By Linoy Barokas, UJS Shlicha
Based on: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160989937443684&set=a.10150119748653684
Last week, a special and powerful story was published on all over my social media about a foreign caregiver from the Philippines who saved the life of her patient, a sick, elderly 95-year-old woman. The story moved thousands of Israelis.
In the place where humanity left him - there was Camille.
Camille is a care worker who came to Israel from the Philippines 5 years ago to take care of Nitza, a 95 year old from Kibbutz Nirim.
Like everyone else, she got up on the morning of October 7th to the sound of heavy rockets, and locked herself up with a Nitza in the safety room (mamad).
Before 8 am, she started hearing people talking outside the house, and Camille, who previously worked in Dubai - realized very quickly that the people outside were not Hebrew-speaking soldiers - but Arabic-speaking terrorists.
She tried to close the Mamad window - but didn't succeed.
And suddenly - she found herself in front of the terrorists. She was supposed to fly two days later to the Philippines to visit her son, and for that she had 1,500 NIS in her wallet that she planned to bring home to the family.
Without thinking twice, she gave the terrorists her wallet and told them: take everything, just don't take the plane ticket from me.
The terrorists took Camille's money - and left.
Then Camille got into bed with Nitza - and hugged her for two and a half hours until IDF soldiers came to rescue them.
In the meantime, she canceled the plane ticket for the family vacation she had planned, and said, "I promised Nitza then that I would not leave her until she died".
Of all the heartbreaking stories, there is a special place for all those foreign workers - those who, in order to make a living, flew thousands of kilometers away from home, to work in the most difficult and exhausting jobs. Those who collect penny to penny in order to send home some money.
And those who unwillingly got into a conflict in a language and a place they don't understand. And yet, when evil broke out and barbarism took over - they chose - to be human.