Today I remembered that the cleaners would be coming so when I woke up I got up. I had already decided that I would use the morning to visit an organisation I had worked for last year so getting up early wasn't a big deal. Unfortunately the rain was hammering down from the sky and pouring down the street. Nablus being in the middle of two hills makes for an interesting time when it does rain. I waited a while for it to ease off and managed to come up with lots of ideas for things I could do in Palestine in the future whilst I waited. I still feel that I have a lot to offer the place and could do many things of benefit here. Throughout the morning and up until writing this I have been mapping out the possibilities and seriously believe that I could create an NGO that could work here. Though this would be a task of epic proportions it is not impossible and a great deal could be accomplished. I don't want this to be a flash in the pan idea nor just a momentary burst of enthusiasm. I have stated how I now have a connection to this place and view it as a sort of addiction. What I would like to achieve would take many years and a lot of hard work but I am convinced it is possible. It would require me joining up a lot of the activities that I already do to make them compliment and benefit one another. Otherwise I will be continually doing lots of things badly rather than making any real difference anywhere. I wanted to put my initial ideas down here without going into too much detail so as to remind myself when I look back on my trip what it was that I wanted to come out of it.
I braved the rain before I should and got a lot of strange looks from many baffled Palestinians. They obviously knew that the rain would not last long and that it would be a better idea to wait rather than get drenched. Water was pouring down the slope of a road I was on like a river and sets of stairs had now become spectacular waterfalls. It stopped as I was about half way to my destination by which time I was suitably soaked.
I have visited this NGO every time I have visited Nablus and wanted to say hello even though I have done no work for them this time. I wouldn't have felt right visiting the city but not calling in at least. Everyone was as pleased to see me as I was to see them and everyone looked pretty much the same as last time, including myself. The only change was the office baby who is now a beautiful little girl.
After talking for a while one of the new staff asked if I would like to see the computer suite. It was only when I got to the room that I realised its significance. This suite was the result of a bid I had helped the staff to write last year. So though many bids and grant proposals had come to nothing here was proof that it is possible! The room itself is spectacular with new PC's, a projector and whiteboard and complete redesign and decoration. The NGO has now delivered the programmes as part of the obligations required by the bid and is now free to use the room and computers as they wish. This is fantastic news all round and I am glad to have been a small part of it.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Radio Interview
I left in plenty of time to get to An-Najah University, it's just a short walk from Project Hope, though I wasn't convinced I would be inside the gates on time. When I tried to go there with my students on Saturday we had been told only myself and one student were permitted to enter. Security is always tight and you walk past security guards and metal detectors on the way in. That wan't the problem though. The difficulty was trying to explain to the guys on the gate why I was there and who I wanted to see. I showed them a business card but this was of course in English and I wasn't having much success explaining in Arabic. They phoned through to the main reception and handed me the phone. The first person I spoke to didn't speak English so passed me on to someone else and the second had no idea who the person I was trying to meet was. I had a flash of inspiration and asked if I could borrow the phone to ring the professor's mobile. Instead one of the guards used his mobile to phone and gave it to me when there was an answer. Two minutes later the professor arrived and he was laughing and joking with the guys on the gate.
I have talked about the professor before and shown videos of his testimony about the death of his mother when he himself was shot:
http://lifeunderoccupation.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/25/
Considering what he has been through he is a remarkably cheerful character. As we walk through the university he is like a whirlwind shaking hands and speaking to everyone. I have a lot of respect for him and am glad to be able to speak on his radio show. Knowing that he has read my blog before I should be careful what I write!
The show itself went well and will be broadcast in Nablus and on line (http://www.najah.edu/index.php?page=2079&lang=en) two weeks today. Lasting for about half an hour myself and another PH volunteer chatted with the professor about life in Nablus and life back home. The show is called global perspectives and hopes to provide a window to the outside world. I spoke mainly about human rights and we talked about me doing a seminar for the students at the university in the future. I would love to do this and it made a nice change to speak with someone who knows what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is and believes in its power. I hope to keep in touch with the university and return at a later date to do some work there. Maybe this will become easier with the introduction of low cost flights to Tel Aviv. Coming here to spend a few days at An-Najah would be much more viable.
Another group who believe in human rights are the Shia women of Afghanistan. They are clearly paying attention to my blog and my new found belief in universal human rights. They don't subscribe to cultural relativism as espoused by the powerful clerics who claim to speak for them:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/04/2009415121510610460.html
Very brave women indeed.
I am very glad that I came here even though it was for such a short time. I've learnt a lot from being in Nablus again and I've managed to do some useful stuff. Tomorrow will be my last day in the city as I leave it for the third time! I'm not sure when I will be back again but I'm sure that I will be. Palestine is very important to me and as I said in the radio interview I think that I am addicted to the place now. This isn't necessarily a good thing as the addiction is a true one. It has its highs and lows. I find it very depressing to be here but also uplifting at the same time. There are plenty worse things I could be addicted to.
I have talked about the professor before and shown videos of his testimony about the death of his mother when he himself was shot:
http://lifeunderoccupation.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/25/
Considering what he has been through he is a remarkably cheerful character. As we walk through the university he is like a whirlwind shaking hands and speaking to everyone. I have a lot of respect for him and am glad to be able to speak on his radio show. Knowing that he has read my blog before I should be careful what I write!
The show itself went well and will be broadcast in Nablus and on line (http://www.najah.edu/index.php?page=2079&lang=en) two weeks today. Lasting for about half an hour myself and another PH volunteer chatted with the professor about life in Nablus and life back home. The show is called global perspectives and hopes to provide a window to the outside world. I spoke mainly about human rights and we talked about me doing a seminar for the students at the university in the future. I would love to do this and it made a nice change to speak with someone who knows what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is and believes in its power. I hope to keep in touch with the university and return at a later date to do some work there. Maybe this will become easier with the introduction of low cost flights to Tel Aviv. Coming here to spend a few days at An-Najah would be much more viable.
Another group who believe in human rights are the Shia women of Afghanistan. They are clearly paying attention to my blog and my new found belief in universal human rights. They don't subscribe to cultural relativism as espoused by the powerful clerics who claim to speak for them:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/04/2009415121510610460.html
Very brave women indeed.
I am very glad that I came here even though it was for such a short time. I've learnt a lot from being in Nablus again and I've managed to do some useful stuff. Tomorrow will be my last day in the city as I leave it for the third time! I'm not sure when I will be back again but I'm sure that I will be. Palestine is very important to me and as I said in the radio interview I think that I am addicted to the place now. This isn't necessarily a good thing as the addiction is a true one. It has its highs and lows. I find it very depressing to be here but also uplifting at the same time. There are plenty worse things I could be addicted to.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Drinking Tea in Al-Ein Camp
After writing and publicly ackowledging my procrastination yesterday I had a sudden burst of enthusiasm and managed to complete the majority of my essay. I have in all honesty found it an interesting topic that has made me think deeply about what I believe. Being here whilst writing it has also added something to the discussion. When I first began studying human rights my ideals were shattered and I was left with very little hope. We were told we would be broken down and (hopefully) built back up again. I'm not sure if the course has built my belief in human rights back up again but being here most certainly has. When people here ask me what I do and I mention human rights they seem to have an immediate respect. Perhaps those that dimiss them so easily are those that don't know what it feels like not to have them. I hate how the term 'human rights' has become a dirty phrase in the UK as if treating people with a certain level of respect because they are human beings is somehow wrong. Obviously lawyers will try to use whatever tools are at their disposal to win their clients case and twist the truth but that doesn't necessarilly mean there is anything wrong with the tool itself. I now believe more strongly in human rights than ever because I believe that there are some values that are common to all people and regardless of the culture or circumstances never change. I think those that argue for state sovereignty and not interfering with this are missing the point as it is often the powerful who speak for cultures and impose their will on others. Have the Shia women in Afghanistan been asked if they would like a law to be passed that allows there husbands to rape them?Further to this when does one culture start and another begin?
Getting back to reality instead of the abstract... my advanced class today was a little disheartening as I only had two students (plus one who showed up about ten minutes before the end of the 2hr session, why I'll never know). I decided I would still do the class anyway as the two had waited 20min to see if anyone else would show and I didn't just want to send them away. It went quite well in the end and I managed to modify what I was doing enough so as to give the pair a worthwhile English lesson. After we had finished I was expecting an evening of doing little in the Project Hope flat. My friend from Friday emailed (I haven't brought a phone...) and asked if I would like to meet him in the city. (I still refrain from naming people as I don't feel the need. Were the individuals concerned to read this blog they would recognise themselves without needing to see their names).
