Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The changing face of Gilo
17 January 2010
Oh dear, oh dear, the soldier at Gilo told us that the gate will now open at 4 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. You know what that means – rise at 2:50 a.m. instead of 3:50 a.m. Great!
Actually, when we arrived at the CP this morning at 4:35, there was barely a queue, maybe 400 people. We couldn’t figure out why there were so few people but did notice that the first turnstile was already open. After a quiet, orderly crowd of 1869 had passed through the CP, we spoke to the soldier in the booth who informed us the gate will now be opening at 4 a.m. everyday. Inshala! This will substantially alter our task. We called Machsom Watch to see if they could confirm this info for us – which they did, so we are now in the process of attending the CP at 3:45 instead of 4:45 to see what happens. So far it has made an improvement in the life of a Palestinian getting to work – it’s all relative, I guess – it’s still a very demeaning process but not as demeaning as before.
This week, our team is feeling our way around Bethlehem, meeting with contacts, getting to know where we can buy what we need and just generally getting comfortable in the placement. We have hosted a delegation almost everyday - this morning 23 young Norwegians from a political youth party with sympathy for Israel, - so we had to get up to speed very quickly to sound half-way intelligent. I think that we have managed, although we need a little more communication among our group – Gunnar began in Swedish (which the Norwegians understood) and then I took over half the group but didn’t know what he had already told them. These kinks will be worked out as the days unfold.
There is one ‘baby hospital’ (comparable to CHEO) in the West Bank which is almost in our backyard. Yesterday, we had an interesting visit with the PR person, Bashir, who gave us good information about the medical care (or lack thereof) in the West Bank. This hospital has its roots in the Christian community, however, treats (and pays for) any child in need of care regardless of religious affiliation. The name of the hospital is Children’s Relief Bethlehem or the Caritas Baby Hospital and was founded in 1953 by Father Ernst Schnydrig, a Swiss man. He apparently had come to Bethlehem at Christmas to worship at the Church of the Nativity and came across a Palestinian father who was burying his dead child in the mud near Aida Refugee Camp. He was so moved by the sight that he open a 14-bed house for sick babies of the poor, which has now grown to an 82-bed hospital. It exists on charitable donations primarily through the Caritas Sisters and the Catholic dioceses in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and other European countries.
Dr. George Zoughbi, a paediatrician, took us on a tour and told us stories of the children he treats. George was educated at McGill U. and practiced in Edmonton and New York before returning to Palestine about five months ago. One little patient, a six year old girl, is in renal failure and her father and mother will not sign consent for dialysis 3 times per week – too much trouble for them and she is not worth it. We asked if the child were male, would the parents agree to treatment and he answered, sadly, yes. He said that she has been in hospital so much that the staff has become her family. She will die soon.
Another patient he introduced us to was a three-year old child who fit in the same size of bed as the new-borns (you know, the little, clear plastic bins that new-borns sleep in at our hospitals). This child suffered from a respiratory illness (asthma), caused or made worse, in large part, by second hand smoke and diesel emissions. He said that she came from a household where the men refused to give up smoking in the house. The nurse picked her up for a cuddle, took off her breathing mask and she responded with a smile for us, just before she (the child) reached for the mask again. She will die soon.
It is a very clean, well-kept hospital with good relations with the Hadassah Hospital in Israel (west Jerusalem). They said that children in need of surgery are transported by Palestinian ambulance to the CP, met by and transferred to an Israeli ambulance to continue the journey to Hadassah. The hospital staff assist parents with getting permits for the mother to travel to Jerusalem to be with the child. All expenses for the family are covered by donation.
George said his dream for the hospital would be that it become a full-service hospital with paediatric specialists in all areas, so that among other things, families would not be separated by the wall and CPs at already stressful times.
Enough of the gloomy! Did I tell you that I nearly got washed out of the CP yesterday with the rain? This is good news, the farmers really need it. When it comes down here, it really comes down in sheets.
Team issues are well in hand with cooking, cleaning and shopping being shared activities (well, almost).
Until later......still trying unsuccessfully to incorporate photos into the blog.....
Oh dear, oh dear, the soldier at Gilo told us that the gate will now open at 4 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. You know what that means – rise at 2:50 a.m. instead of 3:50 a.m. Great!
Actually, when we arrived at the CP this morning at 4:35, there was barely a queue, maybe 400 people. We couldn’t figure out why there were so few people but did notice that the first turnstile was already open. After a quiet, orderly crowd of 1869 had passed through the CP, we spoke to the soldier in the booth who informed us the gate will now be opening at 4 a.m. everyday. Inshala! This will substantially alter our task. We called Machsom Watch to see if they could confirm this info for us – which they did, so we are now in the process of attending the CP at 3:45 instead of 4:45 to see what happens. So far it has made an improvement in the life of a Palestinian getting to work – it’s all relative, I guess – it’s still a very demeaning process but not as demeaning as before.
