I have been volunteering at Bethlehem Bible College for the past week and it has been a unique experience, to say the least. My job responsibilities have been assigned according to the College’s needs. I've set up rooms for lectures, helped with the summer kids’ camp, helped in the kitchen and shelved books in the library. On Wednesday I started helping out with the “sports” aspect of the kids camp, which actually consisted of me making up games for kids in groups of 20 with ages ranging from 5-14. They gave me a bag with balloons, water balloons, 3 Frisbees and about 10 wiffle balls. The first day we played some games with water balloons and since then they have wanted to play water balloon games every single day. It’s very difficult to communicate the directions of a game with the language barrier and especially because I am making up games on the spot. However, it’s been fun and I am really enjoying being with the kids. I came up with a game where the kids had balloons taped to their back and they had to run around and try to bust each other’s balloon and whoever was the last one with their balloon won. I have found that any game with a slight aspect of competition will almost certainly produce sore losers and a controversy.
Also, this week the little girl in my family has continued to warm up to me. Since my host family doesn’t have a car we walk wherever we need to go and she insists that I carry her. Also, she follows me around while we are at the house with a hairbrush and constantly tries to brush my hair. I’m not sure why, but for some reason she loves my hair. Then, whenever I am eating, drinking or doing something she tries to copy me. Yesterday I was drinking Arabic coffee, which is very hot and very strong and she wanted to be drinking some too. So, she went and found a spoon and gave it to me so she could try some. I would put the spoon close to the glass and act like I was taking some out and then give it to her. She would put the spoon in her mouth and act like she loved it so much and we repeated the process at least 15 times. In addition, we always have Arabic music on at the house and she is constantly dancing. Imagine a little girl less than 2 years old who can barely walk straight moving her hips back and forth and clapping her hands. I have a feeling she will be a main topic of my blogs…
Yesterday, we took a day trip to Hebron and in order to get there we had to go through a flying checkpoint. The term flying checkpoint is pretty self-descriptive but it is a temporary place where Israeli soldier’s check individual’s ID’s and determine if they can pass through. Before Hebron, we were planning on stopping in Atwini, a Palestinian village of shepherds and farmers. Their children are being attacked by Israeli settlers when they walk to school. So, at the checkpoint our leader told the IDF that we were going to Atwini. They forced us to sit there on the side of the road for more than an hour. Evidently, the Israelis aren’t especially keen on allowing foreigners to see the settlers brutalizing the local Palestinian population. When we were allowed to leave, a humvee with 4 soldiers including their machine guns escorted us to the small village for “security purposes.” It’s pretty unnerving to be so close to high-powered weapons in an extremely tense situation. When we got to the village, a Palestinian activist told stories of the settlers poisoning the water, an extremely precious commodity in the West Bank, and IDF soldiers coordinating with the settlers attacking the villagers in an attempt to drive the villagers out. The people in this area, according to the Oslo accords, is supposed to be provided with all their needs by the Israeli government, but they continue to only have electricity and water through their own efforts ( ie a generator for 4 hours per day) because it is a “security threat” for Palestinian villagers to have their basic needs met. This entire presentation was in the shadows of the IDF soldiers. Christian peacekeepers were in the village, as well. They document the happenings in the village by videotaping and taking pictures.
When we finally left, we went back through the checkpoint that we had stayed at for an hour and it was gone. Then, we went to Hebron, which has Israeli settlers living inside this large Palestinian city. In greater Hebron, there is something like 750,000 Palestinians, including Hebronite Jews, Christians and Muslims. Then, there are 300-400 Israeli settlers, which need more than 2,000 IDF soldiers to protect them. In fact, the Palestinians are the ones who need protection from the settlers. Israelis and Palestinians are under the jurisdiction of different laws, which allow the settlers to do whatever they would like to the locals. We went down one road in the Old City, which was below a settler building. There was a fence above the road so that the settlers couldn’t throw things at the locals, but this didn’t stop liquids, which was especially a threat on the Sabbath, where settlers were known to throw acid water and urine on passerby’s. The height of this brutalization was when a settler entered the Abraham mosque in Hebron with an M-16 and killed 29 Muslims who were praying. We went to the mosque, which is now part mosque, part synagogue. Our guide said this place is the most contentious place on earth because of the meaning it holds for all three Abrahamic religions.
My favorite aspect of the stay has been my time with my host family’s extended family. Last night we went to my host dad’s sister’s house for a family get-together. His father, mother, sisters, brothers, and all their kids were there. The family dynamic is so much different here, where spending time with one’s ENTIRE family is a daily event. One interesting conversation I had was with the brother of my host mom. He loves WWE and claims to have watched every American movie ever made. Interestingly, his favorite movie is Jumper, which I thought was a horrible movie and couldn't understand how someone could enjoy it. Then he explained that he loved it so much because he loves the idea of being able to go wherever he wants whenever he wants. I think it’s amazing how even his movie choice is directly affected by the occupation, which disallows him from traveling outside of the West Bank.
There is much discussion about what the best solution is for this situation with some arguing one state, and others arguing two states. The guide of the program here at PSE asserts that any peace agreement now would only be on paper and the only way to have true peace is between the people of the conflicting groups. He said peace will only come when we love one another.