We walked around aimlessly for a bit and talked until our conversation got round to Al-Ein camp. I hadn't been there before though it had seen it on a teachers TV programme back home. Never having been meant of course that we would have to go. Firstly we would call at the house of some of the other students that I taught during the summer and who I will meet up with on Thursday. They were both well and it was nice to catch up and talk about how Nablus has changed in the past year. It's much quieter here now than it was before. We also talked about football and it was a little old being told by a Palestinian what is happening in the UK. After this we went for an ice cream and made our way towards Al-Ein.
It is a very small camp that can be seen from the window of Project Hope. The organisation doesn't do any work there as the committees tend to be less organised than in the other camps. Sometimes no one shows up for a class, sometimes far too many. I hadn't realised quite how small the camp is. Everything about it is small from the area it covers to the gaps between the houses. Cars cannot drive into the camp like they can at Askhar for example. The alleyways being just about wide enough for two people abreast at the widest point. The walls are riddled with bullet holes and the camp itself is a maze of these narrow alleyways. My friend always has a friend that we need to meet wherever we go and here was no exception. This time however he had neither his phone number or knew where he lived. No problem. A few conversations with the various people hanging around and before we knew it we were at his house in the centre of the maze. I feel very lucky to have spent the evening I have with the people I have. On my own I could never have just wandered around the place and if I did it would be a pretty pointless endeavour.
We were welcomed into the home and soon sat down drinking and talking. If I could show pictures of the inside of homes in the camps compared to pictures of outside no one would ever accept they are of the same place. The outside drab, grey, concrete the inside bright, colourful clean. I have not yet been into a home that wasn't like this. On the wall was a spectacular picture of a man. This was our guests brother who died when the building he was in was attacked by rockets from an apache helicopter. 6 others also died inside and 2 children outside. My host lost part of his fingers and has burns all over his body. He had another brother who was killed just outside of where we were sitting. As we leave he shows me the bullet hole in the wall and a picture of his brother at his funeral on his phone. He too had been a fighter and spent years in and out of the prisons.
On the way back I ask my friend about the fighters. Have they all gone? Why don't they fight anymore? The main reason he replies is the police they pick people up for any minor misdemeanour to get them off the streets. People here are also tired of the Fatah/ Hamas split. Why bother to be a fighter if you will be fighting amongst yourselves rather than the Occupation? I also learn that the IOF when they invade the camps regularly pick up males between 16-18. It is possible that this age group are the most likely to be reckless and throw stones at the soldiers but it is more likely that they want to scare the youngsters before they have a chance to become fighters. They want them to know that they know where the live and what they are up to.
All of this is frustrating but the most frustrating thing is not being able to leave Palestine. Many of the people I speak to love the place but wish they could leave if only for a few years just to have a break from being continually ground down. I have an idea what that feels like being here myself but this doesn't come close to being born here and spending my entire life here like many of the residents do. I'm starting to realise that I have placed myself into a catch-22 situation by coming here. I do not wish that I had never come. I am glad that I have seen things for myself but now that I know people and the situation I will never be able to escape from it. It will never not bother me as long as things don't improve. The status quo is as heartbreaking as an invasion would be. The options here are be painfully, slowly strangled to death or be killed instantly by massive force. I no longer know what the best contribution I can make is. Teach more English so more people can leave? That won't help. Get people out of Palestine to the UK? Tell more people about the situation here? Everytime I come here someone is making a film about the place.
Nevertheless I am looking forward to tomorrow. The radio interview were I get to talk about human rights will be fun. The host is an interesting character and I'm sure we will have a good discussion. As for my class... I have no idea yet. I doubt many will show up and if they do I doubt I will get them to do very much. Kafka could have written loads about this place.
Getting back to reality instead of the abstract... my advanced class today was a little disheartening as I only had two students (plus one who showed up about ten minutes before the end of the 2hr session, why I'll never know). I decided I would still do the class anyway as the two had waited 20min to see if anyone else would show and I didn't just want to send them away. It went quite well in the end and I managed to modify what I was doing enough so as to give the pair a worthwhile English lesson. After we had finished I was expecting an evening of doing little in the Project Hope flat. My friend from Friday emailed (I haven't brought a phone...) and asked if I would like to meet him in the city. (I still refrain from naming people as I don't feel the need. Were the individuals concerned to read this blog they would recognise themselves without needing to see their names).
We walked around aimlessly for a bit and talked until our conversation got round to Al-Ein camp. I hadn't been there before though it had seen it on a teachers TV programme back home. Never having been meant of course that we would have to go. Firstly we would call at the house of some of the other students that I taught during the summer and who I will meet up with on Thursday. They were both well and it was nice to catch up and talk about how Nablus has changed in the past year. It's much quieter here now than it was before. We also talked about football and it was a little old being told by a Palestinian what is happening in the UK. After this we went for an ice cream and made our way towards Al-Ein.
It is a very small camp that can be seen from the window of Project Hope. The organisation doesn't do any work there as the committees tend to be less organised than in the other camps. Sometimes no one shows up for a class, sometimes far too many. I hadn't realised quite how small the camp is. Everything about it is small from the area it covers to the gaps between the houses. Cars cannot drive into the camp like they can at Askhar for example. The alleyways being just about wide enough for two people abreast at the widest point. The walls are riddled with bullet holes and the camp itself is a maze of these narrow alleyways. My friend always has a friend that we need to meet wherever we go and here was no exception. This time however he had neither his phone number or knew where he lived. No problem. A few conversations with the various people hanging around and before we knew it we were at his house in the centre of the maze. I feel very lucky to have spent the evening I have with the people I have. On my own I could never have just wandered around the place and if I did it would be a pretty pointless endeavour.
We were welcomed into the home and soon sat down drinking and talking. If I could show pictures of the inside of homes in the camps compared to pictures of outside no one would ever accept they are of the same place. The outside drab, grey, concrete the inside bright, colourful clean. I have not yet been into a home that wasn't like this. On the wall was a spectacular picture of a man. This was our guests brother who died when the building he was in was attacked by rockets from an apache helicopter. 6 others also died inside and 2 children outside. My host lost part of his fingers and has burns all over his body. He had another brother who was killed just outside of where we were sitting. As we leave he shows me the bullet hole in the wall and a picture of his brother at his funeral on his phone. He too had been a fighter and spent years in and out of the prisons.
On the way back I ask my friend about the fighters. Have they all gone? Why don't they fight anymore? The main reason he replies is the police they pick people up for any minor misdemeanour to get them off the streets. People here are also tired of the Fatah/ Hamas split. Why bother to be a fighter if you will be fighting amongst yourselves rather than the Occupation? I also learn that the IOF when they invade the camps regularly pick up males between 16-18. It is possible that this age group are the most likely to be reckless and throw stones at the soldiers but it is more likely that they want to scare the youngsters before they have a chance to become fighters. They want them to know that they know where the live and what they are up to.
All of this is frustrating but the most frustrating thing is not being able to leave Palestine. Many of the people I speak to love the place but wish they could leave if only for a few years just to have a break from being continually ground down. I have an idea what that feels like being here myself but this doesn't come close to being born here and spending my entire life here like many of the residents do. I'm starting to realise that I have placed myself into a catch-22 situation by coming here. I do not wish that I had never come. I am glad that I have seen things for myself but now that I know people and the situation I will never be able to escape from it. It will never not bother me as long as things don't improve. The status quo is as heartbreaking as an invasion would be. The options here are be painfully, slowly strangled to death or be killed instantly by massive force. I no longer know what the best contribution I can make is. Teach more English so more people can leave? That won't help. Get people out of Palestine to the UK? Tell more people about the situation here? Everytime I come here someone is making a film about the place.
Nevertheless I am looking forward to tomorrow. The radio interview were I get to talk about human rights will be fun. The host is an interesting character and I'm sure we will have a good discussion. As for my class... I have no idea yet. I doubt many will show up and if they do I doubt I will get them to do very much. Kafka could have written loads about this place.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Essay not writing, like social notworking (howies)
Despite having lots of time on my hands I have still managed to procastinate enough to ensure that the essay I need to write remains unwritten. I teach for 2hrs a day so have only about 3hrs a day of required activity (planning the sessions, going there and back to the class). The worst part of all of this is that I have been thinking non stop about the issues raised by my essay title since I got here. I am supposed to critically evaluate the idea of cultural relativism versus universality when it comes to human rghts. To the uninitiated this is a fancy way of saying can we have rights that apply to everyone or do some rights only apply to certain people in certain places because of their local culture? This is a catch-22 argument when it comes to human rights as they are supposed to be both universal and pay attention to local customs!