This week, our team is feeling our way around Bethlehem, meeting with contacts, getting to know where we can buy what we need and just generally getting comfortable in the placement. We have hosted a delegation almost everyday - this morning 23 young Norwegians from a political youth party with sympathy for Israel, - so we had to get up to speed very quickly to sound half-way intelligent. I think that we have managed, although we need a little more communication among our group – Gunnar began in Swedish (which the Norwegians understood) and then I took over half the group but didn’t know what he had already told them. These kinks will be worked out as the days unfold.
There is one ‘baby hospital’ (comparable to CHEO) in the West Bank which is almost in our backyard. Yesterday, we had an interesting visit with the PR person, Bashir, who gave us good information about the medical care (or lack thereof) in the West Bank. This hospital has its roots in the Christian community, however, treats (and pays for) any child in need of care regardless of religious affiliation. The name of the hospital is Children’s Relief Bethlehem or the Caritas Baby Hospital and was founded in 1953 by Father Ernst Schnydrig, a Swiss man. He apparently had come to Bethlehem at Christmas to worship at the Church of the Nativity and came across a Palestinian father who was burying his dead child in the mud near Aida Refugee Camp. He was so moved by the sight that he open a 14-bed house for sick babies of the poor, which has now grown to an 82-bed hospital. It exists on charitable donations primarily through the Caritas Sisters and the Catholic dioceses in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and other European countries.
Dr. George Zoughbi, a paediatrician, took us on a tour and told us stories of the children he treats. George was educated at McGill U. and practiced in Edmonton and New York before returning to Palestine about five months ago. One little patient, a six year old girl, is in renal failure and her father and mother will not sign consent for dialysis 3 times per week – too much trouble for them and she is not worth it. We asked if the child were male, would the parents agree to treatment and he answered, sadly, yes. He said that she has been in hospital so much that the staff has become her family. She will die soon.
Another patient he introduced us to was a three-year old child who fit in the same size of bed as the new-borns (you know, the little, clear plastic bins that new-borns sleep in at our hospitals). This child suffered from a respiratory illness (asthma), caused or made worse, in large part, by second hand smoke and diesel emissions. He said that she came from a household where the men refused to give up smoking in the house. The nurse picked her up for a cuddle, took off her breathing mask and she responded with a smile for us, just before she (the child) reached for the mask again. She will die soon.
It is a very clean, well-kept hospital with good relations with the Hadassah Hospital in Israel (west Jerusalem). They said that children in need of surgery are transported by Palestinian ambulance to the CP, met by and transferred to an Israeli ambulance to continue the journey to Hadassah. The hospital staff assist parents with getting permits for the mother to travel to Jerusalem to be with the child. All expenses for the family are covered by donation.
George said his dream for the hospital would be that it become a full-service hospital with paediatric specialists in all areas, so that among other things, families would not be separated by the wall and CPs at already stressful times.
Enough of the gloomy! Did I tell you that I nearly got washed out of the CP yesterday with the rain? This is good news, the farmers really need it. When it comes down here, it really comes down in sheets.
Team issues are well in hand with cooking, cleaning and shopping being shared activities (well, almost).
Until later......still trying unsuccessfully to incorporate photos into the blog.....
Friday, January 15, 2010
Beit Lehem blog, 15 Jan 2010
Back in full swing, but with slightly different angles this time.
Team 34 met in Jerusalem to get to know each other and to have our extensive orientation sessions. The ‘Bethlehem Braves’, as we dubbed ourselves, is a group made up of 3 lovely souls plus me: Phil Lucas (retired head teacher) from Scotland, Gunnar Stenbeck (retired pastor) from Sweden and Sabine Blum (retired midwife) from Switzerland. We are all approximately the same age and stage in life, with spouses at home, children and grandchildren dispersed around the world. Yesterday, we held a family ‘show and tell’ of stories and photographs. I think that the Bethlehem Braves are off to a good start which is not to be said for all 6 groups of Team 34. One girl has already been moved into the Jerusalem team due to a medical condition which was not disclosed to EAPPI prior to coming. We all wish her well and hope it works out.
Our tasks will be similar to the duties I performed on my last stay, of course, with a much stronger focus on the plight of Christians living in the not-so-Holy Holy Land. Our compulsory tasks include Gilo checkpoint (CP) or CP 300 watch, accompanying visiting international delegations in Bethlehem (most are interested in the CP), attendance at one of the many churches in Bethlehem, visiting villages: Al Walaja, An Nu’man, Jubbet adh Dhib, Al-Khader, Umm Salamonu, Al Masara and more, accompanying school children at An Nu’man and Tuq’ua, and visiting refugee camps (three, in and around Bethlehem). We have regular visits to organizations such as United Nations (UNOCHA), and Red Cross (ICRC) to discuss problems we see at CPs and in the villages.
