Days 11 and 12: Celebrations and goodbyes

Day 11: Celebrations

Today we are going back to the house in Battir to celebrate. It seems very long since we have seen our friends, even though it is only two days. It makes me realise how close we have become in such a short time. The others feel the same, we can’t wait to see them all again and what has happened to the house while we were away. 

We spend the morning in Bethlehem, doing last minute shopping. I sit in Manger Square for a bit, updating my journal, and get talking to a guy sitting next to me on the bench. It turns out he has already met some of our group, and asks me to come to his shop for a coffee. Apparently we have been in the local paper, and he goes round all his neighbours to try and find me a copy, but they have all gone. Of course I end up buying something from his shop, a really funky pair of handmade trousers in a traditional Palestinian style. 

After lunch we drive to Battir and are welcomed in the village hall. There are at least a hundred people there, including the Nema family, neighbours, village officials, the builders, photographers and people from the Holy Land Trust. And last but not least Marwan, who as always knows everybody and has to translate for everyone. How I will miss them all when we go back! But for now I enjoy the occasion and sit down with a group of children who I have got to know during the build. Everyone is dressed in their best clothes, very different from the building site! There are lots of speeches and thank-you’s, as you would expect. Some of it is very moving indeed, particularly Wa’fat’s message. She feels we have become her friends and her home is also our home, we will always be welcome there.  We have become part of this village in a way that would not have seemed possible two weeks ago. There are more presents, and of course there are refreshments and cake to finish things off in style. It’s great to see Mohammed and Anas, the two young builders who I worked with on the walls and who took us for a walk, now clean and smartly dressed rather than covered in builder’s dust.  

After the official proceeding we move to the house. Two of our group plant olive trees donated by the HLT. The walls are finished now and we are assured they will keep going with the work. There are more speeches and photographs and then it is time to go. We take ages to say good-bye to everyone, there are tears and smiles, exchanges of Facebook addresses and promises to keep in touch. It is really hard to leave. I make a vow to myself I will come back, sooner rather than later, to renew these friendships.

Day 12: return home

We spend a few final hours in Bethlehem and then get on the bus to the airport. More good-byes, this time at the Bethlehem checkpoint as Marwan cannot come with us to the airport (he is not allowed out….). Taking leave of Marwan is hard, he has become so much part of our group and has been the heart and soul of this project. It is difficult to think of the people we leave behind, stuck in this restricted environment, oppressed and locked up behind that awful wall. We can go home, free to go where we want, continuing with our way of life that we take for granted: plenty of water, no checkpoints, no need for permits, no threat to our houses, free to travel and go to the seaside, many opportunities for our children. We are all very determined to raise awareness and tell their story when we are home, but it feels as if it is not enough. I know we helped to build a house and we raised a lot of money, and it feels very good to have done SOMETHING, but it feels so little……

At the airport we get into a bit of trouble because of the Battir souvernirs we were given. We all have the same one, and it raises suspicion at the security check, not because of the link with the re-build, but because the plaques might contain bombs. We are questioned closely and have to be careful with the answers……but we were briefed well by Nive and eventually we are waved through and still manage to be in time for the plane (Easyjet waits for no one……). I am looking forward to going to our church the following day to tell my story. It makes me realise how lucky I am with my friends at St. Paul’s who feel like my family and who will welcome and support me.

It’s been an amazing and life changing experience. There is no way to express it in words, although I have tried by writing this blog. I have changed inside, in my perception of the Palestinian people and the way I view the situation. I have learned things about myself that I didn’t’ know and have shared a common faith in God with Muslims. I have made many new friends, both in Palestine and also with the group of volunteers. We have got to know each other in a way that you would not normally experience with a group of strangers (which is what we were to each other at the start), sharing our labour, our highs and lows, being tired together, frustrated together, eating, drinking and praying together, and even sharing a very cold cave.  

There are some people who will always stand out in my memory.

Marwan, with his welcoming smile, his many jokes and big laugh. Marwan, who will always help when a friend is in need, who is full of hope and positive energy, but who can flip to his dark side at unexpected moments and recount stories of imprisonment and torture that make you go cold inside. 

Wa’fat, with her quiet courage and friendliness. Wa’fat, who changed before our eyes from not-quite-daring-to-believe, to a woman full of energy, hope and smiles. Wa’fat and her family, who will live with the eternal dichotomy of the pleasure of a new house and the possible threat of another demolition.

