AID worker Paveen Yaqub has told of her flashbacks to terrifying scenes aboard a ship stormed by Israeli commandos.
Paveen, from Honley, was aboard the Mavi Marmara where nine people died including her friend Furkan Dogan who was shot in the face five times.
The 39-year-old told the Examiner that she is taking one day at a time since returning to the UK earlier this month.
She said: “Every day is different, some days I cope better than other days.
“I’m not really functioning very well at work, but thankfully my boss is being really supportive about it.
“Nothing is going to happen overnight – people were killed on that boat and we saw people dying in front of us.
“I’m not sure any of us that were on that convoy are ever going to be the same again.
“I’ll be fine for a while and then I just find myself back there.”
In a bid to expel her demons Paveen will return to Turkey next week to meet with other surviving Pro-Palestinian activists.
She said: “Turkey is where the journey started and where we came back to.
“There is a sense of belonging in that place and it will be part of the healing process for many of us.
“One of the people who I was with and who was shot in the head is still in a coma over there – they don’t have much hope for him.
“We’ll be visiting the graves of the dead and speaking to the families who have lost loved ones.”
Although Paveen works at Oldham Council and her family live in Manchester, she decided to live in Honley because she has many friends nearby.
She told the Examiner she received a warm welcome from the community.
“Everyone has been very supportive and I’m really thankful to them for their support,” she said.
“I’m a member of Fitness First gym and everyone there has been really positive.
“Honley has a very active Christian community and that aligns with my own values as a Muslim.
“I had such a lovely warm welcome at the local Café Plus.
“They have a prayer board there and there was a message on it saying ‘Please pray for Paveen’, which was really touching.”
Paveen said she found the recent news of Israel’s easing of the Gaza blockade “insulting”.
She said: “It seems that a few scraps have been thrown to try and placate the situation.”
“The blockade should be dismantled altogether because it is illegal and inhumane.
“This is civilians that we are talking about.
“They wouldn’t even let us bring them cement to rebuild their houses.”
Despite the trauma of what happened to her, Paveen said she is determined to complete her journey to Gaza in the future.
In the meantime she is working to raise the profile of the plight of the Palestinian people.
She said: “I’m going to continue to support the people of Palestine in any way that I can.
“I will be sharing the truth about what happened on the aid flotilla and try and bring awareness about the crisis in Gaza, while lobbying our Government to take action against the illegal siege.”
