Hello all,
It's been a long time since I last posted, but it might be okay because I never officially gave the address to anyone. I sit here at my computer, five months into my program, which is about the half way marker for me, and I am determined to reflect for a little bit on all that has happened in the last few months, and make the decision to blog more regularly.
The bulk of my work and experiences here in Yaffo have been volunteering- at four really great organizations and centers. Three days a week, I volunteer at a nature center for Arab and Hebrew speaking kindergarteners and through that, I have gotten to know roughly 850 local three and four year-olds. On the other days, I tutor English to three Ethiopian high school age girls, teach an after school club in English to 8th graders in a College 4 All program, and assist a special education group of 5th graders at the city's Sea Education (Hinuch Yami) center.
Each experience has been rewarding in it's own way, as you can imagine.
I'm not going to attempt to summarize my experiences here, in a single blog post, but rather, include a couple of excerpts from some personal emails I've sent out during the semester, in a hope of capturing some of the more poignant moments. From here on out, I'm going to try to write twice a week so that I can be in touch better, and keep a record for myself, as my view points and opinions will undoubtedly continue to evolve.
Love,
Amy
"i got to jerusalem and instantly wanted to be back in yafo. I don't know what it was but i didn't like it. not to mention that there were about 60000 people at the wall on thursday night because a famous rabbi was leading prayers. It was just all too much...but don't worry. I will return to Jerusalem. it was just too big of a city at points for me and a little too religious, but i didn't even make it down to the wall and i have much more to see. i have to mosque hop, at the very least still. :-) i'll go back on a less holy day."
(After a slichot tour in Jerusalem before Yom Kippur. I have grown to appreciate the city more in the past months, but still often feel the same way. I think many other people do too.)
"One of the great perks of my program is that they have been organizing speakers and tours for us, all around Israel to look at different segments of Israeli society and different coexistence programs. Just yesterday, we went to Wadi Ara, to meet with a man studying the sociolinguistics behind Palestinian Arabic, as well as with an Arab community leader who has started a public library and a movement to name the streets in Arab villages, so that mail can be delivered. From there, we moved on towards another side of the argument and went into the West Bank to see two Jewish settlements. It is one thing to know they exist and another entirely to see them and speak to people who live there. It was an intense day filled with difficult feelings, but mostly a lot of sadness to see people who feel so afraid of losing something that they are willing to move onto land that doesn't belong to them, and put themselves in danger to keep it. Their opinions of Arabs, as well as Jews who stand for a two state solution, were difficult to stomach, but I'm glad we got the chance to hear them out."
(Pictures are on facebook. :-) )
