As bombs explode in Gaza, Palestinian teenager Farah Baker grabs her
smartphone or laptop before ducking for cover to tap out tweets that
capture the drama of the tumult and fear around her.
The
16-year-old's prolific posts on Twitter have made her a social media
sensation through the month-old conflict. Once a little known high
school athlete, Baker's following on the website has jumped from a mere
800 to a whopping 166 000.
Living near Gaza City's Shifa Hospital,
where her father is a surgeon, provides Baker with a live feed of
blaring ambulance sirens in addition to blasts from Israeli air strikes
and shelling attacks.
Baker often records these and posts video clips to provide followers with a quick personal glimpse of the war.
A
tweet from 1 August included a link to a video of a darkened street
punctuated by the sounds of repeated explosions. In another tweet Baker
tells of hiding from the shelling in one of the rooms of her home.
"I
am trying to tell the world about what I feel and what is happening
where I live," Baker said at her Gaza home, adding that she has been
"trying to make other people feel as if they are experiencing it, too".
Fears
Baker,
whose Twitter profile photo shows a blue-eyed frightened looking young
woman calling herself "Guess what", or @Farah_Gazan, said she's
surprised at the popularity she has garnered.
"I did not expect it. I was writing for a small circle of people, and the number has become too many," she said.
Baker
dreams of becoming a lawyer, hoping to use that profession as a means
to advocate for crowded and impoverished Gaza, a coastal territory
wedged between Israel and Egypt.
It isn't always easy to overcome her fears to tweet, but she feels compelled to go on.
"I
see this is the only way I can help Gaza, showing what is happening
here. Sometimes I tweet while am crying or too scared but I tell myself,
I should not stop," Baker said.
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