I REMEMBER spending time with my grandfather and listening to his stories. My cousins and I used to sit around my grandfather and eat sweets while listening to tales about our original village.

He told us how beautiful nature was there and how happy people were. He also told us that he would work with his family to grow vegetables and graze sheep.

Our favourite story was when he would tell us about his adventures as a child, riding horses, hunting birds, hares and sometimes deer.

We were surprised every time he told us the story that there were deer. He often told us these stories, but every time he did, he would tell it as if it was the first time.

If you looked at his eyes and face, you would realise that, to him, it was not just about telling an interesting story for children or teaching them a lesson; he was living the stories as if it was his current reality.

These tales and happy memories were where he could find peace and happiness. His favourite was the story of his marriage. He told us about customs, traditions, food and clothes at weddings.

I can remember him pointing to my grandmother’s wedding dress hanging on the wall every time he told us.

One day, I asked him about his clothes on his wedding day. I quickly wished that I hadn’t. His mood changed, he looked sad, and he stopped talking for a moment. Then two tears fell from his eyes and rolled down his wrinkled cheeks.

“I left my clothes at home on the day of the Nakba. I only had time to carry my little girl in my arms and take the key to our house. I saw only smoke, corpses, and rubble.

“I found your grandmother and we followed the crowd, even though we did not know where we were going.

“I thought we would be back soon. We ended up in Maghazi refugee camp. And this is all I have left.”

My grandfather slowly reached under his pillow, took out a key and pressed it to his chest.

Abdallah al-Naamy is a 20-year-old film-maker from Gaza. He lives in Maghazi refugee camp, one of the most densely populated in the strip, with more than 31,329 refugees housed in an area of 0.4 square miles.

Most of its residents are descendants from villages in central and southern Palestine who fled during the Nakba.

Abdallah is part of We Are Not Numbers (wearenotnumbers.org), a Palestinian youth collective that shares the human stories behind the numbers.