Living through the events of October 7 in the southern kibbutz of Ein Hashlosha, on the road between Nir Oz and Kisfim, was like being in a nightmare movie for kibbutz member Adi Peri. . She spent hours lying on the floor of the bomb shelter, listening to Hamas terrorists shoot and scream in surrounding houses, praying that they wouldn’t invade her home.
Peri woke up at 6:30 a.m. to the constant sound of sirens. “We couldn’t get out of the bomb shelter. It was constant emergency alerts and barrage. We didn’t understand what was going on. Then friends and family called me and said various things. We started talking about terrorists infiltrating certain places.”
Peri was alone at home and could only partially understand what was happening through her cell phone, which she could not hear due to poor cell phone reception in the closed shelter. Only stable information was obtained. “I started locking my house, but it was difficult because there were constant emergency alerts and barrage,” Peri said.
“Over time, you start hearing that there are terrorists on the kibbutz. I stayed calm. I turned off the air conditioner. I turned off the lights,” Peri said, trying to keep things in check without going into hysterics. He said it was all about ending it.
“You start hearing a lot of gunshots and a lot of screaming. I lay in the shelter for hours in the dark, really hoping they don’t come in. They come and go. Things went quiet, then they got loud, then they went quiet, then they got loud,” Peri explained.
“We tried to find a solution to secure the door of the shelter so they can’t come in,” Peri added, adding that she tried several methods to tie the door shut, hoping they wouldn’t get into the house. He said he tried.
“It was a miracle they didn’t break into my house, even though they could have easily gotten into my house. They got into all my neighbors’ houses. I live in the hardest-hit area of the kibbutz. Some of the houses in my neighborhood were killed, some of them burned things, some of them threw grenades.
“They disconnected me [cooking] “I made a gas balloon and put it on the porch and tried to blow it up, but the neighbors saw it from a distance and started shooting it,” she said. “In hindsight, we realized they were trying to blow up houses with gas balloons.”
Recovering as an evacuee in Eilat
Peri was thankfully unharmed in the attack on Ain Hashroshah, which killed four residents, but she said her business and livelihood had been severely damaged. After the attack, Peri and his community evacuated to Eilat.
When they arrived in Eilat, Peri, an expert in natural medicine, immediately felt the need to treat people. “From the moment I was born, I felt like this was my calling,” she says.
She began volunteering the day after arriving in Eilat, treating other evacuees and Eilat locals.
Before the attack, Peri ran an alternative medicine clinic from her home on the kibbutz, offering naturopathy, massage and natural pharmacy services. Peri also taught Israeli folk dance. Since October 7, Peri has been unable to make a living due to her evacuee status. She feels lost, unable to fit her job into the hotel room she also has to live in.
“For the past few months, I haven’t been able to make a living,” Peri said. “I have no income, I feel like I’m not doing anything. I’m far away from my family, far from everything. I have no control,” she said.
One of the jobs Peri has gotten to do and enjoy since Oct. 7 is lead natural therapy workshops for businesses.
“I was invited by a high-tech company to give a workshop on natural medicine,” Peri said, adding that she also lectured on the healing properties of some plants. “I had a great time. This is what I want to do,” Peri said. She is also considering looking for work as an employee rather than a freelancer to find more stability.
Her community will be moved from Eilat to Netivot, where she hopes to find clients in the area and travel to other cities to conduct workshops.
For business inquiries or to learn more about the services she offers, please visit Peri’s website at https://www.adiperi.com/.
