hebrew then. And (about) my brother, (the man) also said “no, this one is (too) small. It’s not possible.” I said to him, “no! He knows (how to work). He’s strong.” We got into the wagon, all of us. Poor (thing)…even though he wanted ten (people to work for him), about twenty of us got into the wagon. He took us…his name was Alber. We worked…we worked there, and we had it good. My brother was young…he wasn’t even ten years old. We gave him a kind of basket, (and) he would cut pepper and cucumber. When the evening came, my siblings would tie their pants and put inside them…whatever was…pepper and such. We would all bring (it back home), and my mother would go and sell it in Pardes Hana and buy us oil. She bought a pot from the market in Pardes Hana and bought Ben Guryon rice (Israeli couscous). We liked eating that. We didn’t like eating from the kitchen (n the transit camp). We liked labne. If there was laban, my sister would bring (it). If there wasn’t any…and boiled egg. In the end my mother would sell it too. In the beginning, it wasn’t boiled. We would go and sell it. But after, they would boil it and we would also sell it. They would say, “eggs in water, eggs without water.” Because…we went…we waited until my cousin would bring the money from Iran. He was in Iran. He brought us the gold, he brought us the money…for us and for my uncle. It was all…(in) dinars. We would all knead dough, my sister and I, and make jghadeq (a type of bread). And we (would) make loaves of bread. My mother would make it. Each week we would knead…five kilograms, six kilograms. We would grind the…we did everything by hand.