Al-Mustaqbal and New Askhar for Dinner

Today was a public holiday so the office was closed. The reason for this was today is a religious celebration of the time when Allah took Muhammed from Mecca to Jerusalem and then up to Heaven. It is the reason why muslims pray five times a day but though important it doesn't have the same spectacular scenes that would be witnessed here during Eid. It is more a time for quiet reflection. Classes were not on today but I offered to go to Al-Mustaqbal (The Palestinian Society for Development and Democracy) as I will be attending a conference with them tomorrow at An-Najah University. Neema the lady that I spent most of the day working with invited me to dinner at her home with her family.

Despite having been here before I was quite shocked when she said she lived in New Askhar camp. I seemed to expect her to live in a wealthier part of the city. So there's stereotype number one. Knowing what the camp looks like from the approach in a taxi I was expecting the house to be pretty run down and dilapidated. Stereotype number two. From the outside it looked like every other breeze block building, going through the front door was a Narnia type moment- the rooms were well furnished, beautifully decorated and very spacious. Apart from the pictures of Arafat and Saddam I could have been anywhere.

The meal we had was amazing, Diwarli- rice wrapped up with leaves with aubergines, chicken and yoghurt followed by more Kunaffa (too much is never enough)and something else equally sweet. I'm surprised these people have any teeth at all what with their sugar and coffee and sugar mixed with tea! Though I could understand little of the Arabic conversation I was surprised at how similar this famiy meal was to how it would be at home. As soon as we arrived the mother was still clearing and tidying though it was perfectly tidy, the emergency chairs were brought out, the youngest child was being cute and getting all of the attention whilst the second youngest was sulking because she wasn't, the men were all being pretty useless and the eldest sons were doing their best to keep out of the way.

Though I couldn't understand the talk I do like the way everyone here sits down to eat together. Even at the office everyone stopped work to sit together and eat breakfast which is always shared and never an individual thing. After the meal everyone sat talking for a couple of hours. This has to be one of the most surreal experiences of my life. The discussion centred around fate and if it's possible to change your destiny and also the difference between the self and the soul! With arguments based upon religion to Shakespeare. Everyone argued passionately regardless of gender or age and everyone joined in (me on a very small scale in English). So perhaps this is why the children are seemingly so well educated and articulate. The littlest children were still present as the discussion went on. Exposure to this sort of higher order thinking cannot fail to make an impression upon a child. It certainly beats all sitting around a box watching something meaningless because 'it's on'.

I suppose I initially came here because I felt sorry for the people and that me being a well off, well educated capable individual from a rich country I could come here and solve their problems. This now strikes me as absurd and I feel a bit ashamed of myself. I know that I can have an impact upon the children here and that by delivering fun, engaging lessons can take them away from the reality of their situation even if it's just for one hour but I no longer feel superior because of my western background and in many ways I am humbled by the people here. They achieve so much and remain positive in the face of terrible adversity. As one guy commented this evening- him being such a hero he took on a whole platoon of IDF soldiers, he smashed the boots of everyone of them with his face. A joke but still fairly typical. The fact that this joke can be made and laughed at shows real character.

I feel especially out of my depth here when it comes to languages and have known for a long time it is something I have needed to rectify. In the UK it isn't a problem. I can become successful without ever learning another language. Here though the way everyone switches between French and English and Arabic leaves me feeling that I have something missing and equally that I am missing out. I was looking at a school in Morocco today that delivers intensive Arabic courses over the summer so perhaps that's what I'll be doing this time next year.