The second session of Palestine Summer Encounter is winding down to a close. This week, the participants finished up their Arabic courses for the session in addition to completing the Comparative Religions courses on Islam and Judaism.
For a guest speaker this week, the participants had the chance to engage a
radically different point of view on life in Palestine—that of an Israeli settler. The group travelled to Efrat settlement, not far to the south of Bethlehem, to speak with a settler who identified himself as politically “slightly right of center.” Participants found this to be an eye-opening experience, and posed a barrage of difficult questions for the settler. After the meeting, one participant expressed that she found the meeting very “interesting to see how the truth and reality can be twisted to justify actions that run counter to a society’s and religion’s own moral beliefs.”
On Sunday, participants encountered some of the holiest religious sites of all three Abrahamic faiths as they visited the Western Wall, Temple Mount (al-Masjed al-Aqsa & al-Haram al-Shariif), and Via Dolorosa in the old city of Jerusalem.
After the tour of the old city, the group met with a representative of Rabbis for Human Rights for another interesting Israeli perspective on the political situation of the country.
The next day, some PSE participants decided to forgo their regular volunteer placements and instead lend a hand for the morning at Holy Land Trust’s Home Rebuilding Camp in al-Khader village. The participants enjoyed being able to do a little physical work, but the real joy for the day came out of meeting the incredibly grateful family and sharing a meal with them. When work for the day was finished, participants and the family went to the roof to raise a Palestinian flag—a moving symbol of the nonviolent resistance to Occupation that continuing to rebuild the house is demonstrating.
To wrap up activities for the week and the session, the PSE participants, their host families and volunteer placement organizations, along with the Home Rebuilding Camp participants and benefitting family, gathered for a ceremony to honor all participants. The highlight of the ceremony was when a small troupe of the PSE participants gave a surprise Dabkeh performance, which they had been rehearsing for the past month.
With this session concluded, Holy Land Trust has successfully carried out its session with the most participants ever in its six-year history. This has been a rewarding month for the participants and also for the staff of Holy Land Trust/Middle East Fellowship as they have interacted with participants and become very close through all the activities and sharing throughout the session. We look forward to welcoming more wonderful participants arriving in a few days and enjoying more enriching experiences in the final session as we encounter Palestine together.I only have a tiny bit of time to reflect (publicly) on a personal level about how this summer has gone since things are very busy attempting to wrap up the session as I leave, lots of participants are leaving, and my co-coordinator has to take over the program. (I will have plenty of time to reflect personally as I travel in Egypt for three weeks with my best friend who is flying over to join me in the Middle East, but I want to provide at least a bit of a conclusion for the rest of you:)
I honestly didn’t think that I was going to get this position this summer—I thought I might be considered too young to be in my role (a number of the participants this year were older than I)—but I knew that I wanted it very badly. In fact, at the end of last summer, for my final comment on my program evaluation, I wrote something to the effect of “hire me to work with the program so I can come back!” I’m not sure if that message ever reached my supervisor or if that even played any role at all in my return as coordinator of PSE (probably not), but I meant it with all of my heart; I knew that I must come back and continue to at least attempt to make a positive difference here.
How much of a difference did I make this summer? There really is no telling: much of what I did was education and relationship building, and these are not things from which we see fruit immediately (except in some rare but exciting circumstances). I can tell you all without a doubt that whether I made a real impact here, this place has certainly, once again, made a huge impact on me. My experience as a leader with PSE has been stressful and challenging, and at times tiring because of the immense amount of constant responsibility. Yet, looking back, the results—working through the challenges to result in a successful program, the deep personal friendships with Palestinians and internationals all striving toward the same goal, and the sense that I have been doing something worthwhile and Christ-honoring with the past two months—make it seem so easy; I can’t imagine having spent my time doing anything else.
I feel very privileged to have had this opportunity, especially right out of school. I had been becoming increasingly antsy since the middle of my Junior year—I wanted to stop just reading about things and start doing things! And now, here I am—I have just done something, which I know is real and I know is significant. I also know this will not be the last of it; with all that I have experienced and learned, there is no possible way that I can go back to a “normal” life. How could I sit back at ease in the States, living my own life, working only to increase my own comfort level when I know what is happening here? Whether I receive the opportunity to work here long-term or whether I am advocating from afar, I look forward to continuing seeking to do what the Lord requires.
Be back soon, inshallah.
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