Letter from Palestine, 5. Jericho.
2nd October 2004
Dear friends!
The last week has been busy, I didn’t even manage to write the letter yesterday... Times are changing, from the boring week last week, to enough programmes this week. Thanks for good ideas and tasks I got after last letter. It was probably what also made me get something to do here. Monday I got the message that they were ready to receive me in Jericho. I was meant to be in Ramallah, but now they found it superfluous as two other volunteers will stay there for three months. In Jericho everything goes faster it seems, at least it did not take long time before a place to live and a programme was ready. So I went to Jericho last Tuesday and came back yesterday.
It has been a bit confusing to travel between Jerusalem and the West Bank these days. In Israel, and also in East Jerusalem, they changed to winter time last week. The Palestinians in the West Bank, though, did not change it before Thursday. It is probably a symbol showing that “they can not take our time”. As the idealist I am, I let the time be Palestinian, also in Jerusalem. But I did not meet an hour too early at everything. There was a limit. Anyway, I felt that I always had enough time, an hour extra, that might have been a reason for the boring time last week…
The first thing meeting me in Jericho, is the heat. The skin becomes shiny and nice, at least if you like a constant sticky feeling on the neck (I don’t like it). I have compared a little with Bangladesh earlier, but Jericho is the closest I have come. (For those of you who have not known me so long, I can tell that I spent 5 months in Bangladesh four years ago.)
1. It is warm.
2. It is clammy.
3. It is hot water in the cold water tap.
4. It is hazy.
5. There are fans everywhere.
6. It is difficult to sleep at night.
7. It is flat.
8. It is low (yes, Jericho is lower than Bangladesh, with its about 300 metres under sea level compared to Bangladesh with about 5 metres over sea level).
My host family consists of Marcel, who works at YWCA, and her mother Hilda. I have got a clear message that this is my home, and they expect me to feel comfortable. I have started to know the Arabic soaps on TV (the TV is on about 16 ½ hours a day) and I know where I find water and fruit. The closest streets are also known to me now and I have found the sycamore tree where Saccheus sat (or it is at least a sycamore tree which might be 2000 years old, and it has a sign with a funny English text remembering Saccheus).
Marcel works at YWCA, at the food production programme making Jericho the branch managing its own finances the best. The working day is from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Then she goes home for a few hours rest before she works in a cosmetic store from 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM. Friday she has holiday from YWCA. Sunday is her holiday from both YWCA and the cosmetic store. I assisted with some of the food production, and tasted some of the result, which was very good! Now is the season for dates, and so many of the products are made of dates. They make dates with nuts, which the Muslims eat when they break the fast by sunset in Ramadan. They also make a date mass for cakes. Marcel did the grinding. The others stirred, formed and packed in plastic, and I managed the vacuum machine.
I have also spent some time in the kindergarten YWCA runs in the refugee camp Aqbet Jaber. They have one class for four-year-olds, and two classes for five-year-olds. The oldest had already learnt the Arabic alphabet, and had now started the English. Wednesday was the day of the letter B, and I was lucky to draw 30 big capital Bs and books, to be coloured. The kindergarten has a nice area outside with a playground where the children are as eager to dig the sand as Norwegian children are.
The last challenge I got, was to lead two youth groups (12-16 years) on Friday. Samah, the youth leader, attends a conference in Sweden, so the meetings were cancelled, but when they understood that I could lead the meetings, the youth were contacted again. Samah was in Norway last summer, and I wonder if the youth had already come to know some Norwegian games from her. They took initiative to play well-known Norwegian Ten Sing games like the “white socks game” and the “blinking game”.
This is how it is when work has at last started. I could have written many things this time, but it is long enough. I could have written about the situation in Gaza. But I don’t know much more than what I read on the Internet. For those who are interested in more information than what you get through the Norwegian media, I can recommend http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
I could have written about the international observers from Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron, who were attacked by Israeli settlers and now are in hospital. I could also have written about the sad numbers summing up the four years of the Intifada. You will probably hear more about this later. Now these are stories I have heard, I need to digest them.
Warm greetings from Hanne (it is a heat wave in Jerusalem too these days).