In some ways I do think that people are people wherever they are in the world and that they should be entitled to basic human rights, 'by virtue of their humanity'. Take for instance the number of young males in Nablus driving modified cars. Yes a Yugo with a huge bonnet vent and racing seats is truly a sight to behold but the attitudes towards car modification- alloy wheels, bodykits, stickers are the same as in the UK. Just the cars are different, the young men are the same in terms of their attitudes.
The class I taught today was nothing to shout about. Last time I had 3 and this time 9 in body and probably 7 in mind. Just like at home some tried hard, some didn't. Some were interested and paying attention and some were clearly bored and not paying attention. My lack of Arabic language skills is really starting to frustrate me now. I feel that I have learnt most of what I can from the often superficial way I am interacting with people by talking in English. I have reached a barrier because I don't have the ability to confront people or challenge what they might be saying and when things have to be translated from Arabic to English the sense of the moment has gone. I also get the sense that the workers in the shops that I have visited on all three trips are starting to despair at my lack of progress in terms of my ability to communicate with them. Having spent 9 weeks of the last 52 here, almost 20% of my time during the last year this is very understandable. I would like to explore the city much more on my own but when I am alone I don't speak to anyone other than in a few words of English or very broken Arabic.
Being here for a third time does have some advantages though. The first time I was here I was in a daze and in awe of everything around me. I can see things much more clearly now and can compare the summer with being here at Easter. Being here now I seem to see children everywhere. I don't know if this is just because of the time I usually decide to go for a wander around the city or whether during the summer the children are elsewhere. I also notice a more work like atmosphere. The summer when the schools are out appears to be a time of winding down for everyone.
I am as guilty as anyone of talking about 'the Palestinians' as if they are one large homogenous group when clearly they are not. Today I learnt that it is prisoners day on Thursday. An annual gathering and show of solidarity. The guy who told me about this obviously believed it to be of great significance whilst someone else said they should be fighting not holding meetings. That's the problem when it comes to culture relativism. Rarely is it that case that all of the people in a given culture want the same things and even rarer that all are able to articulate their opinions about what the society wants. It is usually the powerful who do this. They speak for everyone else.
I will probably leave Nablus on Friday and stay in Jerusalem on Friday night. Friday is like Sunday here and everyone will be gone so there is little point sticking around. Also travelling from here to Jerusalem one day then Jerusalem to Tel Aviv the day after will help to break the trip up a bit. I am hoping to meet up on Thursday evening with the class I spent my last day in Nablus with during the summer. It will be nice to see them all again before I go back and a good end to my trip. If I return here again I think it will be to stay with a friend and I know I am very unlikely to return unless my Arabic has improved. Though I have shown my solidarity with the people here and made a contribution to the country by volunteering I would need to step up my efforts before I returned again. Otherwise it would be a little insulting.
Going back to my original point, the essay, I do think we can have universal human rights. Though 'they' may want a law in Afghanistan that permits marital rape I suspect that the 'they' who want it and argue that 'they' should left to be run 'their' own country are the men. And 'they' don't speak for everyone in the culture...
In some ways I do think that people are people wherever they are in the world and that they should be entitled to basic human rights, 'by virtue of their humanity'. Take for instance the number of young males in Nablus driving modified cars. Yes a Yugo with a huge bonnet vent and racing seats is truly a sight to behold but the attitudes towards car modification- alloy wheels, bodykits, stickers are the same as in the UK. Just the cars are different, the young men are the same in terms of their attitudes.
The class I taught today was nothing to shout about. Last time I had 3 and this time 9 in body and probably 7 in mind. Just like at home some tried hard, some didn't. Some were interested and paying attention and some were clearly bored and not paying attention. My lack of Arabic language skills is really starting to frustrate me now. I feel that I have learnt most of what I can from the often superficial way I am interacting with people by talking in English. I have reached a barrier because I don't have the ability to confront people or challenge what they might be saying and when things have to be translated from Arabic to English the sense of the moment has gone. I also get the sense that the workers in the shops that I have visited on all three trips are starting to despair at my lack of progress in terms of my ability to communicate with them. Having spent 9 weeks of the last 52 here, almost 20% of my time during the last year this is very understandable. I would like to explore the city much more on my own but when I am alone I don't speak to anyone other than in a few words of English or very broken Arabic.
Being here for a third time does have some advantages though. The first time I was here I was in a daze and in awe of everything around me. I can see things much more clearly now and can compare the summer with being here at Easter. Being here now I seem to see children everywhere. I don't know if this is just because of the time I usually decide to go for a wander around the city or whether during the summer the children are elsewhere. I also notice a more work like atmosphere. The summer when the schools are out appears to be a time of winding down for everyone.
I am as guilty as anyone of talking about 'the Palestinians' as if they are one large homogenous group when clearly they are not. Today I learnt that it is prisoners day on Thursday. An annual gathering and show of solidarity. The guy who told me about this obviously believed it to be of great significance whilst someone else said they should be fighting not holding meetings. That's the problem when it comes to culture relativism. Rarely is it that case that all of the people in a given culture want the same things and even rarer that all are able to articulate their opinions about what the society wants. It is usually the powerful who do this. They speak for everyone else.
I will probably leave Nablus on Friday and stay in Jerusalem on Friday night. Friday is like Sunday here and everyone will be gone so there is little point sticking around. Also travelling from here to Jerusalem one day then Jerusalem to Tel Aviv the day after will help to break the trip up a bit. I am hoping to meet up on Thursday evening with the class I spent my last day in Nablus with during the summer. It will be nice to see them all again before I go back and a good end to my trip. If I return here again I think it will be to stay with a friend and I know I am very unlikely to return unless my Arabic has improved. Though I have shown my solidarity with the people here and made a contribution to the country by volunteering I would need to step up my efforts before I returned again. Otherwise it would be a little insulting.
Going back to my original point, the essay, I do think we can have universal human rights. Though 'they' may want a law in Afghanistan that permits marital rape I suspect that the 'they' who want it and argue that 'they' should left to be run 'their' own country are the men. And 'they' don't speak for everyone in the culture...
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Frustration
Ok. First things first. What the hell is this:
http://teachingenglishabroad.quebecblogue.com/2009/04/09/andy-in-the-middle-east-the-comedians-mostly-teaching-english-abroad/
It's my blog entry from a few days ago but in a strange, attacked with a thesaurus, unintelligible mess. As if it has been translated from English into another language and then back to English. Why on earth would someone do that? I'm almost used to the unexpected here (will my class turn up, won't they...) but finding this in a search for Project Hope blogs has thrown me somewhat. Especially so considering that the orginial version doesn't appear in any searches! The annoying thing is that though this is largely unreadable it does possess some much better words than my attempt.
Today was quite slow and frustrating to start with. Not much was happening and a few of the comments from my Palestinian friends yesterday were starting to chip away at me. Nablus is supposed to be the centre of Palestinian resistance and as far as I can tell there isn't any. One of my friends remarked that if the IOF put a checkpoint in the centre of Nablus there would soon be people queing up behind it, no questions asked. I know it is very easy for me to make comments like this not having been here when there were tanks on the hills above and deaths everyday but it is still frustrating none the less. I have heard comments before about how some internationals are more Palestinian than the Palestinians and I'm starting to wonder if this is true. (more likely it's easier for us to be idealistic not having to endure the situation every single day of our lives). But is still makes you wonder.
Do people think that the peace process might actually lead to a change in their lives or have they all just given up. If they have it would hardly be surprising considering the enemy they face and the lack of support they receive from other Arab states. I'm aware that this conflict has existed well beyond my limited time of interest but I am getting bored of the constant nothing that seems to happen. The people here are bored as well. There is nothing to do for most people, it is a boring place to be. That's how the Israeli's want it to be. They want the young people to leave Palestine for better lives. Why live in Nablus and wait for Godot when you could go to Saudi or UAE and be happy?
