Trip: Part 8

The National Orthodox Kindergarten is located in a densely populated, low-income neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh in Amman.  Many of the people in the neighborhood are refugees some from Palestine from 1948 and 1967, or refugees from Iraq, Sudan and Egypt.  MCC is supporting updating educational resources and enhancing professional development for teachers and parents.

We met with the Kindergarten principal - yes a principal for just the Kindergarten.  

 Cindy, Nada and James

 This is the current library for the Kindergarten classes, they would like to incorporate small libraries into each classroom in the near future.

 These little guys were making worms for me - as fast as they could!

Our last Global Family partner visit was to the Arab Episcopal School in Irbid, Jordan.  

 They provide one-on-one teaching for blind and low-vision students starting in preschool through 10th grade.  The government schools will not accept blind or low-vision students, so this school accepts them and fully integrates them in with regular-sighted kids.

 Jordan is 98% Muslim and only 2% Christian, the school is a Christian school but they welcome everyone giving a Christian witness in a Muslim country.

 They currently have 42 blind students in the school.  They teach the blind students Braille and they have a machine that makes Braille worksheets and tests for the blind students to use. The machine is called the Peacemaker - isn't that interesting?

We watched a student write out a greeting in Braille and 

 then the teacher read it for us.  It's not uncommon in the US to have a blind child integrated into a regular classroom, so I had to remind myself how this school was doing things so much different then their government would.

Trip: Part 7

MCC has partnered with the Latin Patriarchate School in Zababdeh for 30 years.  It was clear to us that a lot of good things are happening at the school.  It's the only church related school in the northern part of the West Bank and they teach children from Kindergarten through grade 12.  They have 900 students and they're a mix of Christians and Muslims.  They emphasize creating a spirit of friendship between students and staff and they don't have trouble with violence.

We spent some time hanging out with students during their recess.  

 The teachers in our group said that 7th grade boys are the same no matter what part of the world they  live in.

 Dance is a part of their regular curriculum.  These students were practicing a traditional dance that symbolized cooperation and volunteerism.

 Being in the Kindergarten classrooms made me miss Noah and Levi so much I had to work hard at holding back my tears.

The school served us an amazing grilled chicken and bread lunch with lots of salads and humus and fruit for desert.

We traveled back to Jordan - experienced another 4 hour border crossing and then visited the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Salt, Jordan. 

We met Brent Stutzman and Mohammed.  Mohammed has no sight and is also deaf so he communicates through Arabic touch sign language.  It was fascinating to watch how independent and capable and confident Mohammed is.  

 The deaf blind unit started in 2001 and has since expanded.  It was interesting to realize that in Jordan they have been educating deaf blind children for only 10 or 11 years.  In comparison, the US has been working at it for 50 years and so there's a big difference culturally and what kind of training is available for teachers, too.

 The teachers provided one on one education during the day and many students stay in the boarding house at the school.

It was fascinating and encouraging and humbling to see the students (ages 3-19) work at learning about this outside world they can't see or hear.

Trip: Part 6 Host Home

For two nights in Bethlehem, Mimi and I stayed in this host home.  Our hosts were John and Giselle Lama.  They have two children at home, but we only met Nisrim their daughter.  Such a lovely family. 

John took us down the driveway to his cousin's house who produces olive wood carvings.  It was interesting to see their second floor bedroom-sized workshop.

The lemon trees outside the house were beautiful,

and Giselle made some of the most delicious lemonade I've ever tasted.

Check out their long, narrow, concrete wall lined driveway.  They have family members living in all the houses around them.  With a little bit of imagination and simplification, it felt a bit like my own current living situation.

Mimi and I stayed in the apartment on the first floor of John and Giselle's house - which is fully furnished for one of their older sons to move into someday down the road.  John and Giselle, Nisrim and her brother all live on the second floor and the third floor is being finished out for another son to live in.
Giselle cooked us amazing meals.  The first night she prepared Wrak dawaly (rice and meat wrapped in grape leaves - leaves from their yard), mahshi (a hollowed out small green squash stuffed with meat and rice), beitingan (a hollowed out small egg plant stuffed with rice and meat) and some homemade pastries, lettuce, purple cabbage salad and fresh squeezed lemonade (from their lemon tree). And, I had Giselle and Nasrim spell all the names of the food out for me, because I never would have spelled them correctly on my own.  

