Thursday, 14 November, Addahya
    Husni Al Ashab School is a middle school for boys about half a mile from Khitam's house.  450 boys, ages 11 to 15, I'm guessing, go to the school.  I mentioned it in my last blog; it is the school where Nasser is the counselor.  Monday and Tuesday, I taught theater workshops to counselors: elementary, middle and high school counselors (one woman is the only counselor in a secondary school with over 1,000 girls); three counselors focusing on substance abuse; a teacher of deaf and limited hearing children; and a woman who works in a psychiatric hospital.  They came from Bethlehem and the Jerusalem area.

The counselors

   Monday, we worked from noon to a little after 2:00.  When we finished, they clamored for more time.    "10:00 o'clock, not noon."  "Four hours?" Nasser asked.  Several chimed in agreement but others said they couldn't get there by 10:00, and it was also too early for Nasser to be available and to get the room.  So we agreed on 11:00.  Tuesday I showed up a little before 11:00; two people were waiting.  By 11:00, two more had arrived.  We got started at 11:45 with almost everybody.  One or two joined us at noon.  One of those who had been there before 11:00 said to me: "Palestinians are always late."  "Always?"  "Always."  There were also extenuating circumstances: road blocks, children's needs, transportation problems.  Almost nothing is easy here if you're Palestinian.
   Both workshops were high energy.  All but two of the participants were women, most of them "covered," meaning they wore head scarves and long outer dresses that went down to their shoes, which were often sneakers, with sometimes a little bit of blue jeans showing.  Two women weren't covered; one wore jeans and a shirt, had a tough demeanor, spoke better English than she thought and asked me if I'd come to her school, the girls secondary school with over 1,000.  Though she seemed tough and uncompromising, perhaps important in her school, she was also interested and eager, a reminder to me that I don't know somebody until I spend some time with them.  All the participants were interesting, curious, talkative and obviously liked to laugh.  I often did not know what they were laughing at.

   Nasser introduced me and talked about the purpose of the workshops, in Arabic.  I followed, used up my two minutes of Arabic in two minutes and shifted to English while Nasser translated.  I was fascinated to discover that as we progressed with the work, they began finishing Nasser's translations of what I was saying, sometimes finishing them in English so I would understand.  As we worked, they had good questions about ways to use the exercises and I often bent and stretched what we were doing to explore new ways to use what I was teaching.  As always, they were they experts - they knew what their constituents were like and what they needed - and I was the consultant, and, as always, I learned as much as I taught.
   After Tuesday's workshop, some of us talked for another hour about the work and ways to use it.  Cotton asked Nasser some questions about his goals and how this kind of theater fit in, then Nasser talked into Cotton's camera for twenty minutes, sometimes lyrically, in English.  Nasser would say his English is not good.  I would say it is very good, especially considering his circumstances.  I think he has learned most of it while working, though most of his work is with people who are unlikely to speak much English.  Some of it he may have learned while he was in Israeli prisons.
   When he spoke about what he does, wants to do and how theater fits in for Cotton's filming, he was talking about transforming education in Palestine, beginning in Husni Al Alashab middle school.  He knows it's a dream and says, "It's okay if I dream.  I will work to make it happen."  The teachers agreed with him about transforming education from the teacher lectures, students listen model, to students participating actively in their education.  Palestine is hardly the only setting for that goal, a goal Nasser shares with Abdelfattah; two very different people with very different backgrounds and the same goal for Palestinian young people.

Nasser explaining a point to a slow learner

   All of the counselors want more training.  All of them agree with Nasser's goal of changing the model in Palestinian schools.  It's exciting to hear.  It's also worth noting that Nasser's allies right now are women working in the schools.  It's likely they are more open to change than most of the male teachers, and a battle may be looming, one worth pursuing.  Nasser and I are going to talk more about his vision tomorrow afternoon, when Khitam and I have been asked to share a meal with his family.  It will be important for me to have a stomach and mind open for good food and ideas!