Athulla and Jamila, with their unconditional and warm welcome to strangers, their strong faith and their readiness to accept the faith of others.

The children who gave us unconditional friendship and taught us much more than we taught them.

Maryam, who gave me her prayer beads in a gesture that has created a bond between us. Maryam, who has seen untold trouble in her lifetime, having to flee her home more than once because of war. Maryam who was there every single day of the build, despite the rain or the cold, and who led the singing after the roof was completed.

Wa’fat’s sister-in-law, who welcomed us to her home, brought teas and coffees and let us use her bathroom, dirty and dusty as we were. 

I could go on, but there are too many memories. It’s going to take time to process all these experiences and writing the blog has been part of that. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Below are a few websites if you are interested in learning more. You can contact me via Facebook if you would like more information.

 www.amostrust. org

www.holylandtrust.org

www.icahd.org

My Facebook name is Lia McLean

  Official celebration in the village hall

The commemerative plaque presented to the Amos Trust

 Planting an olive tree by the house

 We are given a souvernit of Battir by the Nema family

With Marwasn, Anas and Mohammed

 The whole group with the house in the background

 This sign is by all the cross-over points between the Israel and Palestine

Day 9 and 10: Tent of Nations

Days 9 and 10: Tent of Nations

We leave in the morning to go to the Tent of Nations, about 10 miles from Bethlehem. It is a large site which is run as an organic farm by the Nassar family, two brothers and a sister. Their mission is to bring people of various cultures together to build bridges of understanding, reconciliation, and peace.

The land has been under threat of confiscation by the Israeli authorities since 1991. But the family  has impeccable papers and has fought a legal battle to stay on the land. Land that is not cultivated is automatically reverted to the Israeli state, so there is an army of volunteers that keeps the farm going. The Israelis make their life as hard as possible though. They are not allowed to erect any permanent structures, so all visitors have to be accommodated in tents, or when needed in caves! Every so often there are visits or inspections from the Israeli authorities, and sometimes without any reason hundreds of trees are uprooted and destroyed. The Nassar family has a rule: whenever something bad happens, they retaliate by doing twice as much good. So when 200 trees are destroyed, they plant 400. 

We are shown around the farm by Daher, one of the brothers. There are lots of olive and almond trees and grape vines. They also have some animals, mainly goats and chickens. There are always volunteers on the farm and visiting groups to help out. In addition to this there are many groups that meet here for reconciliation projects and workshops.

We first need to decide where we want to sleep. Although it is sunny, it is very windy and cold at night, so we elect to sleep in the caves. There is one ‘girl’s cave’ which will house nine women, many of whom at retirement age. But we will have matrasses and blankets. However, there is only a half door, so we are open to the elements. There is one electric light bulb. The site has no running water or electricity (not allowed…..) but they have installed some solar panels. The water supply is rain water and obviously precious. No showers……and the nearest toilets are at the other end of the site. 

After a lovely lunch with stunning views over the country side (spoiled by the settlements unfortunately) we set to work. There are various groups doing different things, but I am asked to do weeding together with one of our team members, John Henson. The ground is very dry and rocky, but we get the hang of how to work it after a while and I am greatly enjoying myself, as I love gardening in any form. The afternoon flies by, although we all miss the regular tea and coffee breaks we had at the building site. There is nothing like that here, but we manage with water bottles. 

We have our evening meal in a large cave, another interesting experience, and are joined by Amal, the sister. She is a remarkable woman and has many stories to tell. The basic message is that their life is made harder and harder by the Israelis, as they want them to leave, but they are not giving up. The vision for this farm, inspired by their father and further developed by his children, is to be a place for reconciliation and to promote understanding, and they feel this is needed more than ever. In addition there is the element of sustainability and eco-farming. Amal works as a physiotherapist in Bethlehem during the day, then comes back after a hard day’s work to run this place and meet visitors. I do not know how she manages….it seems too much, particularly with the lack of creature comforts, but she is a special lady. Her daily journey has been made much more difficult in recent years because the Israelis have erected a roadblock made of large boulders on the access road, so cars cannot get past. She has to walk (or drive their one car which is still on the property) to the boulders, then walk across and is met by a taxi to take her to Bethlehem. There is no reason for this at all, there is no threat from this farm in any military sense, just plain harassment by the authorities.