The Friend that took me to Al'Fara on Friday was at work today from 8 in the morning until 7 at night. He earnt himself 40 Shekels, about £6. The cost of living is of course relatively inexpensive comapred to the UK but this is still a paltry amount. This frustrated me as did the large amount of Palestinian security forces that were on the streets tday. As far as I can see they do Israel a favour and subdue the Palestinian people. They are needed to stop the crime that was rampant in the city in the past but they just seem to sit around a lot in their uniforms. As I have mentioned before if the IOF were to enter they would go home. Indeed they would know the IOF were coming days in advance and make sure they were out of the way. I don't know what I expect the people here to do, or if this is just a lull before the cycle I mentioned yesterday explodes back into force, but an occupied people are allowed under international law (though this means little) to resist occupation. The class members yesterday talked as though another intifada would be the end of their days on earth, perhaps this is why they are prepared to be more patient than I am.
The class I had this afternoon was successful and I am enjoying teaching the advanced class. I had them writing joint stories this lesson, where they continue the story from the point the last person left off. Quite egotistically the stories had to begin, 'one day Andy was walking through the old city when...' I had asked for crazy and that was what I got. I had spells cast upon me, married and then divorced a witch, turned into superman, met lots of angels, continually ended up with laser beams for eyes and unfortunately died a lot. Though in the story by the youngest member of the class, who is just 14 with the minimum for the advanced class usually being 18, I did die but woke up to find that it was all a dream. Not sure whether I want to go to sleep tonight or not.
That this place is the same as before does bore me in some ways. This has more to do with my being easily bored than the place itself. The city isn't a novelty any more and is in many ways normal. Like a second home. This is reasurring and disconcerting at the same time. When the place changes it will probably be because of an invasion, "the way home changes with each new bomb" (Handal), which is bad for everyone here and painful for me whether I'm here in body or not. Coming back here a year later than my first visit is like stepping into the same river twice and finding it exactly the same. And this is just as worrying. I see the same people in the same places. All that has changed is that the supermarket doesn't have the small packets of coffee that I used to buy. I'm not sure when I will return to Nablus and I am even less sure if I would like it to be the same when I do.
http://teachingenglishabroad.quebecblogue.com/2009/04/09/andy-in-the-middle-east-the-comedians-mostly-teaching-english-abroad/
It's my blog entry from a few days ago but in a strange, attacked with a thesaurus, unintelligible mess. As if it has been translated from English into another language and then back to English. Why on earth would someone do that? I'm almost used to the unexpected here (will my class turn up, won't they...) but finding this in a search for Project Hope blogs has thrown me somewhat. Especially so considering that the orginial version doesn't appear in any searches! The annoying thing is that though this is largely unreadable it does possess some much better words than my attempt.
Today was quite slow and frustrating to start with. Not much was happening and a few of the comments from my Palestinian friends yesterday were starting to chip away at me. Nablus is supposed to be the centre of Palestinian resistance and as far as I can tell there isn't any. One of my friends remarked that if the IOF put a checkpoint in the centre of Nablus there would soon be people queing up behind it, no questions asked. I know it is very easy for me to make comments like this not having been here when there were tanks on the hills above and deaths everyday but it is still frustrating none the less. I have heard comments before about how some internationals are more Palestinian than the Palestinians and I'm starting to wonder if this is true. (more likely it's easier for us to be idealistic not having to endure the situation every single day of our lives). But is still makes you wonder.
Do people think that the peace process might actually lead to a change in their lives or have they all just given up. If they have it would hardly be surprising considering the enemy they face and the lack of support they receive from other Arab states. I'm aware that this conflict has existed well beyond my limited time of interest but I am getting bored of the constant nothing that seems to happen. The people here are bored as well. There is nothing to do for most people, it is a boring place to be. That's how the Israeli's want it to be. They want the young people to leave Palestine for better lives. Why live in Nablus and wait for Godot when you could go to Saudi or UAE and be happy?
The Friend that took me to Al'Fara on Friday was at work today from 8 in the morning until 7 at night. He earnt himself 40 Shekels, about £6. The cost of living is of course relatively inexpensive comapred to the UK but this is still a paltry amount. This frustrated me as did the large amount of Palestinian security forces that were on the streets tday. As far as I can see they do Israel a favour and subdue the Palestinian people. They are needed to stop the crime that was rampant in the city in the past but they just seem to sit around a lot in their uniforms. As I have mentioned before if the IOF were to enter they would go home. Indeed they would know the IOF were coming days in advance and make sure they were out of the way. I don't know what I expect the people here to do, or if this is just a lull before the cycle I mentioned yesterday explodes back into force, but an occupied people are allowed under international law (though this means little) to resist occupation. The class members yesterday talked as though another intifada would be the end of their days on earth, perhaps this is why they are prepared to be more patient than I am.
The class I had this afternoon was successful and I am enjoying teaching the advanced class. I had them writing joint stories this lesson, where they continue the story from the point the last person left off. Quite egotistically the stories had to begin, 'one day Andy was walking through the old city when...' I had asked for crazy and that was what I got. I had spells cast upon me, married and then divorced a witch, turned into superman, met lots of angels, continually ended up with laser beams for eyes and unfortunately died a lot. Though in the story by the youngest member of the class, who is just 14 with the minimum for the advanced class usually being 18, I did die but woke up to find that it was all a dream. Not sure whether I want to go to sleep tonight or not.
That this place is the same as before does bore me in some ways. This has more to do with my being easily bored than the place itself. The city isn't a novelty any more and is in many ways normal. Like a second home. This is reasurring and disconcerting at the same time. When the place changes it will probably be because of an invasion, "the way home changes with each new bomb" (Handal), which is bad for everyone here and painful for me whether I'm here in body or not. Coming back here a year later than my first visit is like stepping into the same river twice and finding it exactly the same. And this is just as worrying. I see the same people in the same places. All that has changed is that the supermarket doesn't have the small packets of coffee that I used to buy. I'm not sure when I will return to Nablus and I am even less sure if I would like it to be the same when I do.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
4hr English class
I think I have largely down played the work of Project Hope both on this blog and in my mind. In reality I could have done none of the things in Palestine that I have done without the organisation. Even yesterday when I was out of the city of Nablus I only gained access to the things I did because of my links to PH. The friend who took me on the trip I met through teaching a class organised by PH and all of the people we met during the day knew of the organisation. We meeting strangers for the first time it is an immediate way to gain credibility and acceptance. It also means that whatever I do reflects back upon the organisation but this should never present a problem. Anyone who makes the organisation look bad doesn't deserve to be here.
The class for toady was scheduled to take place between 9.30 and 13.30. I knew that I couldn't just deliver two of the normal types of class one after another and that I needed to do something different. In the booklet I had given these four hours were to be mainly focusing on grammar. Four hours of that would have destroyed us all. I tried to think of a project that would take up most of the time and also cover at least some of the stuff I was supposed to. In the end I decided that we needed to use English in a more realistic setting than a classroom and that being stuck inside for four hours on a glorious day would be a bad idea. So the class were given the task of being tour guides for the city of Nablus. They would take me to 7 different points around the city and at each different point one of the class would need to explain in detail the past, present and future of the location. Between each point another member of the class would be required to act as a tour guide and describe what we were seeing as we walked along. An inspired idea! I figured that this would be one of those ideas that worked pefectly theoretically but would be in disaster in practice. I wasn't entirely sure how the class would feel speaking English to a small group in the centre of the city. The activity turned out better than I thought it would do and wasn't the disaster that it could have been. The biggest difficulty was trying to get all of the class to speak and not allowing the stronger members of the group to monopolise the conversation. All of the group did speak and I'm sure our conversations were much more meaningful and less contrived than they would have been inside the classroom. I also learned a lot about Palestinian attitudes towards many things in Nablus including the education system and the existence of a class system. With the hierachy going from the camp inhabitants to the villagers to those who live in the city to the rich outsiders who only spend the summers in Nablus.
On these occasions it is better in many ways not to have a translator. This way the class are required to make themselves understood just as I am. After the class I went with a few of the group to the Saturday Market in the city centre. This was after breakfast at my favourite place in the old city. I have no idea what it is called or how to find it half of the time but the omlette and yoghurt are fantastic. If I were to do the tour guide activity again I need to make sure that there is a stop for breakfast as I don't think most of the class had eaten and it was sort of expected that they would. I didn't know this before hand but I do now! The Saturday market was a bit like a car boot sale with endless amounts of junk but there are bargains to be found, or so I'm told. For that you need to get there early.
