We, Hamama and Said Kahalani, immigrated to Israel from Yemen in 1949. At the former birthing center in Hadera, Shalom Kahalani was born and for some reason the Ministry of Interior registered his name Shalom Yosef. (Yosef is the grandfather’s name.) The number of the identity card given to him was 05674494. When he was three or four months old, when we were in the Ein Shemer transit camp, I (Hamama) would go to nurse him like all the mothers, nursing at 7:00 A.M., 1:00 P.M., and 8:00 P.M.

One day when I arrived to nurse Shalom at 7:00 A.M., I did not see him in the bed he usually slept in. I asked where Shalom was and they told me he was in Camp C of Ein Shemer. (We were in Camp A of Ein Shemer.) We went there, my husband and I, and they told us very simply: He is dead. We cried terribly and asked to see him; I knew he was not dead! Shalom was not sick; he was a healthy baby. One of the workers there said to me, “Come and I’ll show you.” She let me into the morgue and told me to look for Shalom. I went inside, I searched and searched. Everyone in that room was over six years or quite a bit older. Not even one baby. I told the worker “Listen, my baby is only four months old. He’s not here,” so she took me out and didn’t want to hear me. She told me, “Go away. We don’t know where your son is, no one knows.” Of course the whole time I was crying terribly and I knew my son was alive.

We returned, my husband and I, to the office in the nursery at Camp A of Ein Shemer, to ask again about Shalom. There we were told, “We don’t know where he is.” They showed us out without us knowing anything, and we were not allowed to reenter under any circumstances.

In those days people got stamps in order to receive portions of food. Each family got stamps according to the number of children, and what we received included Shalom. All those years. We also received letters when it was time for army enlistment, and when he didn’t show up at the recruiting station the military police came to our house looking for him. All these years, and every time it awakens a hope within us that maybe he will return home. Every time we had to explain the whole story of how Shalom was taken from us.

Even today, letters come to the house for Shalom Kahalani, letters from the tax authorities, letters for voters who will participate in elections, letters with offers for study programs. All the letters arrive in the name of Shalom Kahalani, Yachad neighborhood, Rehovot post office, with the identity card number 05674494.

All these years we have remained greatly hopeful that he will return.

Hamama and Said Kahalani

Yahad neighborhood, Rehovot