week two and a bit

So, I had arrived in Beit Sahour.

The family was lovely, the "Azars" which used to be one of the rulling families in Palestine, they were lovely comfortable middle class Christians with one son studying abroad and the other "Azar Azar" - love the name - had just returned from working as an accountant in Dublin.

They made me nice nosh and they had such a nice shower... Ahhhh... warm and powerful. Such a nice break. I only think I've actually washed 4/5 times since i've been here and it's usually been a cold dribble. I indulged and used their Israeli made shampoo.... felt a bit guilty afterwards but it was nice, and my hair was a greazy lanky mess!

So on the way to the house, I was being picked up by an activist that Adie met on the internet, which worked out just in time. She found me the family, a bit expensive for my liking so i only stayed there two nights.

As I was waiting for her on the high street I sat down with all my baggage to read a book. I got up, unknowingly leaving my - or should I say my mother's, really nice little videocamera on the street.

I had realised that it was gone the next morning, I ran to the road with bare feet, dodging the broken glass and having the kids laugh at me, to find that, at 830am the next morning, of course, it had gone. So I asked at the garage, they gave me more strange looks and said to come back when the security was here incase the CCTV picked anthing up, but they all just missed the spot where i was sat.

So, sorry mum!! I'll pay you back.

I still have the charger and spare CDs... so some lucky palestinian has got some really nice footage! A smashing interview with a female policy writer in a taxi, kids' analysis of the situation, some of the natural beauty, an amazing shot of Nablus from a hilltop that I climed with my rucksack on, and footage of checkpoints and walls and grafiti.

I was quite sad that I had lost it and lost the opportunity to catch some of my experiences on film, but I remain unattached and happy and blessed that I can relax about catching things on film and just being aware of what's going on :)

So back to the Azars. The first night in Beit Sahour, the activist told me about a talk going on, which was the one that inspired the investigation into the prisons, a guy from Al-Haq talking about his experiences. Saw a load of Europeans and Americans. Italians, Swedish and Norwegian, Irish and US. It was wierd. I always find it strange seeing other whiteys here as I probably want to pretend that I'm more a part of the community than I really am. It was good.

So on Monday I started volunteering full time with the "Holy Land Trust". It's motto is "strengthening communities for the future". It works on youth projects - mainly exploring kids' identity and their affiliations. It organises non-violent resistance. It trains local leaders, government officials, political parties, faith leaders etc. etc. in "non-linear thinking" with the aim of finding non-violent solutions to situations in the conflict and showing people that they are more powerful - still left to be 100% convinced but I'm getting there. It also runs what I first thought was a travel agency but is actually a really well respected "travel and encounter" program, exposing the occupation to Americans and Israeli Jews mainly. If you have only a couple of weeks in the summer and fancy a holiday, this may be a good way to do it, you can do vlunteering based, study based or talour it. I still think that the air miles aren't worth it so much but... Hey the truth needs to get out.

So I've been editing English mainly, but also doing a lot of personal organising and random facebook stuff. Which is probably an indication that I'm not totally committed to the progam yet. I know it's a long term approach but it doesn't feel nearly as effective as the kind of organising and activism that you can do in England. And I really have a problem with the formalised set up.

It's an NGO, a Palestinian NGO, and the people that work for it are amazing, they really are. They want an end to the occupation more than anything else, but it doesn't feel like they think that what they are doing is going to have an effect. The talk at lunch is small talk, it's like an office in England, everyone except the founder clocks off at office hours. They work hard and the dynamic in the office is really co-operative, but it is really an office, not an action station. SO i will give it my best but will probably move to an Israeli organisation called ICAHD, Israeli committee against house demolitions. They look fantastic and I met a nice woman from there.

need to go right now but i'll resume in a bit. x