We went to the very centre of Nablus where the roundabout is to have a coffee and sit down for a while. Being elevated above the street was perfect for people watching and seeing what was going on. It was also a good place to talk about life in Palestine and how it changes. At the moment the city is very quiet and I am here in a time of peace and security. Between 2002-2008 Nablus was effectively like the wild west. Gangsters controlled the streets and those with guns had the power. There were regular shootouts in the street between Palestinians and in 2002 the Israeli's invaded. Though Palestinians I have spoken to have little time for the Palestinian Authority now because they promise a lot and deliver very little they are grateful for the fact that they managed to control the armed groups by bringing some security. That this was partly due to the move to incorporate them into the PA is another story... but basically they didn't disappear they got uniforms and pay cheques.
People here are enjoying life a bit more at the moment as there aren't many incursions by the IOF and some of the checkpoints have been removed(some are no longer operational that I saw last summer). So people feel safer and can move around a bit more freely. This makes them grateful and so less likely to complain about the other things they don't have- though the checkpoints and incursions should never happen in the first place! This is all part of the cycle. When they decide to push for more of the things that they are entitled to they won't get them and there will be another intifada (uprising) composed, of course, of armed groups. These will then be brutally put down by the Israeli's with massive overwhelming force. In the 2002 invasion people were effectively imprisoned in their homes for 8 days with no power or water whislt the city was surrounded and tanks looked down from the hills above. Many people were killed for daring to look out of their windows. Just imagining what it must have been like knowing how brutal the IOF are is a very scary thought indeed.
So the Palestinians rise up and are crushed (because they have no chance of winning- they cannot compete with F16's and tanks) and then because of the fact that they have dared to rise up they are even more brutally oppressed than before. So the checkpoints that disappeared come back, there are more incursions and more land is taken. Meanwhile the defeated militias who were humilated take to the streets again and we are back to being in the wild west. Everyone I have spoken to here thinks there will be a third intifada as that is the stage we are approaching in the cycle and nothing in the political 'peace' process is likely to stop it. The Palestinians will then be cast as the villains again as they fight for what should be their's anyway. Just like we saw in Gaza over Christmas.
Israel continues to build settlements because they can then say they have removed one of them in return for giving the Palestinians something. This is a nonesense. They shouldn't be allowed to be used as baragining chips as they simply shouldn't be there in the first place. When there is an another intifada everything goes back to square one, just look at the map and see how much Palestinian land has been taken away, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/West_Bank_&_Gaza_Map_2007_(Settlements).png/482px-West_Bank_&_Gaza_Map_2007_(Settlements).png
the land controlled by the Palestinians is usually shown as the West Bank but this is clearly not the case. The wall snakes in and steals territory by de facto annexation and the settlements ensure that the West Bank is not a coherent whole. So year on year more and more land disappears.
When this is the case why would anyone wish to invest in the region? Like the Palestinians I see very little hope for the future.
The class for toady was scheduled to take place between 9.30 and 13.30. I knew that I couldn't just deliver two of the normal types of class one after another and that I needed to do something different. In the booklet I had given these four hours were to be mainly focusing on grammar. Four hours of that would have destroyed us all. I tried to think of a project that would take up most of the time and also cover at least some of the stuff I was supposed to. In the end I decided that we needed to use English in a more realistic setting than a classroom and that being stuck inside for four hours on a glorious day would be a bad idea. So the class were given the task of being tour guides for the city of Nablus. They would take me to 7 different points around the city and at each different point one of the class would need to explain in detail the past, present and future of the location. Between each point another member of the class would be required to act as a tour guide and describe what we were seeing as we walked along. An inspired idea! I figured that this would be one of those ideas that worked pefectly theoretically but would be in disaster in practice. I wasn't entirely sure how the class would feel speaking English to a small group in the centre of the city. The activity turned out better than I thought it would do and wasn't the disaster that it could have been. The biggest difficulty was trying to get all of the class to speak and not allowing the stronger members of the group to monopolise the conversation. All of the group did speak and I'm sure our conversations were much more meaningful and less contrived than they would have been inside the classroom. I also learned a lot about Palestinian attitudes towards many things in Nablus including the education system and the existence of a class system. With the hierachy going from the camp inhabitants to the villagers to those who live in the city to the rich outsiders who only spend the summers in Nablus.
On these occasions it is better in many ways not to have a translator. This way the class are required to make themselves understood just as I am. After the class I went with a few of the group to the Saturday Market in the city centre. This was after breakfast at my favourite place in the old city. I have no idea what it is called or how to find it half of the time but the omlette and yoghurt are fantastic. If I were to do the tour guide activity again I need to make sure that there is a stop for breakfast as I don't think most of the class had eaten and it was sort of expected that they would. I didn't know this before hand but I do now! The Saturday market was a bit like a car boot sale with endless amounts of junk but there are bargains to be found, or so I'm told. For that you need to get there early.
We went to the very centre of Nablus where the roundabout is to have a coffee and sit down for a while. Being elevated above the street was perfect for people watching and seeing what was going on. It was also a good place to talk about life in Palestine and how it changes. At the moment the city is very quiet and I am here in a time of peace and security. Between 2002-2008 Nablus was effectively like the wild west. Gangsters controlled the streets and those with guns had the power. There were regular shootouts in the street between Palestinians and in 2002 the Israeli's invaded. Though Palestinians I have spoken to have little time for the Palestinian Authority now because they promise a lot and deliver very little they are grateful for the fact that they managed to control the armed groups by bringing some security. That this was partly due to the move to incorporate them into the PA is another story... but basically they didn't disappear they got uniforms and pay cheques.
People here are enjoying life a bit more at the moment as there aren't many incursions by the IOF and some of the checkpoints have been removed(some are no longer operational that I saw last summer). So people feel safer and can move around a bit more freely. This makes them grateful and so less likely to complain about the other things they don't have- though the checkpoints and incursions should never happen in the first place! This is all part of the cycle. When they decide to push for more of the things that they are entitled to they won't get them and there will be another intifada (uprising) composed, of course, of armed groups. These will then be brutally put down by the Israeli's with massive overwhelming force. In the 2002 invasion people were effectively imprisoned in their homes for 8 days with no power or water whislt the city was surrounded and tanks looked down from the hills above. Many people were killed for daring to look out of their windows. Just imagining what it must have been like knowing how brutal the IOF are is a very scary thought indeed.
So the Palestinians rise up and are crushed (because they have no chance of winning- they cannot compete with F16's and tanks) and then because of the fact that they have dared to rise up they are even more brutally oppressed than before. So the checkpoints that disappeared come back, there are more incursions and more land is taken. Meanwhile the defeated militias who were humilated take to the streets again and we are back to being in the wild west. Everyone I have spoken to here thinks there will be a third intifada as that is the stage we are approaching in the cycle and nothing in the political 'peace' process is likely to stop it. The Palestinians will then be cast as the villains again as they fight for what should be their's anyway. Just like we saw in Gaza over Christmas.
Israel continues to build settlements because they can then say they have removed one of them in return for giving the Palestinians something. This is a nonesense. They shouldn't be allowed to be used as baragining chips as they simply shouldn't be there in the first place. When there is an another intifada everything goes back to square one, just look at the map and see how much Palestinian land has been taken away, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/West_Bank_&_Gaza_Map_2007_(Settlements).png/482px-West_Bank_&_Gaza_Map_2007_(Settlements).png
the land controlled by the Palestinians is usually shown as the West Bank but this is clearly not the case. The wall snakes in and steals territory by de facto annexation and the settlements ensure that the West Bank is not a coherent whole. So year on year more and more land disappears.
When this is the case why would anyone wish to invest in the region? Like the Palestinians I see very little hope for the future.
Friday, 10 April 2009
Prison, Police and the special olympics
Today was one of those days that you couldn't make up. That if you set it to do the things I've done they would never come off. After a fairly boring start, with it being the weekend and hardly anyone here, I did some work then arranged to meet a Palestinian friend that I had taught last year. After catching up on events from the past 6 months whilst wandering around the city we decided to go to Askhar to meet his friends and family. We started at Old Ashkar, where I had never been before, at a local championship football match. There we met some of his friends and there one of the strangest days of my life began.
They decided to show me a cemetery just at the other side of the football pitch where soldiers who fought in the 1948 are buried. For some reason it never struck me until that moment that it was an Arab army that had tried to stop the creation of the state of Israel and that many of those who died had travelled from other countries to fight in the war. In the case of the graves I saw many had come from Iraq. Definitely a part of history that I need to brush up on, or rather get started on.
