May 27, 2009

Update from my last blog, which I believe left us at the Rafah border crossing. As the border guards rarely pass people through and their knowledge of the process is limited, it took us a couple of hours to be processed. We first bought a stamp, an actual postage sized stamp that we thought we would see in our passport, but didn’t. Then we waited for the processing, waiting for our names to be called to receive our passports. Then bought a bus ticket to complete the journey to the border, while our bags were handled like airline luggage. We finally completed the processing and handling to realize we were in flipping Gaza!!!!

We were taken to a very nice hotel where our local group organizers met us and gave us information on our stay. Madeline had decided to stay with a host family other than with Ibrahim’s family, as she was ready for a break from me and also wanted the student experience. Let me interject. Tara finally was with Ibrahim! I have to say, they seemed enchanted with each other. Ibrahim gave a big round of hugs, and you could feel him shaking with excitement.

Today we met back up at 8am and listened to some presenters speak about Gazan life, culture, traditions….. It was all very interesting. Then we went to a school for the deaf that focused on skills developing in woodwork, pottery, and embroidery. From here, our next stops became quite intense.

We next went to the American School that had been bombed in the winter. It is my understanding, the Israelis occupied it, when they were done using it, they bombed it. It was completely destroyed. I was very surprised they took us down to it, as members of our group, myself included, had on sandals, and the area was piles and piles of shattered glass and debris.

Then we drove up to a neighborhood that had a lot of bombing and destruction, and it was arranged that we talk to some people and hear their stories. Mind you, this is not a tourist destination, and the people we talked to were the real thing, Gazans living in homes of rubble. But compared to the next group who we visited, they were living large. The next group was a tent city. People who had lived for months in a tent, a family to a tent regardless of size, and families tend to be large. One woman, cried while she told us that at night they would joke about the tent being a form of weight loss as they all sweated so much from the intense heat. The land was dirt and there was a hot, dry wind. The women wore the black clothing with hijabs. Can’t imagine.