Each morning she filled the table with options for our breakfast.  We had black tea with sage in it, scrambled eggs the size of our plate, fresh bread, spreads of all sorts for the bread and falafel.

Being in a host home was sincerely humbling and one of the best learning experiences for me.  The family was on day 18 without water when we left their house.  They have tanks on their roof so they had water to use, but the water in the tanks will run out at some point, too.  They served us their best food and lots and lots and lots of it.  Giselle was so hospitable and John was real with us.  He told us that in two years they likely won't be there anymore - the Israeli settlements will be there instead.  I hope he's not right.

Trip: Part 5

The next day we got back to visiting MCC Global Family partners.  It certainly was a full day, visiting three partners in one day was almost more then we could take in but the people we met and the work they are doing is amazing.  

In the village of Beit Sahour, just outside of Bethlehem, we visited the Al-Malath Society.   In Arabic, Al-Malath means "refuge". They serve youth with metal and physical disabilities.  

 Al-Malath was started by two mom's who have children with disabilities and realized the lack of care and training for youth with disabilities.  At Al-Malath they have physical and occupational therapy, music (shown below), life skills (keeping house, grooming, etc.), cooking (the youth help to make lunch each day), arts and crafts and gardening (shown two pictures below).

 The students were engaged and learning and we could see how meaningful their learnings at Al-Malath were to them.  The women who started the school would like to expand from the house they currently use to a large facility where they could engage more youth and have a workshop to employ them.  MCC Global Family supports this program in part because of the potential it has to change the communities mindset toward people with disabilities.

 Next up, Lajee Center (lajee means "refugee" in Arabic) was established in Aida Refugee Camp in April 2000 by a group of 11 young people from the Camp who wanted to serve the community.  Lajee is a community-based grassroots creative cultural center that works with new generations of Palestinians as they continue their ongoing struggle for justice and rights for Palestine and all Palestinians.

 The Aida Camp is one of three refugee camps in Bethlehem. Prior to our visit Aida Refugee Camp, I had failed to realize what a refugee camp would look like.  Camp = tents, something non-permanent.  Wrong.

 Salah Ajarma helped to start the Lajee Center is the current director.  He was born in Aida camp and has lived there his entire life.  He shared his story with us and filled us in on what life in camp is like.

 The camp is 60,000 sq. meters (or .2 sq. miles) and 5,000 people live in it. In 1948, the United Nations created the camp when 21 Palestinian villages were destroyed.  The UN created the camp as a temporary fix assuming it would two or three weeks before the people could go back home.

 They started out in 12m by 6m tens that were split in half to house two families.  Salah's grandmother lived in a tent for six years. Here are my verbatim notes from Salah sharing with us:
-1948-1956 people lived in tents
- Sometimes women had to walk for three hours to get water
-Always waiting for the international community to solve the refugee problem.
-Camp has 2 schools, one inside for boys and one outside for girls, they're very crowded and students go in shifts - one in the morning and another in the afternoon
- No clinic in the camp, one clinic in Bethlehem for refugees
- Camp has kept at a population of 5000 for many years now.

 This is one of the schools at the camp.  If you click on the photo so you can see it better, you'll find the bullet holes in the blue doors left by Israeli soldiers who shot at the school.

 Mohammad, a young man from the camp gave us a tour and when we got to the wall with the guard tower looming over the camp and nearby school, I asked him if there were actually guards in the tower.  He said, "Sometimes, we never know and you can't see through the dark windows to find out."

 From the roof of the Lajee Center we looked down on the park space the center is renting with plans to purchase.  It's the only green space in the camp, the only place children can run and play without being in a street or on concrete.

 Our third MCC visit of the day was done via Skype since we couldn't get into the Gaza Strip for an in-person visit.  We met two students at the Culture and Free Thought Association in Khan Younis, Gaza.   They work with kids ages 6-12 years old through art, theater, media, sports and more.  They encourage the kids to be in charge of all activities and the children run the summer camps (with adult supervision).  It seemed like an amazing way to teach leadership and life skills all while having a great time.