We left the football, climbed over a fence and walked from Old Askhar to New Askhar. New Askhar still being over 50 years old and both of them being refugee camps administered by UNRWA. On the walk I found out about the growing disappointment with the seemingly ever decreasing support provided to the refugees by UNRWA with most believing that they are constantly winding down so that they can get to a point where they can leave (because they aren't actually doing anything anyway). This kind of thing I can only find out by talking with Palestinians and is why if I came here for longer I would be better coming on my own. I learned more today by being on my own than I would have done otherwise. We had intended to stay in Askhar for a while but I was asked if I would like to see a centre that had been created from an old prison. I was up for doing anything and going anywhere and only saw the importance of my visiting the place once I had got there.
In the taxi on the way there my friend told me he had been imprisoned at the prison we were visiting in 1993 when he was 16 years old. The prison closed in 2001 and has since be turned into a centre for disabled children. The place itself is in an amazing setting with hills and mountains all alround and an endless sky. It is very easy to forget that it was once a prison. Many of the children were outside when we arrived and they were clearly having a fantastic time. They are attending a camp over the next few days and had come from many different cities in the West Bank- Nablus, Jenin, Hebron, etc.
After we had been watching one of the events for a short while, and I had been trying and succeeding to commuicate with a young deaf kid, I was asked if I would like to see 'paradise', part of the centre that has remained largely as it was when it was a prison. The strangest thing about being shown around once we had gone through the locked door and into another world was the fact that my tour guide had been imprisoned there for 3 1/2 years and my friend had also been interned there. They both showed me the exact cells they were in. The best way to imagine it is as one of those places you think of in horror stories about trips abroad where in the middle of nowhere where they can do whatever they like to you and no one is any the wiser. The cells had nothing in them, they were tiny, would have contained many prisoners and they would have been subjected to torture- beatings, forced nudity, constant noise, etc. The isolation cells were claustrophobic just to look into it. I suddenly felt guilty about my comment about Amnesty International yesterday. If I had the misfortune of being in such a place I would want AI to know. Being there without the protection of a rights group or law is a truly terrifying thought. Perhaps after today I have a much better understanding of how important those letters to prisoners of conscience can be. They are a tiny bit of hope in what is effectively hell for many people. It was hard to know what to say to my tour guides as they took me around as I was looking into a nightmare.
Once the door to that part of the centre was locked and we were back into the centre it was like stepping back into normality. We took a break from the activities and went for a walk around Al'fara refugee camp. I didn't even know such a place existed. Of course my friend knew a friend (a policeman who works in Ramallah and seems to remember my face from there!) and before long we were sat in his living room talking and drinking coffee. If all else fails I am always able to talk to Palestinians about coffee! As with most houses in the refugee camps the drab exterior opened up into an impressive interior.
Back at the camp for the children we entered the indoor arena to watch the football matches. I don't think I have ever seen so many happy people having such good fun. The children were loving every minute of it. We stayed until the end and I was glad that we did. I was thinking throughout 'why can't the rest of the world see this' instead of the usual nonesense we see on TV. I've also come to believe that how people are portrayed in films and on TV is more destructive than I had first realised. For example the film 'you don't mess with the Zohan' is a comedy about the region I am now in. Fair enough it's a comedy but if this is the only input a child receives about the place then that is all they will have to form their opinions about the Palestinans. There will be nothing to even out the balance. I know this from talking to children about the region and having them refer back to me with computer games were they kill 'terrorists' and films like the Zohan. That's there starting and end point so it's difficult to change this. I need to bare this in mind when I present classes with any information about a particular place. How many of them think that people in Africa are all poor, starving and live in mud huts...
We went back to Askhar to eat at my friends house. It was nice to see where he lived and meet his family. I must admit I was a little scared when the power went off. I knew that this was around the time the camps are liable to be raided and wasn't sure if the power going off was a precursor to this. The power goes off pretty regularly though and we were soon talking again by the light of mobile phones and then candles. We talked about how my friend was arrested when he was 16. At 11.30pm soldiers came to his house (30 armed soldiers with jeeps) asking for him by name. His mother said he was asleep on the couch and he duly woke up to be greeted by the IOF. He didn't know why he was arrested and was terrified to be taken away by so many armed soldiers. It was days before he discovered why they had arrested him. The charge was absurd as an Israeli officer later pointed out so they changed it to something more believable- stone throwing and writing on walls. Had this even been the case it hardly justifies being locked in a cell with 6 others and having to do everything in that tiny little space- eat, drink, toilet, sleep. He still remembers being in the cell and hearing people being beaten outside. After 33 days he was released. Knowing the hell he must have gone through having visited the place that he is not now a 'terrorist' astounds me.
Today was a good day and has ensured my trip has been worthwhile. It wasn't planned in any way but gave me a good insight into what life in the camps is like. If I were to return to Palestine I think it would be to research or live in the camps. Though I respect the other international volunteers (most of the time) I feel like I learn much more when I am away from them and out there on my own. Trying to get a taxi at 10pm from a refugee camp that is in darkness because of a power cut makes life that little bit more interesting...
They decided to show me a cemetery just at the other side of the football pitch where soldiers who fought in the 1948 are buried. For some reason it never struck me until that moment that it was an Arab army that had tried to stop the creation of the state of Israel and that many of those who died had travelled from other countries to fight in the war. In the case of the graves I saw many had come from Iraq. Definitely a part of history that I need to brush up on, or rather get started on.
We left the football, climbed over a fence and walked from Old Askhar to New Askhar. New Askhar still being over 50 years old and both of them being refugee camps administered by UNRWA. On the walk I found out about the growing disappointment with the seemingly ever decreasing support provided to the refugees by UNRWA with most believing that they are constantly winding down so that they can get to a point where they can leave (because they aren't actually doing anything anyway). This kind of thing I can only find out by talking with Palestinians and is why if I came here for longer I would be better coming on my own. I learned more today by being on my own than I would have done otherwise. We had intended to stay in Askhar for a while but I was asked if I would like to see a centre that had been created from an old prison. I was up for doing anything and going anywhere and only saw the importance of my visiting the place once I had got there.
In the taxi on the way there my friend told me he had been imprisoned at the prison we were visiting in 1993 when he was 16 years old. The prison closed in 2001 and has since be turned into a centre for disabled children. The place itself is in an amazing setting with hills and mountains all alround and an endless sky. It is very easy to forget that it was once a prison. Many of the children were outside when we arrived and they were clearly having a fantastic time. They are attending a camp over the next few days and had come from many different cities in the West Bank- Nablus, Jenin, Hebron, etc.
After we had been watching one of the events for a short while, and I had been trying and succeeding to commuicate with a young deaf kid, I was asked if I would like to see 'paradise', part of the centre that has remained largely as it was when it was a prison. The strangest thing about being shown around once we had gone through the locked door and into another world was the fact that my tour guide had been imprisoned there for 3 1/2 years and my friend had also been interned there. They both showed me the exact cells they were in. The best way to imagine it is as one of those places you think of in horror stories about trips abroad where in the middle of nowhere where they can do whatever they like to you and no one is any the wiser. The cells had nothing in them, they were tiny, would have contained many prisoners and they would have been subjected to torture- beatings, forced nudity, constant noise, etc. The isolation cells were claustrophobic just to look into it. I suddenly felt guilty about my comment about Amnesty International yesterday. If I had the misfortune of being in such a place I would want AI to know. Being there without the protection of a rights group or law is a truly terrifying thought. Perhaps after today I have a much better understanding of how important those letters to prisoners of conscience can be. They are a tiny bit of hope in what is effectively hell for many people. It was hard to know what to say to my tour guides as they took me around as I was looking into a nightmare.
Once the door to that part of the centre was locked and we were back into the centre it was like stepping back into normality. We took a break from the activities and went for a walk around Al'fara refugee camp. I didn't even know such a place existed. Of course my friend knew a friend (a policeman who works in Ramallah and seems to remember my face from there!) and before long we were sat in his living room talking and drinking coffee. If all else fails I am always able to talk to Palestinians about coffee! As with most houses in the refugee camps the drab exterior opened up into an impressive interior.
Back at the camp for the children we entered the indoor arena to watch the football matches. I don't think I have ever seen so many happy people having such good fun. The children were loving every minute of it. We stayed until the end and I was glad that we did. I was thinking throughout 'why can't the rest of the world see this' instead of the usual nonesense we see on TV. I've also come to believe that how people are portrayed in films and on TV is more destructive than I had first realised. For example the film 'you don't mess with the Zohan' is a comedy about the region I am now in. Fair enough it's a comedy but if this is the only input a child receives about the place then that is all they will have to form their opinions about the Palestinans. There will be nothing to even out the balance. I know this from talking to children about the region and having them refer back to me with computer games were they kill 'terrorists' and films like the Zohan. That's there starting and end point so it's difficult to change this. I need to bare this in mind when I present classes with any information about a particular place. How many of them think that people in Africa are all poor, starving and live in mud huts...
