We visited all of our volunteer sites on Monday. We started at the kindergarten where Paul will be working and I was instantly jealous. They were super adorable and fun! It's the kindergarten attached to the Augusta Victoria compound, so a lot of ex-patriot kids and such. Our next stop was to Kendra's site, which is the Environmental Education Center at Talitha Cumi. It was beautiful and I was jealous again. I learned there that the imposition of the Wall not only causes major issues for people, but also animals. I never stopped to think about the number of species that can't fly over a wall. Animals, such as hyenas, are then trapped on one side of the Wall and more likely to enter into urban space. I would probably have a heart attack if I saw a hyena strolling down the road in Bethlehem. After Kendra's site, we went onto my site at Dar Al-Kalima School. It was profound. The school itself is really colorful and just has an amazing vibe. When we were touring, we stopped to visit the kindergarten room. They all wear these really adorable purple smocks to show their grade. They looked really confused when we walked into the room, but after awhile, one of the little boys came out of the extra room with the teacher's aide. He was holding a little plastic bin of candies. He reached up to each of us with this beautiful smile to offer us a piece of candy. He didn't know us, nor did he know how to speak to us, but this four-year old understood to be hospitable. He did it so willingly. It really brought tears to my eyes. I can't even explain it. We toured the rest of the facility, which includes health and wellness center. The philosophy is that holistic health is especially important, despite the occupation. There is a weight room with several treadmills, a swimming pool, and space to dance, aerobicize, and lots more. It also has a psychologist, which I learned that seeing a psychologist in this culture labels you as a crazy person. Granted, we're not that much different in the States, but it appears to be even more taboo here. We toured the rest of the facilities and the other sites. They're all amazing places to volunteer!
I feel like I have lots of random information to pass on. We've been taking Arabic lessons. I can hold a basic conversation with someone in Arabic. It's tough, because there are some really tough sounds to make with your throat. Oh, and Bethlehem is definitely not said, "Bethlehem." The town is Beit Lehem, which means, 'House of Bread.' Speaking of Beit Lehem, that's where my home is for the year! We got to visit our flat today. It's a three bedroom, two bath, first floor apartment. It came pre-furnished, so it's pretty sweet. We chose our bedrooms, which was painless for me (nobody wanted the room I wanted). We went household shopping afterwards. We bought 48 rolls of pink toilet paper with heart prints on it; I'm pretty stoked. We bought some other random things, but the toilet paper was the most amusing. I was able to start hanging my pictures and things, and put my Q-tips down. I've been saying for the last two weeks that I was looking forward to my apartment so I could put my Q-tips down. It's the simple stuff that makes me happy. Anywho, our apartment is sweet. We can see the Wall and an Israeli settlement from our porch, along with the valley of Beit Lehem.
We're actually only about three blocks from the Beit Lehem checkpoint at the Wall. It's scary really. The Wall is this massive structure blocking people from entering and exiting cities and places in their own country. The Wall is being built to specifically trap villages and cut off other villages. Literally, the wall is being built to bottleneck Israeli settlements. I should probably explain that the Israeli settlements are bad. Yes, I'm slightly biased. Here's the deal: Israel is occupying the West Bank. Israel wants it's own Jewish state, which means eliminating Arabs (who are Christian and Muslim, primarily) from Israel proper. The West Bank, or the Arab land, is being separated from Jerusalem. The Green Line was the line that was internationally recognized as the separation between West Bank and Israel in 1948. Jerusalem was to be neutral territory, or it's own entity, similar to the Vatican City. Jerusalem is now split between West Jerusalem, the Jewish portion, and East Jerusalem, the Arab portion. The West Bank is being severely separted from Israel and East Jerusalem. The settlements are then groups of Israeli Jews that move into the West Bank by force. They show up and live there. They come for one of two reasons: for the belief that there should a Jewish state or for economic purposes (it's cheaper to live in the hills of the West Bank). Settlements end up taking Palestinian land and attracting soldiers and checkpoints to protect them. The Wall is being built around settlements at points, to keep them inside Jerusalem proper. I've mentioned before about the water issues, but it's also the idea that soldiers stand around with machine guns to monitor their "security." Please read the news with a grain of salt and research a variety of newspapers. One of speakers pointed out that the news will portray the side that Palestinians through stones at Israeli soldiers and fight back with violence. Think about this: why were the soldiers there to begin with? Palestinians are not violent people, but when you cage in a group of people and force them to live in terror and violence, they will bite you if you step in that cage. There are 608 checkpoints in the West Bank, ranging from armed stations to road blocks to 'earth mounds.' The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) seriously bulldozes piles of dirt to block roads, so Palestinians can't drive on them. 608 checkpoints. 608 places where Israeli soldiers have stopped you from moving freely within your own country. These aren't all checkpoints on the border, I should point out. These are checkpoints through the country too. Like, picture driving down highway 119 and having to stop because there's a massive pile of dirt. You have to go around it. Then, get on say, 22, only to find that 22 is only for people from Ohio. Then, after avoiding 22, you get back on 119 and head back towards say, 403. There's a post at the junction of 403 and 119 where 12 soldiers who are between the ages of 18 and 22, holding machine guns, and interrogate you as to where you are going and why you're going there. This continues until they decide that you don't have the proper ID, so you're not allowed in Marion Center (sorry, it's the road arrangement I chose for this analogy). You're not allowed to visit your grandparents or your children, because they're on the other side of that wall. That wall? The wall that separates families and makes it impossible for people to work? That WALL, which is often referred to as a 'security fence' by the IDF, is paid for by the United States. Yes, my friends, your tax dollars are paying to build a 9m high concrete wall, topped with fencing and barbed wire, that is cutting people off from their jobs and their families. I apologize. That was my very biased rant. I wish I could be unbiased, but I can't. This occupation is ridiculous. I apologize.
