Shalom everybody!

My name is Ayana Neta, and I am 14 years old. I live in Kibbutz Beeri, about 3 km from the border of Gaza Strip. Like Sderot I also live under rockets.

You probably don't even know it, but besides Sderot, there are more places that also get the rockets. One of them is Beeri.

The first rocket that fell inside the kibbutz was 2 m' from one of my classmates in the kibbutz. But what I want to tell all of you is what it's like living under rockets, in my kibbutz.

When we here the "Code red" alert, all we do is wait for the explosion. We don't run to shelters or anything like that. Not that we don't have them, it's just that we don't feel the need to run. Maybe the reason we feel like that is because nothing drastic happened, yet. 

Me and my friends have a tradition of hiking on Saturday. When people say not to go because it's dangerous, we say: "It's our country, and we will go anywhere we like to." That is truly what I believe in.  If we will give in to the rockets, and stop our lives because of it, well then, the Hamas (the people who fire the rockets) have won. If we will show them the crying children, they have won. If we will break down, THEY HAVE WON. But we won't. We will stay strong and won't break down, even when it gets really tough.

And that is my message to all of you out there, in the States and everywhere else: WE WILL STAY STRONG.