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Published: July 28th 2006
Little Mina
Shareef's unfeasibly cute daughter does some cleaning.O, What a perfect day...
Or more or less.
Once again it's Elliot here. By rights, it should be Jemima, but she's off at the women-only wedding do- a hen party in effect. I'm not bitter, though...
We had a very good visit to the YMCA in Bethlehem, to see the kind of project Christian Aid supports in Palestine. I will let Jemima talk more about that though- we made the trip because she is working with Christian Aid from September.
We went swimming yesterday with the Children of Martyrs (absolutely don't think that word synonymous with suicide bombers) summer camp, where we've been volunteering. It's pretty rare for these kids to get a chance to swim, so they were rarther excitable.
Even the two checkpoints that stopped our two coaches wouldn't dampen their spirits, despite one complete cad of a soldier who made them all get off and wait. Just in case they had katushas in their caps.
Understandably some of the kids are pretty nervous around soldiers, given the things they've seen. I ended up singing (almopst a human rights abuse in itself) a combination of the Monkees, Louis Armstrong and Gilbert and
Sullivan to distract from the big green men with M16s.
Once we got to the pool it was all forgotten, however. We were pretty bemused by the swimming arrangements. Men and women are separated, which is the way the culture works. The women's pool was however, a tiny crampt affair as compared with the men's. In the end Jemima didn't swim at all. I failed in showing solidarity, and had a great time splashing about with the children. Hence I can't be too peeved at her burgeoning social life here. The kids had a great time anyway - they can swim where they like during the age of innocence. On the way back there were more checkpoints and queues, and the buses ended up taking the most unbelievable route through farm tracks and over mountains to get home.
All in all it was pretty surreal, and for the children of martyrs at the camp, probably as close to a perfect day as they get.
Mazeera for Lebanon
Today there was a Mazeera- a big demonstration - in Tulkarem, against Israel's action in Lebanon. There were lots of Hezbullah banners, as well as some that read "life not war,"
Jesh
Would the checkpoints stop us getting to the pool? which I liked more. A few fighters were brave enough to join the march - these are men wanted by Israel. They fired their AK47s into the air intermittently, which gave me a bit of a headache. Who knew automatic rifles could be so antisocial? The whole thing was not however, in any way xenophobic- it had more of a carnival atmosphere.
All the people we speak to in Tulkarem are pretty philosophical and basically just want a just peace, but I think there is a natural inclination to root for Hezbullah at the moment. I wouldn't use words like radicalisation, because that's the word used by some to suggest bloodthirsty hordes, and they are anything but bloodthirsty... people are just angry because they see injustice piled on injustice on their TVs every night while the world does nothing.
As for us, Jemima and I are now set for a new camp in Ramallah, starting on Sunday.
Elliot
Right, Jemima here, finally. Elliot seems to be better at finding the time to update, maybe because I keep on being invited out with the women and he can't come!
Anyway, the first thing I want to
Never!
The kids get ready for a swim say is thanks for all the comments and messages left for us on this site - I keep expecting abuse fromn some random Islamophobe, but instead they have all been really great supportive messages from you guys, so keep them coming!
Right, Elliot very kindly left our visit to Bethlehem to me, so I'll do my best to do it justice. We went because Christian Aid had put me in touch with the director of the YMCA in Beit Sahour, just outside Bethlehem, which is one of Christian Aid's partner organisations. As well as the usual YMCA pool and sports facilities for the community to use, this YMCA runs a rehabilitation programme for those physically and psychologically damaged by the conflict.
Nader is an amzing man, and the work this project does seems to me to be as good as it gets. I never really stopped to think about the psychological effects of the occupation, too busy thinking about the physical problems, but of course there are hundreds and thousands of people - especially kids and young adults - with very serious post-traumatic stress disorders and other psychological problems. So as well as providing help to people who
Mazeera
The gathering before the march around Tulkarem in solidarity with Lebanon are physically disabled (providing necessary equipment to help them get about in their homes, and vocational training to help them to find employment and maintain their independence) the YMCA has a team of very professional counsellors, working up and down the West Bank and training others to do the same, giving proper psychological treatment to those who have been involved in the atrocities of this conflict.
The thing that impressed me most was that they are even sending their workers to other conflict areas around the world, to share their top class knowledge with others trying to provide similar post-trauma counselling services. They've been to Kosovo, Colombia and Sri Lanka among others and are currently trying to set up a similar programme in Iraq. Nader made the point that people often assume those in the developing world are incapable of helping themselves, much less others, but who in the world better to understand the problems caused by violence and conflict than Palestinians? Certainly they have more expertise than anyone from the developed world. And I think it is amazing that even with so many problems of their own, they are trying to reach out and help others all over
Jemima strides out
The beginning of the swimming trip. the world.
If this is the kind of work Christian Aid supports, then I am thrilled that next year I get to be a part of it.
OK, I also want to talk a little bit about my experiences with the women here in Tulkarm, because for me it has been a real eye opener. Most of the time I've been here I'm pretty much treated like an honorary man, able to sit with the men and talk with them (although with one or two exceptions most men aim their conversation at Elliot rather than me). And so it has been really nice to spend a bit of time with the women here, and learn more about what it is actually like for them.
As Elliot siad, at the swimming pool things were (to me) blatantly unfair in the way they were set up. So when I got talking with some of the young women who had come along with us, I couldn't resist asking about how they felt, being women in such a patriachal society. They were aware that some things were unfair, but they didn't feel it to be a huge problem - women are free to work, to have friends, to study (or at least, the fairly well of women that I have met - I suspect things may be different for the poorer women, and those in the more rural villages). I was told that it is a given assumption in this society that men can do more than women, and although most of the women seemed to accept this, my new friend Hala told me she did not.
After this conversation we were fast friends, and so that evening I was invited to go with Hala and her mother to a party to celebrate someone's engagement. Without men, these women really let their hair down, in both senses. I barely recognised Hala once she had removed her long black dress and taken off her headscarf: in a slinky skirt and one shoulder top she wouldn't have looked out of place in the Pier or any other night club. And these women certainly know how to dance!
Yesterday Hala and my other new friend Fatin took me shopping, and then to the wedding in the evening (rather bizarre, but very interesting - sorry I don't have enough time to go into huge detail). And then we sat around and chatted, and I am genuinely sad that I probably won't see them again before we leave tomorrow (although we will hopefully be back in tulkarm before we leave for good.)
All in all, we have had a really amazing time here in Tulkarm. We have had so many invitations from people wanting us to come and spend time with them, it has been impossible to keep everyone happy. And I know we've said it before, but the hospitality really is amazing.
Anyways, I had better stop here, because we are due to go and have a picnic with some families we know. Hope everyone is keeping well.
Ma'salaam-e (peace to all of you)
Jemima
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jean driver
non-member comment
swimming
Well done you