Dear friends!
The last week has been busy, I didn’t even manage to write the letter yesterday... Times are changing, from the boring week last week, to enough programmes this week. Thanks for good ideas and tasks I got after last letter. It was probably what also made me get something to do here. Monday I got the message that they were ready to receive me in Jericho. I was meant to be in Ramallah, but now they found it superfluous as two other volunteers will stay there for three months. In Jericho everything goes faster it seems, at least it did not take long time before a place to live and a programme was ready. So I went to Jericho last Tuesday and came back yesterday.
It has been a bit confusing to travel between Jerusalem and the West Bank these days. In Israel, and also in East Jerusalem, they changed to winter time last week. The Palestinians in the West Bank, though, did not change it before Thursday. It is probably a symbol showing that “they can not take our time”. As the idealist I am, I let the time be Palestinian, also in Jerusalem. But I did not meet an hour too early at everything. There was a limit. Anyway, I felt that I always had enough time, an hour extra, that might have been a reason for the boring time last week…
The first thing meeting me in Jericho, is the heat. The skin becomes shiny and nice, at least if you like a constant sticky feeling on the neck (I don’t like it). I have compared a little with Bangladesh earlier, but Jericho is the closest I have come. (For those of you who have not known me so long, I can tell that I spent 5 months in Bangladesh four years ago.)
1. It is warm.
2. It is clammy.
3. It is hot water in the cold water tap.
4. It is hazy.
5. There are fans everywhere.
6. It is difficult to sleep at night.
7. It is flat.
8. It is low (yes, Jericho is lower than Bangladesh, with its about 300 metres under sea level compared to Bangladesh with about 5 metres over sea level).
My host family consists of Marcel, who works at YWCA, and her mother Hilda. I have got a clear message that this is my home, and they expect me to feel comfortable. I have started to know the Arabic soaps on TV (the TV is on about 16 ½ hours a day) and I know where I find water and fruit. The closest streets are also known to me now and I have found the sycamore tree where Saccheus sat (or it is at least a sycamore tree which might be 2000 years old, and it has a sign with a funny English text remembering Saccheus).
Marcel works at YWCA, at the food production programme making Jericho the branch managing its own finances the best. The working day is from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Then she goes home for a few hours rest before she works in a cosmetic store from 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM. Friday she has holiday from YWCA. Sunday is her holiday from both YWCA and the cosmetic store. I assisted with some of the food production, and tasted some of the result, which was very good! Now is the season for dates, and so many of the products are made of dates. They make dates with nuts, which the Muslims eat when they break the fast by sunset in Ramadan. They also make a date mass for cakes. Marcel did the grinding. The others stirred, formed and packed in plastic, and I managed the vacuum machine.
I have also spent some time in the kindergarten YWCA runs in the refugee camp Aqbet Jaber. They have one class for four-year-olds, and two classes for five-year-olds. The oldest had already learnt the Arabic alphabet, and had now started the English. Wednesday was the day of the letter B, and I was lucky to draw 30 big capital Bs and books, to be coloured. The kindergarten has a nice area outside with a playground where the children are as eager to dig the sand as Norwegian children are.
The last challenge I got, was to lead two youth groups (12-16 years) on Friday. Samah, the youth leader, attends a conference in Sweden, so the meetings were cancelled, but when they understood that I could lead the meetings, the youth were contacted again. Samah was in Norway last summer, and I wonder if the youth had already come to know some Norwegian games from her. They took initiative to play well-known Norwegian Ten Sing games like the “white socks game” and the “blinking game”.
This is how it is when work has at last started. I could have written many things this time, but it is long enough. I could have written about the situation in Gaza. But I don’t know much more than what I read on the Internet. For those who are interested in more information than what you get through the Norwegian media, I can recommend http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
I could have written about the international observers from Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron, who were attacked by Israeli settlers and now are in hospital. I could also have written about the sad numbers summing up the four years of the Intifada. You will probably hear more about this later. Now these are stories I have heard, I need to digest them.
Warm greetings from Hanne (it is a heat wave in Jerusalem too these days).
posted by Hanne at 7:47 AM
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