Don't take the children

with you. I will repeat that. Don't take the children with you. 

Ir may sound like an exciting adventure but no responsible parent should be taking their children into a war zone.What on earth are they thinking of?

There is a piece in today's paper, apparently from just such a child. He's in Gaza and he wants to come home. Possibly his parents did consider it was "safe enough" when they first went but they need to be out now and getting foreigners out is hard enough. Getting dual passport holders out is even harder. It is not a matter of turning up at an airport and demanding a seat on a plane.

"You know something about that Cat?"  Yes, I do. 

One of the unspoken rules of aid work is that you don't take your children with you. Aid work is not a holiday. It is often dangerous, very dangerous. Going into a war zone is even more dangerous. Of course it is. The people who do it are often mad or bad or fanatical or even willing to lose their lives for a cause. 

I have no contact with those who go in to fight. That's not my job. I am there for the person trying to save the dam or rebuild the bridge or save the heritage listed building from further damage. I am there for the doctor going in to train the locals to do a piece of surgery or the electrician supervising the connection of the hospital power plant. These are people going in for a short time. They will do their job and then leave again. Not one of them would consider taking their children or their partners with them. They are there to do a task and then leave again.

You need to be fit and healthy to do aid work, especially in a war zone. You need to be ready and able to get out with no notice at all. If someone says "run" then you need to "run". You need to be prepared for the lack of food and water and sleep deprivation. There is no eight hour day. You work until you are ready to drop and then you sleep where you can and how you can until someone prods you awake because it is their turn on the patch of floor you have been sleeping on. That's a good night. On a bad night you have been woken more than once by bombs and screams and the wails of mothers who have lost their children. That last sound has to be one of the most devastating of all.

Why would you take any child into that situation? Perhaps the father in this instance thought it would be "safe enough" but he should have known better. Yes, he wanted to see other members of his family. I can understand that but the risk was enormous. Yes, he took his own family before the situation exploded into the current violence but he still knew it was going to be dangerous. Gaza is one of the most dangerous places on the planet. 

I feel for the children but their father is a fool. If you must go, don't take the children with you.