#psychological-trauma

#psychological-trauma

The streets of Gaza no longer hum with the familiar sounds of everyday life. Since October 7, 2023, they have resonated with the sounds of destruction, followed by a silence so profound it feels almost physical-an absence that suffocates words before they can even form. Trapped within Gaza's crumbling walls, we live inside a storm in which language itself has broken down. Simply put, we are losing our very ability to speak. I don't mean that metaphorically. It's all too real.

For Jeanitta McCabe, the word kneecap conjures not a rap trio on stage but a memory that plays in her head, unspooling again and again in a loop. It is the night of 13 September 1990 and she is a 10-year-old at home in bed in Newry, County Down, when Northern Ireland's Troubles come barrelling through the family's front door. Six to eight men in masks storm into the two-storey council house and march her father, Peter, into the kitchen.