Ahhh…at last, some warm weather. Today dawned clear and sunny after a chilly night, the third in a row, at least. I made tea, then Khitam and I had a couple of cups (two swallows each) of unsweetened Arabic coffee and we were off to Ramallah (the putative capital of Palestine; more on this later) to meet Sulayma and then on to Toobas, a village north of Nablus. Every blog seems to mention that I'm just back from Nablus or going tomorrow!
We met Sulayma and Sara, a Palestinian-American junior from Duke who is working on a couple of apprenticeships here, one with ANERA. Sulayma is the director of elementary education projects for ANERA, American Near East Refugee Aid, an NGO. There is a project with primary school teachers now that includes Khitam's work in creative arts. She gives four workshops to each group of eighteen to twenty kindergarten teachers, covering drawing, painting and sculpting; drama; music; and movement. Today's focus was drama and we did some of it together. The teachers in the north seem more relaxed, socially, than those in the south. All are friendly, but today, one said to me in very good English (she didn't think so): "Before I heard your story, I loved George Cluny, but now I love you." She soon corrected it with the addition of, "…like a grandfather…No. NO! I mean like a father!" All of us laughed and I said, "'Grandfather' is all right," but she would have none of it. "Father! Father!"
Once again, Khitam got them all involved, even those who were shy and hesitant at first. Many of the exercises she did came from exercises we do with kids at The Theater Project (TP) in Brunswick, Maine, but she puts her own spin on them, as do most teachers at TP. We collaborated with some of them which was fun, but she didn't need me. Nor did she need the representative of the Ministry of Education. Sulayma had warned Khitam about her domineering ways, but Khitam handled her well, let her spout off, smiled and then continued the workshop. No harm done.
Sara and I had a good conversation about Americans' view of Palestine on the drive up. She said that the recent urban shootings of unarmed African-Americans has brought the African-American and the Middle East organizations closer at Duke. More young people have become aware of Palestine and there is more interest. This, she said is not generally true at Duke; some people don't even want to hear about it. They either don't care or have a pro-Israel position and aren't going to change. I wondered if sometimes, maybe often, people feel like they don't have room for another contentious issue. If they're pro-Israel, they'd rather stay that way and not think further when they are concerned about their jobs, their mortgages and their children and maybe their community. "Give me a break! I just want to relax and watch some TV" is not an unusual response, said that way or not.
Cotton wonders about this. He is disheartened by Israel's very organized takeover of Palestinian land. He has friends here whose houses are under threat for demolition because they were built on Palestinian land without a permit, which permit is often all but impossible to acquire. There is no question Israel is determined to take over East Jerusalem and make Jerusalem Israel's capital, and, if they succeed, then what? Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for their capital but cannot realize that now when Palestine has not yet achieved widespread recognition as a state and has been occupied since 1967.
Then we get to know people like Nasser, the school counselor at Husni al Ashab middle school near Khitam's and Ahmad's home. I'll write more about Nasser later, but he is a wonder and has gained the confidence of troubled kids who have been in and out of school so that he can help them move forward. And Khitam, with her bus and her teachers training all over Palestine. And Abed, our friend in Bethlehem, who has developed an arts and education program for young people and adults. And there are more, many more. They are the hope for Palestine, these people who find joy in their work with their own people, helping them in small important ways. The more of them there are, the more Palestine will advance and the more difficult it will be for people in the West to ignore it, to be unaware or pretend to be unaware that Palestine exists.
I'll include photos in the next blog. I left my camera in Sulayma's car! We'll get it tomorrow.
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