I have left Palestine. Physically I have left Palestine about a week ago, mentally Palestine still is very much alive. During my journey I had little time to process all the given information.
So when returned to the Netherlands I felt as if someone had put me in a blender, mixed my head up with overloads of (unbelievable) new information and a mad product was created.
In two weeks’ time we had gained so much information, images, personal conversations and emotions on the Palestinian – Israeli conflict which eventually influenced me in the following manner:
So when returned to the Netherlands I felt as if someone had put me in a blender, mixed my head up with overloads of (unbelievable) new information and a mad product was created.
In two weeks’ time we had gained so much information, images, personal conversations and emotions on the Palestinian – Israeli conflict which eventually influenced me in the following manner:
During the two weeks in Palestine I had the honor of meeting the bravest, courageous, sweetest and most peaceful people that I have ever met. Our local volunteers, external guides, professors at the University, students, taxi drivers and many other people we have met in between have been so welcoming and open towards us. Able to answer any given question about Palestine’s current status as an occupied country by applying many situations on personal examples, which must have been very hurtful for them to speak of. Most people we’ve met had never been outside the West Bank while growing up, maybe to Jordan and back but not much more. Either way their reach and ability to meet other people from abroad hasn’t been that varying or easy accessible. I realized that a group of 37 people, from 15 nationalities must have had a great impact on their contact with the outer world. Still i believe that all the Palestinians we've met had even more impact on our lives!
At the end of the summer camp it didn’t just feel as if we had only taught our students some English grammar or had provided them information on our countries of origin. All the people that have been involved with organizing, coordinating and attending the summer camp had become friends in gaining and hopefully spreading knowledge on the actual situation.
At the end of the summer camp it didn’t just feel as if we had only taught our students some English grammar or had provided them information on our countries of origin. All the people that have been involved with organizing, coordinating and attending the summer camp had become friends in gaining and hopefully spreading knowledge on the actual situation.
During our final evening in Palestine we had the opportunity to say goodbye to each other through a farewell ceremony, speeches, pictures, music and dancing on Palestinian ‘Debke’. We shared knowledge, fun, laughter, sadness and eventually tears with each other. Saying goodbye to my Palestinian friends wasn’t only about thanking them for two wonderful weeks, it was much more.
It had to do with our responsibility to share our gained knowledge to ‘the outer world’, it had to do with our wanting to ever see them or the country back again. It is sad that we can't invite them to ever visit us, just for fun or to ‘guest speak’ on Palestine in any other country. Sentences as ‘I will never forget you’, ‘you have taught me so much’, ‘please, don’t forget about Palestine, come back now you have many homes here’ and ‘please, do tell others about the actual situation here’ made it even harder to say goodbye..
'So long' Ceremony:It had to do with our responsibility to share our gained knowledge to ‘the outer world’, it had to do with our wanting to ever see them or the country back again. It is sad that we can't invite them to ever visit us, just for fun or to ‘guest speak’ on Palestine in any other country. Sentences as ‘I will never forget you’, ‘you have taught me so much’, ‘please, don’t forget about Palestine, come back now you have many homes here’ and ‘please, do tell others about the actual situation here’ made it even harder to say goodbye..
Right then more than ever I realized that the country, its citizens and rich information are captivated. I realized that this has been an influence of the ongoing international politics for centuries. The media has been painting Palestinians of as terrorists, a scary country that you should never visit if you love anything that’s dear to you. Factually the roles have been the other way around and internationally we have been closing our eyes because it ‘seems to complicated’ to understand. When factually it isn’t hard to understand, we were able to understand in less than two weeks’ time. Being there made it much easier to understand the mainstream of unfair and false information we have been provided in the media or even in schools these days.
I could write on and on, on how unfair the situation on Palestine is. Factually it comes back to the basic truth that one will never fully understand how their lives look like. Not if they are shut down from speaking the truth and the ability to internationally transcend the actual every day Palestinian happenings. Not as long as our eyes remain shut from reality.
A few weeks ago awareness raising started small with 37 internationals, they will transcend their messages to 37 others and so on. Up until someday hopefully enough people will know the actual truth in order to make a real change that favors the people that have been suffering for decades.
After return I promised that same thing to myself; raise a little awareness..!
I realized I didn’t attend a farewell ceremony last week, I attended a ‘so long’ ceremony because I will return to Palestine and try to engage in other activities.
From our safe homes and countries it is easy to forget what we have seen and learned in the past weeks because it all seems so hopeless. We are small citizens that could never influence in international politics. Yet, change, revolutions and development never happend with people doing nothing and giving up before they even got started..
After return I promised that same thing to myself; raise a little awareness..!
I realized I didn’t attend a farewell ceremony last week, I attended a ‘so long’ ceremony because I will return to Palestine and try to engage in other activities.
From our safe homes and countries it is easy to forget what we have seen and learned in the past weeks because it all seems so hopeless. We are small citizens that could never influence in international politics. Yet, change, revolutions and development never happend with people doing nothing and giving up before they even got started..
Through this post I would like to thank all our sweet volunteers, students and other involved people for being patient, sweet, honest and understanding with us. It mustn’t be easy to share years of suffering with people which had no clue at all. Thank you for opening our eyes and ‘so long’!
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