We spend the evening listening to her stories, and we sing lots of songs which is great fun. Then it is time for bed, which will certainly be a different experience as I have never slept in a cave! I am lucky as I brought a sleeping bag, the others have to make do with the blankets which are very thin. But we just get on with it. It gets colder and colder in the night, and many of us need to go to the toilet, which means the nearest bush outside….none of us gets much sleep! We make do with wet-wipes in the morning and there is a sink where you can brush your teeth. It’s fine really......but having to do this every day would be quite hard.

Our first job in the morning is to each plant an almond tree, which is a lovely activity. Then we go and build a retaining wall (the hill is made up of terraces). I go and hunt for suitable stones, which are then put together like a ‘dry wall’. It’s interesting and different, but after a few hours some of us are ready to drop and we have a break. Daher quickly finds us some more work to do though, but we can do this sitting down. We make wire cages to put around small trees to protect them from animals.

Everybody is pretty exhausted and after lunch it is agreed we will go back to Bethlehem and spend a few hours at the Holy Land Trust. This is a bit of a refuge…..some of us go for a beer in  Manger Square but many go up to the meditation room and fall asleep on the confortable floor cushions. We manage to get a little bit cleaner at the HLT toilets, but we are a sorry, smelly and sweaty sight. This would not matter too much if we were going back to the hostel, but instead we are spending two nights with families in Bethlehem. What a first impression!

I have been paired up with Diana, and we are picked up by Athullah who takes us to his beautiful home in Beit Sahour. His wife Jamila is waiting for us, beautifully dressed, and we have to apologise for the state we are in. But she takes little notice, as she immediately recognises us from a television report about the Battir house build. Of course this is a good subject to talk about. They both speak quite good English and regularly have people to stay. Jamila is part of an Arab dancing/singing group and has been to Holland for a cultural exchange visit. What a coincidence, as I come from Holland so we have lots to talk about! They are a lovely family and the meal they serve is really delicious. They are Muslims, but are very welcoming to Christians and have close relationships with their Christian neighbours. Indeed, some of the grandchildren attend a Christian school, even though Athullah is a religious teacher in a Muslim school. Athullah says grace before the meal, and it could just as well be a Christian prayer. They make us feel so very welcome.

We get shown to our room and have a shower and bed! What luxury after last night! It has been a good lesson for us not to take things for granted.

Tomorrow morning will be spent at the HLT and we are free to explore Bethlehem, in the afternoon we go back to Battir for the final celebrations.  

If you want to find out more about the Tent of Nations, please visit:

http://www.tentofnations.org/

Here are a few pictures of the last few days:

View over the surronding countryside from the Tent of Nations, with Israeli settlements

 Bishara Nassar's grave with his vision of reconciliation

 Weeding....

 Listening to Amal in the cave (Amal is on the left)

 Sorting ourselves out for the night in 'girl's cave'

Planting an almond tree

Building a dry stone wall

Athulla and Jamila

 One of the main shopping streets in Bethlehem

Day 8: More walls

 Day 8: more walls!

This will be the last day of building. We continue much as the day before, building walls. The difference is that it is FREEZING cold with a lot of wind. Maryam appears as usual, and Marwan decides we cannot ask her to sit in this cold weather, so she comes down to the ‘house’ (it’s beginning to look like one!), and we all find pieces of scrap wood to make a fire.  It’s a lovely idea, the makeshift fireplace acts as a focus for talks and tea breaks all day. Marwan suddenly tells us a lot about his times in prison. His stories are very hard-hitting, but he tells them as part of any conversation, suddenly he will just switch to a prison story. The treatment from the Israeli soldiers at times was very harsh indeed and he was tortured, but Marwan did not give in. He cannot have been an easy prisoner to handle!

I graduate to ‘bricklayers assistant’. I work with Mohammed and have lots of fun, handing him bricks and new buckets of cement and so on. It’s a great job. But we are both very cold….. You can see what it was like in the video and pictures below.

The next two days we will not be at Battir, as there is work to be done here where the 23 extra pairs of hands will not be of much help. So instead we will go to the Tent of Nations (to be told in the next post).

In the evening we have a lovely dinner in Bethlehem with all our friends from the Holy Land Trust. They have been great in supporting us, not just Marwan who has been the lynchpin of the whole project, but also many of the others, helping out whenever we needed a bus, lunch, a place to rest etc. 

Lia as a bricklayers assistant:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UHJv0b6pEI

 Marwan making a fire

Maryam by the fire

 The house is progressing....

 Working on the walls with Mohammed