Mr. Ridge's Class Blog from Grampa Al

Visually impaired students

   Yesterday, my friend Khitam (you can pronounce her name "Kit - ahm" but here the 'kh' has a little growl to it; I'll show you when I get back to Maine) took me with her to work in the Helen Keller School in Jerusalem.  Do you all know who Helen Keller was?

Rafat & his mother and "a snack"

   These are five of the students she worked with.  She also worked with a group of 5 and 6 year olds and a group of 10 and 11 year olds.  They're like you except for vision: they are blind or have trouble seeing.  Khitam uses arts - drawing, painting, dance and theater - to help them learn and be excited about learning.  She and they have a lot of fun together.

   I also visited the home of a former student who came to Maine seven years ago, lived at my house in Arrowsic with another Palestinian student and my friend Khitam and participated in our summer teen theater camp at The Theater Project.  His name is Rafat and he is now 22!  It was very good to see him.  He lives in a small apartment in old Jerusalem and invited me in to have some lemonade and a snack.  The "snack" was ma'loubi, a chicken and rice and vegetable dish that is verrrrrry good.  (pronounced "mah - lubi" but when you say the "mah," you stop quickly after the 'h'; remind me to show you how when I get back).  Not only ma'loubi but also salad and other vegetables.  Rafat's mother tried to get me to eat several servings but I couldn't.  Palestinians, in fact most Arabs I have met, are very hospitable!  When you visit them, you HAVE to eat something with them, and if they have very little, if they are poor, they will still offer you food and give you whatever they have.

Rafat & Muhamed

   While I was with Rafat and his mother, Muhamed arrived, the other former student who stayed with me in Arrowsic and did the summer teen camp.  Remember what I said about "Muhamed," how the name can be spelled many ways (Mohamed, Muhamed, Mohammed, Muhammad...)?  Don't be surprised if I spell it differently!  I may forget how I wrote it the last time.

   Muhamed is working for the electric company that provides electricity Jerusalem.  He went to college for two years, studied business, and now has this job.  He also lives in old Jerusalem with his family, and he has a car.  The trouble with having a car there is parking: you cannot bring a car into the old city so he has found a place outside near his sister's apartment.  

A room in Rafat's family apartment

Old Jerusalem at night

   After we walked around old Jerusalem for a while, Muhamed took us in his car to the Mount of Olives where we had a wonderful view of Jerusalem.  I'll end this blog with a photo of Rafat's apartment and another of old Jerusalem at night.  See the Dome of the Rock in the Jerusalem picture? And look at the ceiling of Rafat's apartment in a building that has been there a loooonnnnnng time.