So, on a lighter note, we did some site-seeing yesterday. Mom, you should probably stop reading here. I know you won't, but please be patient and remember that life is an experience. "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intentions of arriving in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, throroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'Wow! What a ride!!!'" That being said, this story ended well. Do not panic.
Yesterday, we were strolling through the marketplace in Beit Lehem, checking out the different stands. I'm not a fan of animal carcasses hanging in these open air markets, by the way. It was just the girls in the marketplace and we knew we were taking a taxi back to Abraham's Herberge, which is the hotel we're staying in while in Beit Jala. We approached a group of cab drivers and asked about getting a ride. They told us that we needed to take two cars to fit the five of us and that each car would be 20 NIS. The conversion rate is $3.56 right now, so it really wasn't that bad. Regardless, we split up into our roomate groups actually. Nikki, Marta, and I were making small talk with our driver with our limited Arabic and his limited English. It was really unique. We did the best we could with communicating. About half way back to the hotel, he pulled out a strand of connected postcards. He started pointing out different sites on the cards and asking if we had been there. We couldn't really understand what he was saying, so he called someone on his cellphone. Now, let me explain, that driving in Israel/West Bank is like, the terrifying driving you see in Rome or other European areas. Let's add hills...lots of them...and really steep. Now, let's add small children that pop out into the streets. Now, let's add our taxi driver...driving...on the hills...and holding the postcard chain...and his cellphone.......my life flashed before my eyes. Regardless, his phone call was to a friend of his who spoke English. His friend told Nikki (yes, Kamel, our driver, handed his cell phone to Nikki) that Kamel would like to take us to Shepherd's Fields. It was only about 10 minutes away from Beit Jala and we didn't have to pay him anything extra. We looked at each other, had a minor moment of fear, and then had a huge moment of faith. We went. We arrived safely at Shepherd's Fields. This is where they have built small church to recognize the site that they believe the shepherds came from to stand watch over Christ's birth. It was phenomenal. It was a tiny church by the Franciscans, I think. We walked back to the car and he called his friend again. Nikki spoke to him again, where he asked if we walked to go to Herodian. Let me also tell you, that we didn't know what either of these places were before we visited. We really debated over this. Kamel gave me the phone, because I was concerned over time. He insisted that it was only another 10 minutes and only 15 minutes total from Beit Jala. Kamel was honest up to this point, so we weren't sure. We debated and then we lived with faith. We went onto Herodian. We drove through BEAUTIFUL Palestinian countryside to eventually arrive at Herodian. This, in a nutshell, is an old fortress built for King Herod. Literally. Herod. We weren't able to see the inside of the fortress, because it was closed, but we did walk around the parking lot. We looked out and could see the Judean Desert and I think, the Dead Sea. It was just piles of these beautiful desert mountains/hills. It was, AMAZING! We got back in the cab and drove back to Beit Jala. Kamel kindly taught us to count to ten in Arabic, though I can't remember the numbers right now. He also was highly amused when I was trying to ask what the word for small is. I tried an analogy, which didn't work I guess. I said, "Bint mish mara, walad mish zalame" while using hand language. This menas, "Girl not woman, boy not man." I was trying to get the word for small and big out of him, but I think he thought I was asking his relationship status, because he looked a little surprised and grabbed his ring finger. It was really funny! We took a detour through Manger Square in Beit Lehem, where he introduced us to the guy that we had talked to in English on the phone. He offered us coffee and tea in his shop, as most Palestinians do. We arrived safely back at our hotel and gave him 50 NIS for the trip. He seemed appreciative and gave us his card for future travels. So, it was scary at moments, but it ended up being really cool.
Alright, folks, I think I'm written out. I'm going to hopefully post some pictures in a separate blog after this. It will save me from playing with the pictures in the HTML format. Sorry, I'm lazy. Anyway, I'll try to blog again soon. We should have more down time, because we officially move into our apartment on Sunday and I start at the school on Monday. By the way, the principal mentioned swim lessons again. I'm pretty sure I'm teaching swim lessons in Palestine. Woot! Oh, the pool? It's the only one in the Bethlehem area. There are more pools than that in a settlement. We went to the beach at Tel Aviv last Sunday, which was beautiful!!! The water was pretty warm and really salty. Anyway, I'm alive and well. I'm looking forward to starting my volunteer work and just getting more aquainted. PLEASE post questions or comments if you'd like to know more!!!
Much love,
Meredith
"A country is not just what it does--it is also what it tolerates." --Kurt Tucholsky
1 comment:
Wow what an adventure! Your take on this situation is interesting. When you think about what Jesus taught, I wonder what he would say today about things like the wall. Would the Palestinians be the same as say the Samaritans?
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