Every morning, while lying in my bed, I wake up to the sound of four young girls, no older than nine, singing some sorrowful, painful words with an innocent, childlike melody and beautiful voices full of purity.

Today, they stood at the door of my tent and started singing the same words. I opened the tent door and found them looking at me. I called them over and asked whose words these were. They said, “We wrote them, and we have a paper with the words written on it. We know you can help us make our voices heard everywhere.”

I was amazed by their courage, innocence, and the beauty of their spirits—Hala, Mirna, Lana, and Tala.

By chance, a well-known Palestinian teacher and composer named Mohammed Shakhsa is staying with us in the same school. I took the girls to him, and he promised to compose a melody for them and record a video of their song.The lyrics: “My heart aches from the wars and destruction Gaza, oh world, is living under siege Killing, death, and hunger sum up my life

I once dreamed we’d have a port and an airport That I could travel the world and ride a train My dream is to live like others, happy and free

But my hair turned gray from the wars and destruction Gaza, oh world, is living under siege Killing, death, and hunger sum up our lives.”