 This is Ahlam, age 11, she spoke with such confidence and hope for her future.  She most enjoys working on computers while she's at the center.  She won the student election to be in charge of the summer camp this year so now she goes around asking the kids about what food, toys, activities they want and she works with the teachers to make it happen. She dreams of being a teacher.

 And this is Farah, age 11 as well. If the center wasn't available she'd have to stay home and care for her younger brothers.  She said she used to be shy and wouldn't talk to people and now she's confident and not shy.  She loves learning English, Islamic religions, hates science and doesn't like math.  She dreams of being a doctor.

 Basam, who works for MCC Palestine worked hard interpreting the entire Skype call and did a great job helping us communicate with the girls.

 The girls just amazed me.  Such confidence, such strength, such joy in their smiles and expressions. I hope their dreams become their realities.

The girls asked that the following message be sent to children in the US and Canada - they'd like the siege lifted, rights, free to play and they'd like others to hear their voices.

Trip: Part 4

Sunday: woke up in Bethlehem (I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually IN Bethlehem! It was crazy.) and spent most of the day in East Jerusalem, in the Old City.  East Jerusalem is in the West Bank, yet Palestinians from Bethlehem have to get special permission from the Israeli government to go to Jerusalem and they're only about 6 miles apart (according to my google search). Here's the outside of our hotel in Bethlehem, the Alexander Hotel.

We drove to Jerusalem and attended the English speaking service at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.  I thoroughly enjoyed the simple church service and singing with the congregation.  We participated in communion which felt good to me.  I'm not sure if it was simply the fact that I was in Jerusalem, walking where Jesus might have walked, or that in light of all the injustices we'd seen so far, that God is still a loving God who sent his Son to live on this earth and die for our sins.  Maybe it was just that I needed to be grounded to that truth and to be in a church that felt similar to my usual Sunday worship while nothing else around me looked or felt like home.

After church we met up with a tour guide who explained the four sections of the Old City and how few Christians still live there and gave us lots of interesting facts.

The streets in the old city are actually what we would consider stone sidewalks.

 They're not big enough for vehicles to travel and many are lined on both sides with vendors selling daily necessities (meat, spices, fruit, vegetables, clothing, toiletries, etc.) to souvenir shops and olive wood shops and little cafes.  It was wonderful and very, very crowded

Our guide led us to the Church of Holy Sepulchre.

It is said to be built on the sites where Jesus died, was buried in the tomb and where he ascended into Heaven.  The inside of this building, as was the Church of the Nativity, was packed with people from all over the world.  Below is the small building inside the large dome that covers the spot where the cave is that Jesus was buried in.  

Below are the three holes in a wall of rock.  It is believed that the center hole held Jesus' cross the night he died.  It was hard for me to believe the exactness of all these locations and the building was literally crawling with people.  I feel like I saw the place, but I don't think I managed to take in the space.  The whole time I kept thinking, "Did Jesus really die here?  Did Jesus walk here?"

The Dome of the Rock is a Muslim shrine that is right next to the Western Wall.  We weren't there during the hours that Christians are allowed to visit, so we only saw it from a distance.

The Western Wall is a holy Jewish site.  It's a much larger wall than I was expecting and was pretty remarkable.

  

This lone poppy was near the security line we had to go through to get to the wall.

Below is a wide shot of the wall.  On the right is the walkway to the Dome of the Rock.

It is said to be such a holy site that you are to wash your hands before touching it, cover your head and not turn your back when you walk away from it.

Damascus Gate, one of the gates into the Old City

That's my roommate Mimi, she and I made a pretty good pair.

That evening we drove to Ramallah for dinner at the Quaker Friends Meeting House.  We met Kathy Bergen, a former MCCer who now works and lives at the Meeting House.  She served us a wonderful meal and it was great to learn about her work in Ramallah.

Since I documented our hotel room in Amman, here's the room Mimi and I shared in Bethlehem at the Alexander hotel.

And the view out our window to the street below.  That night there was a huge explosion of sound when some team won some soccer game.  There were people out in the street right outside our hotel yelling, screaming, setting off fireworks, spinning doughnuts with their cars for several hours until the police finally showed up to shew them home.  That certainly was interesting to watch when I would have rather been sleeping.