By Lama Jamous, a nine-year-old Afro-Palestinian girl, has captured hearts and minds alike with her short-form videos on the displacement around her. Redefining what a journalist can look like, her work shows the chaos around her in a poignant way. She began covering her experience through her displacement from her home in Gaza City and was forced to leave again after the bombing of Khan Yunis. Showing us the plight of so many other Palestinians around her gained Lama many followers. The scenes behind Lama as she reports on the conditions of the day are hectic; donkeys pulling carts filled with possessions, people riding by on old motorcycles, and families walking with everything they own strapped to their backs humanize the mass displacement of Palestinians from North Gaza.
As foreign journalists are unable to enter Gaza to cover the conditions, the unusual condition arises of Palestinians being the only ones who are able to share their perspective on the fighting surrounding them. Brave Palestinians like Lama have changed ideas of Palestine and brought millions of eyes to the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Lama’s Afro-Palestinian background is an important aspect of her story, as well, as shining light on an important group of Palestinians.
Oftentimes working with poor cell service, unreliable internet, and a smartphone camera, Gazan journalists don their press vests and share the stories around them. The conditions in Gaza are very harsh, with most internet connectivity down, and power cut. E-sims, or electronic SIM cards are particularly helpful in helping communication on the ground.
Many journalists have to climb to higher elevations just to get any connection, which puts them at risk of Israeli artillery fire. Journalists are also frequently targeted by Israeli drones, and many prominent Palestinian writers, journalists, and photographers have been killed in airstrikes. The Government Media Office of the Gaza Strip has reported that around 126 journalists have been killed in the war so far.
Lama’s Afro-Palestinian background is an important aspect of her story, as well, as shining light on an important group of Palestinians. Afro-Palestinians have a long history in Palestine, with many coming as pilgrims to Masjid al-Aqsa or on the way to Makkah, or scholars. Today, they have settled all over Palestine, and have enclaves in Jericho, Jerusalem, and Gaza. Afro Palestinians have contributed to the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, and are an integral part of Palestinian society.
Lama has truly shifted the paradigm of journalism and challenges our expectations for what journalism should look like.
Lama’s childlike innocence shines through in her passion for journalism. She usually records videos with her father’s help to upload to her Instagram account, which has over half a million followers. Lama has truly shifted the paradigm of journalism and challenges our expectations for what journalism should look like.
Lama is now in Rafah with her father, where she documents the overcrowding and harsh conditions in the camps.
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