We went back to Askhar to eat at my friends house. It was nice to see where he lived and meet his family. I must admit I was a little scared when the power went off. I knew that this was around the time the camps are liable to be raided and wasn't sure if the power going off was a precursor to this. The power goes off pretty regularly though and we were soon talking again by the light of mobile phones and then candles. We talked about how my friend was arrested when he was 16. At 11.30pm soldiers came to his house (30 armed soldiers with jeeps) asking for him by name. His mother said he was asleep on the couch and he duly woke up to be greeted by the IOF. He didn't know why he was arrested and was terrified to be taken away by so many armed soldiers. It was days before he discovered why they had arrested him. The charge was absurd as an Israeli officer later pointed out so they changed it to something more believable- stone throwing and writing on walls. Had this even been the case it hardly justifies being locked in a cell with 6 others and having to do everything in that tiny little space- eat, drink, toilet, sleep. He still remembers being in the cell and hearing people being beaten outside. After 33 days he was released. Knowing the hell he must have gone through having visited the place that he is not now a 'terrorist' astounds me.
Today was a good day and has ensured my trip has been worthwhile. It wasn't planned in any way but gave me a good insight into what life in the camps is like. If I were to return to Palestine I think it would be to research or live in the camps. Though I respect the other international volunteers (most of the time) I feel like I learn much more when I am away from them and out there on my own. Trying to get a taxi at 10pm from a refugee camp that is in darkness because of a power cut makes life that little bit more interesting...
Thursday, 9 April 2009
The Comedians
Before coming back to Nablus I had just finished reading The Comedians by Graham Greene having stumbled across references to it whenever I tried to do a bit of research into Haiti (my next teaching trip abroad). The theme of that book being that it is better to see life as a comedy rather than a tragedy seems to apply equally to Nablus as it does Port-au-Prince. Todays humour came from the sheep tied up... and being interrupted as I typed this (to talk to a guy about being interviewed for a radio show next week, more of this later). Anyway... the sheep being tied up outside the butchers shop next to the meat hanging up on display bleating away as if aware of its predicament, the UN being stopped by a small group of very small Palestinian children (the huge jeep had its horn blarring but the children ignored it as if it wasn't there!) and the fact that my advanced English class get their ideas about Manchester from watching Shameless. With such a good mode of education already there is little point in my being here!
My only class of the day was the advanced English class that I will be teaching intensively over the next week so I had time to go about my other business at a very leisurely pace. A little too leisurely as I had forgotten that the cleaners clean on a Thursday morning. I managed to get myself fully clothed just prior to one of the Arab ladies entering my room though she was still a little shocked to find me in there. I wandered around the old city bumping into various people I had met before. Sometimes having a brief conversation but mainly just exchanging knowing glances. I had to go see the guy selling sweet pumpkin and it was impressive to see him at work. He was pleased to see me and we had quite a good conversation (due to my lack of language skills not his) though I couldn't quite work out who the important person visiting Nablus on Saturday was. No doubt I will find out on Saturday.
Having most of the day free, with the class starting at 4.30pm, I had plenty of time to read and think about the essays I still need to write. It is interesting being here and needing to write an essay on cultural relativism and human rights whislt at the same time doing the required reading about the effects of globalisation. The two things at micro and macro level fit together nicely and I can think about this properly without the usual distractions at home.
Thinking about this today made me realise that what I wrote yesterday about the UN and other international NGO's was probably misleading. They do have local staff, most of the UNRWA staff here are Palestinians, but they also do what Rory Stewart asserts in many instances and parachute into places with their own ideas of how things should be done then leave without finishing the job. This has made me consider whether or not I would actually like to work for a large INGO or carry on doing the short term work I am doing. I don't think I fit the mould of international volunteer very well as I am not particularly good at the being with other international volunteers bit! Working and living with local people interests me being expected to entertain other internationals doesn't. Perhaps this would be different if the individuals I was working with were all professionals. I treat being here as an extension of my job but not everyone does. The other way to work (not as an international volunteer or professional INGO worker) would be to do something on my own. This would require much more in terms of time commitment and effort on my behalf. Perhaps time in Haiti and my work next Easter and summer will clarify this.
The class itself went very well and it was nice to teach a class without requiring a translator. I also feel that these students are the ones who can benefit most from the input of Project Hope. If someone doesn't have the fundamentals of English mastered it is difficult to teach them anything meaningful in a short amount of time. We talked about many things over the two hours and most importantly it wasn't just me doing the talking. When I remarked that it is impressive that students go to class for two hours after work at the end of the working week I was subtley reminded that there isn't really anything else to do. A bit naive of me really. Many of the students study every night of the week and give up weekends as well. As one student pointed out this education is in many ways wasted. People rarely do the jobs they want or dream of doing. They do what they have to though in many cases they hate it. This is the same the world over though I doubt to the same extent in terms of being over qualifed as a whole population.
After the class whilst in the midst of blog writing I was asked if I would go back to the office and talk to someone about being interviewed for a radio show. I am always happy to talk about Project Hope so left what I was writing about sheep and went across the road. The gentleman from the radio show I had met before... at the University where we attended a conference on poverty... after which he read my blog article about the conference... after which I met him again were we talked about my blog... and today he remembered conversations about the blog and our previous meetings...
Maybe life is a comedy rather than a tragedy after all.
My only class of the day was the advanced English class that I will be teaching intensively over the next week so I had time to go about my other business at a very leisurely pace. A little too leisurely as I had forgotten that the cleaners clean on a Thursday morning. I managed to get myself fully clothed just prior to one of the Arab ladies entering my room though she was still a little shocked to find me in there. I wandered around the old city bumping into various people I had met before. Sometimes having a brief conversation but mainly just exchanging knowing glances. I had to go see the guy selling sweet pumpkin and it was impressive to see him at work. He was pleased to see me and we had quite a good conversation (due to my lack of language skills not his) though I couldn't quite work out who the important person visiting Nablus on Saturday was. No doubt I will find out on Saturday.
Having most of the day free, with the class starting at 4.30pm, I had plenty of time to read and think about the essays I still need to write. It is interesting being here and needing to write an essay on cultural relativism and human rights whislt at the same time doing the required reading about the effects of globalisation. The two things at micro and macro level fit together nicely and I can think about this properly without the usual distractions at home.
Thinking about this today made me realise that what I wrote yesterday about the UN and other international NGO's was probably misleading. They do have local staff, most of the UNRWA staff here are Palestinians, but they also do what Rory Stewart asserts in many instances and parachute into places with their own ideas of how things should be done then leave without finishing the job. This has made me consider whether or not I would actually like to work for a large INGO or carry on doing the short term work I am doing. I don't think I fit the mould of international volunteer very well as I am not particularly good at the being with other international volunteers bit! Working and living with local people interests me being expected to entertain other internationals doesn't. Perhaps this would be different if the individuals I was working with were all professionals. I treat being here as an extension of my job but not everyone does. The other way to work (not as an international volunteer or professional INGO worker) would be to do something on my own. This would require much more in terms of time commitment and effort on my behalf. Perhaps time in Haiti and my work next Easter and summer will clarify this.
The class itself went very well and it was nice to teach a class without requiring a translator. I also feel that these students are the ones who can benefit most from the input of Project Hope. If someone doesn't have the fundamentals of English mastered it is difficult to teach them anything meaningful in a short amount of time. We talked about many things over the two hours and most importantly it wasn't just me doing the talking. When I remarked that it is impressive that students go to class for two hours after work at the end of the working week I was subtley reminded that there isn't really anything else to do. A bit naive of me really. Many of the students study every night of the week and give up weekends as well. As one student pointed out this education is in many ways wasted. People rarely do the jobs they want or dream of doing. They do what they have to though in many cases they hate it. This is the same the world over though I doubt to the same extent in terms of being over qualifed as a whole population.
After the class whilst in the midst of blog writing I was asked if I would go back to the office and talk to someone about being interviewed for a radio show. I am always happy to talk about Project Hope so left what I was writing about sheep and went across the road. The gentleman from the radio show I had met before... at the University where we attended a conference on poverty... after which he read my blog article about the conference... after which I met him again were we talked about my blog... and today he remembered conversations about the blog and our previous meetings...
