The death toll in Gaza has surpassed forty thousand, with horrifying footage continuing to surface. Amidst persistent calls to end the suffering of the local population, a recent humanitarian event in Sarajevo brought young performers from Gaza to the city. Dancers and children's therapists, Karim and Ahmed, who have been working tirelessly for months to restore a sense of normalcy to thousands of displaced children, traveled to Sarajevo thanks to the efforts of the 'Kontakt' association and the 'Fresh Generation' dance school. This is their story:

“This is a group of our girls. We lost her. And we lost her too,” Karim and Ahmed say as they pause their footage from Gaza, showing each girl who is no longer with them.

The dance school that Ahmed founded ten years ago now looks like this:

Despite the ruins, ashes, and dust, the dancing has not stopped.

“We didn't just hold workshops at our school; we also went to UNRWA schools. At first, it was hard for me, and I told Ahmed, ‘We're dancing while our people are being bombed. This isn't right; it's like throwing a party during a war.’ He replied, ‘Don't worry, we're helping the children forget. In those moments when they are with us, they forget about the genocide,'” Karim Azzam, a dancer and therapist from Gaza, shared with us.

“And the children who came to our house every day? Yes, yes, yes, every day, every day. They knew when Karim and Shark would arrive and sit at the door. So, they would come to us just to play a game, to shake hands, and Karim had other games with them. For us, that was a safe zone. When we saw the children, we would smile at them, even though the situation was very difficult. We would smile directly because we didn't want the situation to affect them. So, if you don't smile and see a child approaching you, you immediately smile. And in those moments, it became a safe zone for us too,” added his friend Ahmed Alghariz.

Despite everything, the footage of their smiling faces traveled the world. And so, emotions are not reserved for just one small corner of it.

“We watched their videos, we were familiar with their work, and when we first found out they were coming, our initial reaction was tears. We couldn't believe we would have the opportunity to meet these people and communicate with them in a shared language,” emphasized Dženita Hasečić, president of the ‘Fresh Generation Sarajevo’ association, about the collaboration with Karim and Ahmed.

Despite countless invitations from around the world, the young dancers in Sarajevo were the first with whom Karim had the chance to work in his life – only because of the fact that he has a Palestinian passport.

“It was complicated to get Karim here, considering the overall situation. Karim managed to get out of Gaza at the end of 2023. He went to Egypt, but again it was very difficult only because of his Palestinian passport. We submitted the documentation for him in February, and he managed to get a visa in July, thanks to our persistence and the help of good people. We thank them for bringing Karim here, our hearts are full, and he is delighted with his time spent in Sarajevo”, said Narcisa Cvitanovic, the director of the association ‘Kontakt’.

For him, this city is simply freedom.

“I am very happy here. I feel free,” he told us.

Since October 7, more than 17,000 children have been killed in Gaza. The one who tried for months to preserve their childhood danced for them and because of them in Sarajevo. For the first time in his 26 years of life, he found himself outside Gaza or Egypt.