“Since writing my picture book about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ‘ Every Child A Song’, I follow on social media what UNICEF are doing, especially their work in Gaza. Obviously the situation there is completely heartbreaking and horrible. I’m often moved to tears by hearing children in Gaza talking about their experience.
A couple of weeks ago I saw a film clip of a child, a boy of about ten or twelve, talking about how things were for his family. He was speaking in English and his English was very good – always impressive to me as I am rubbish at languages – and he said something that really stuck in my mind ‘When we left home, our clothes stayed behind’. It was one of those moments when an unconventional phrase just seemed to carry lots of meaning. It made me think, as I have many times before, of what it must be like to leave your home in a hurry when there are bombs falling and bullets flying. How talking about the trauma of that might become just too difficult and how talking about what happened to your clothes might be a bit easier.”
When we left, our clothes stayed behind,
in drawers and dark closets
hung on the washing line, waiting,
on hooks by the door, while we went out through a window.
Some lay where we dropped them, in our hurry:
in stairwells, on doorsteps and fire-escapes,
in the open doors of cars.
Only clothes which had no choice came with us,
and now they are all worn thin, torn and bloodstained –
except for the tiny socks
that I keep in my pocket,
pink and untouched
That will never be outgrown.
– Nicola Davies, Children’s Laureate Wales 2025-2027