During a walk with his cousin and blind brother, he was targeted by the Military who insulted him and teased him for being blind, then arrested him with his brother and cousin and took them in a military jeep. All the way the soldiers kept shouting at them, forcing them to do different things and humiliating them. The boys were accused of trying to damage the Separation fence surrounding the village’s fields by throwing stones. The boys were released very late in the night and were returned to their families. Laith was paralyzed with fear and memories of the incident controlled his mind. The way the officers mocked his disability and their hits that he could not see coming were the main things that plagued his thoughts and kept him in fear. He could not forget them pouring beer on his body, and deceiving him by telling him one minute that he would go home and another minute he would spend his life in jail.

Laith desperately needed counseling support which he received through the YMCA counselor in individual sessions at first, then through group counseling, together with his brother. The counselor explains that Laith required intensive work to be able to break the fear inside him and release the negative feelings imprisoned inside him. He was taught techniques to cope with his difficulties. The counselor facilitated remedial education classes for him through a specialized teacher using Brail methodology. Laith says that “the counseling support I received helped me break the wall of fear in myself. It improved my psychological health, it raised my confidence, and my self-esteem.” As Laith looks forward to his future, he dreams of becoming a teacher or a manager in a company.

The Head of the Village Council described that the village of Zboubah suffers greatly, as it is situated next to the separation fence, a major military base, and is between three Israeli colonies established inside the Palestinian occupied territories. Fourteen wells that the village once used are now contaminated with waste water from the military outpost. He explained that, “Before we had a lot of land. Now it’s all gone and we go to other villages to buy from them.” Children in this village are regularly targeted and taken by the military since they are often outside and likely in an area near the fence. It is the village council’s goal to help the children, schools and disabled people of the village. Their work, alongside the YMCA’s Rehabilitation Program, is providing great resources for the youth there, whoare often in troubling situations. Laith’s counselor explained that the youth they work with often have the tendency to try to be heroes and act like they are not hurt. He tells us, “This program helps them to be truthful to themselves and admit that what happened to them is not something normal.”