Maybe life is a comedy rather than a tragedy after all.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Rain
Today was a typical day in Nablus apart from the rain. I could have stayed at home for that! The morning had been very hot so it did cool the place down a bit. I had just one class at 3pm so I got up late and wandered around. Back to my diet of cocktails (fruit and ice cream) for breakfast and Schwarma for lunch. The class turned out to be just 3 students which I expected as the class hadn't run for a week or so. Hopefully there will be more next time but it makes it difficult to plan what to do as I still don't know most of the students and I will only be teaching them for two classes. I am sure this improves my teaching in general as I easily managed to fill an hour this afternoon with no resources and a whiteboard but no pens. The class finished early as most of the students had failed to show so I was back at Project Hope in time for a meeting that was to decide my next classes. I will be teaching an advanced class on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday with a monster 4hr session on Saturday. I hadn't planned to leave Nablus for the weekend and as tomorrow is the end of the first week I am here I felt that I should do all that I can.
Being here this time around is making me consider the reasons for my being here in much more detail than I have previously done so. This is probably because self consciously I know that these thoughts will be used to shape my dissertation at a later date.
I know that development work is notoriously depressing and a long slog but I'm not sure if my way of going about it is the best approach. Just before I left I seem to have been bombarded with the name of an individual I had never heard of before, Rory Stewart. I first saw him being interviewed on TV about foreign intervention in Afghanistan and then I read about his work in Kabul in magazine that I picked up by chance. There are very few people that capture my attention and fawning over celebrities is something I cannot understand. Here was someone I immediatley admired and I ordered some of his books before I left for Nablus. Having his approach and way of doing things in my mind before I left is shaping what I am seeing now that I am here.
In many ways I think that the way Project Hope works is much better than the bigger organisations such as the UN and red cross (especially in light of what I heard about them in last nights talk). They have a local staff and local volunteers. The international staff fit around everyone else like they should do. The Palestinians initiate the classes not foreign donors.
How useful my being here for short periods of time I constantly question. On one hand I have a better idea than most (and certainly more than those who have never been to Palestine) of what it feels like to be Palestinian so I can put the international machinations into a real life lived context (unlike many commentators on the conflict). On the other hand I don't speak Arabic or Hebrew so can't gain a proper understanding of how the majority of people here really feel. People I work with do really appreciate my efforts and the man in charge of the centre where I taught today was proof of this. Having worked with him a lot over the summer and his daughter having told him the day before that I was in Nablus he was very pleased to see me. I was in an elevator at the time... Everyone around was a little shocked by his enthusiasm but I had come to expect it. Unfortunately my somewhat reserved demeanour didn't come close to matching his own. During my class he burst in with his laptop to show me a picture of us both with a class from last year. He was glad to see me but also disappointed to know that I would only be in Nablus for a very short time. Rory Stewart and not promising more than you can give sprang
immediately to mind.
A final thought before this post turns into a book. Going from the local to the international I regularly tell people that saying it is OK to bomb Hamas because their charter calls for the destruction of Israel is very selective. Firstly because they have later denounced this and secondly because the charter of the Likud party asserts something similar and this has not been denounced:
"The charter of Netanyahu’s Likud party expressly prohibits Israel from giving up the occupied territory that would be used to create a Palestinian state. When he was sworn in last week the prime minister offered negotiations to the Palestinians but not on the basis of the two-state principle." (from http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36935 )Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Back in Nablus
I got through security with the minimum of fuss. This was quite suprising as I had been up for the best part of 36hrs when I arrived at Ben Gurion. For once I wasn't taken aside for a chat and my lies when I was asked about why I was in Israel seemed to flow quite freely despite how tired I was. I got to Jerusalem earlier than I thought so decided I'd better find somewhere to sleep as it was far too long a wait to just sit around. This was much more difficult than I thought and the police didn't appreciate my wandering around the old city at stupid o'clock in the morning. So more questions and more lies but I managed to pull off the bungling englishman in the middle east with the minimum of any real drama. In the end I had to pay for a ridiculously overpriced hotel for what was effectively half the night but I figured that I needed to get myself off the streets and away from more questions.
Travelling from Jerusalem to Nablus all seemed very normal and routine. I knew where to catch the bus, I knew which bus I needed next and how not to get ripped off paying for taxi's. I was glad to be in Nablus and once I had gone through Huwarra checkpoint I was happy. Back to insane taxi drivers and sign language conversations... Being back at Project Hope was also like I had never been away. The same people in the same place talking about the same things. Had I posted this when I first started writing it in the early afternoon it would just have been a case of the same old same old...
Nablus has surprised me each time I have visited. The first because of the novelty value the second because I realised that the first visit wasn't long enough and this time because of the talk that some of the Palestinian staff gave this evening. The talk was about the invasion of the city in 2002. I saw photographs of this when I went to a Palestinian literature festival back when I thought Amnesty International was the way to save the world and teaching Citizenship Education my calling in life... It was very different seeing the images tonight and having the scenes described in detail by people that were there. People I now call friends.
The situation was truly horrific and the PH staff that were there weren't through absolute hell as red crescent volunteers. They saw people die through lack of resources and were effectively under siege despite their neutral status. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to tell someone that is dying that there is nothing you can do for them. The city was surrounded by 450 tanks supported by F16's and Apache helicopters. The staff themselves admit that it was bizarre seeing children with rocks trying to confront this terrfying arsenal. The field hospital they had set up prior to the invasion was given no special status and the removal of the dead and injured from within was not permitted. The medical services were regularly targetted and they all expected to die, even going so far as to get a camera crew to film their final wishes. Trying to put what they experienced into words is tremendously difficult and my attempts at hearsay a poor substitute. Like the guys giving the talk said the experience should not be forgotten and remembering it each year by explaining it to others who can also pass it on is important. The talk finishing with the worrying point that things are not likely to get better any time soon and that similar occurences are far from unlikely.
On a more positive note I have spoken to a few of the students that I worked with last year and we have agreed to meet up over the weekend. I also have some English classes arranged and plan to do some work on the social justice project. I know that there is relatively little that I can do in the ten days that I am here but being here is the most important thing. Standing at the checkpoints pointlessly waiting for hours on end is the closest I can get to knowing what it feels like to be Palestinian.
Travelling from Jerusalem to Nablus all seemed very normal and routine. I knew where to catch the bus, I knew which bus I needed next and how not to get ripped off paying for taxi's. I was glad to be in Nablus and once I had gone through Huwarra checkpoint I was happy. Back to insane taxi drivers and sign language conversations... Being back at Project Hope was also like I had never been away. The same people in the same place talking about the same things. Had I posted this when I first started writing it in the early afternoon it would just have been a case of the same old same old...
Nablus has surprised me each time I have visited. The first because of the novelty value the second because I realised that the first visit wasn't long enough and this time because of the talk that some of the Palestinian staff gave this evening. The talk was about the invasion of the city in 2002. I saw photographs of this when I went to a Palestinian literature festival back when I thought Amnesty International was the way to save the world and teaching Citizenship Education my calling in life... It was very different seeing the images tonight and having the scenes described in detail by people that were there. People I now call friends.
The situation was truly horrific and the PH staff that were there weren't through absolute hell as red crescent volunteers. They saw people die through lack of resources and were effectively under siege despite their neutral status. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to tell someone that is dying that there is nothing you can do for them. The city was surrounded by 450 tanks supported by F16's and Apache helicopters. The staff themselves admit that it was bizarre seeing children with rocks trying to confront this terrfying arsenal. The field hospital they had set up prior to the invasion was given no special status and the removal of the dead and injured from within was not permitted. The medical services were regularly targetted and they all expected to die, even going so far as to get a camera crew to film their final wishes. Trying to put what they experienced into words is tremendously difficult and my attempts at hearsay a poor substitute. Like the guys giving the talk said the experience should not be forgotten and remembering it each year by explaining it to others who can also pass it on is important. The talk finishing with the worrying point that things are not likely to get better any time soon and that similar occurences are far from unlikely.
On a more positive note I have spoken to a few of the students that I worked with last year and we have agreed to meet up over the weekend. I also have some English classes arranged and plan to do some work on the social justice project. I know that there is relatively little that I can do in the ten days that I am here but being here is the most important thing. Standing at the checkpoints pointlessly waiting for hours on end is the closest I can get to knowing what it feels like to be Palestinian.
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