The chaos which is Gilo CP is difficult to describe in words but there are a couple of good You Tube videos that capture the scene. Try googling ‘You Tube - Bethlehem checkpoint 4 a.m.’ (and be patient, it takes a while to view with the annoying stops and starts). We get up at 3:45 to arrive at 4:30 a.m. to begin our watch. One of us stays near the first turnstile to ensure that the Israeli soldiers arrive on time to open the CP and then to count the number of Palestiaians passing. In theory, the IDF should already be there because there is a Humanitarian Lane which should be open 24/7. In practice, this is not always the case. Palestinians are simply trying to get to work on time, something we all take for granted – except during snow storms – but the CP process can take them an hour or two to pass through. Meanwhile, the other team member enters the terminal to monitor the metal detector lines and ID booths. We are usually in the checkpoint between 2 and 4 hours, but occasionally as long as 6 hours (hasn’t happened yet but then again we have only done one CP duty). The reward for me in this challenging setting is to go back to our apartment and cook up a big bowl of Canadian produced Quaker oats which I can buy in Jerusalem. Coupled with a cup of Nescafe instant, what could be better?
We have been informed by our Jerusalem office that we have 5 delegations arriving in the next 6 days. These delegations can be from a variety of organizations/countries such as churches or perhaps parliamentarians who would like to be escorted through Gilo CP, and to be told about the situation ‘on the ground’ as they say. We have different things that we can do with them depending on how much time their tour has given them to be here. I personally am looking forward to this activity because it is not something that would have happened in Tulkarm.
Today, we walked in our first demonstration in Umm Salamonu/Al Masara and it was completely peaceful. With about 2 dozen soldiers blocking the road out of town and on rooftops, forty to fifty locals and internationals walked through town to where the soldiers had razor wire strung across the road. It always causes anxiety wondering if some Palestinian teenager will throw a rock at the soldiers and start a chain of events with sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets. The organizer, Machmud, spoke to everyone stressing the need for calm because the army had been in the villages last night but did not arrest anyone and they wanted to keep the peace.
At 5:30 p.m. today, we are going to attend a worship service held at the wall by the Sisters of Caritas, a local group of nuns who run a Baby Hospital in Bethlehem. They conduct this service every Friday, weather permitting, so it will be a regular event for us.
I apologize to those of you who asked and I told you I would continue my blog under the Accompanier. My technology skills, being what they are, did not enable me to go back to it in English. It kept appearing in Arabic!
Back to blogging in Beit Lehem another day.......
Disclaimer:
Susan Palmai works for The United Church of Canada as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches/Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer (The United Church of Canada) or the WCC. If you would like to publish the information contained here or disseminate it further, please first contact the EAPPI Communications and Advocacy Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission.
Team 34 met in Jerusalem to get to know each other and to have our extensive orientation sessions. The ‘Bethlehem Braves’, as we dubbed ourselves, is a group made up of 3 lovely souls plus me: Phil Lucas (retired head teacher) from Scotland, Gunnar Stenbeck (retired pastor) from Sweden and Sabine Blum (retired midwife) from Switzerland. We are all approximately the same age and stage in life, with spouses at home, children and grandchildren dispersed around the world. Yesterday, we held a family ‘show and tell’ of stories and photographs. I think that the Bethlehem Braves are off to a good start which is not to be said for all 6 groups of Team 34. One girl has already been moved into the Jerusalem team due to a medical condition which was not disclosed to EAPPI prior to coming. We all wish her well and hope it works out.
Our tasks will be similar to the duties I performed on my last stay, of course, with a much stronger focus on the plight of Christians living in the not-so-Holy Holy Land. Our compulsory tasks include Gilo checkpoint (CP) or CP 300 watch, accompanying visiting international delegations in Bethlehem (most are interested in the CP), attendance at one of the many churches in Bethlehem, visiting villages: Al Walaja, An Nu’man, Jubbet adh Dhib, Al-Khader, Umm Salamonu, Al Masara and more, accompanying school children at An Nu’man and Tuq’ua, and visiting refugee camps (three, in and around Bethlehem). We have regular visits to organizations such as United Nations (UNOCHA), and Red Cross (ICRC) to discuss problems we see at CPs and in the villages.
The chaos which is Gilo CP is difficult to describe in words but there are a couple of good You Tube videos that capture the scene. Try googling ‘You Tube - Bethlehem checkpoint 4 a.m.’ (and be patient, it takes a while to view with the annoying stops and starts). We get up at 3:45 to arrive at 4:30 a.m. to begin our watch. One of us stays near the first turnstile to ensure that the Israeli soldiers arrive on time to open the CP and then to count the number of Palestiaians passing. In theory, the IDF should already be there because there is a Humanitarian Lane which should be open 24/7. In practice, this is not always the case. Palestinians are simply trying to get to work on time, something we all take for granted – except during snow storms – but the CP process can take them an hour or two to pass through. Meanwhile, the other team member enters the terminal to monitor the metal detector lines and ID booths. We are usually in the checkpoint between 2 and 4 hours, but occasionally as long as 6 hours (hasn’t happened yet but then again we have only done one CP duty). The reward for me in this challenging setting is to go back to our apartment and cook up a big bowl of Canadian produced Quaker oats which I can buy in Jerusalem. Coupled with a cup of Nescafe instant, what could be better?
We have been informed by our Jerusalem office that we have 5 delegations arriving in the next 6 days. These delegations can be from a variety of organizations/countries such as churches or perhaps parliamentarians who would like to be escorted through Gilo CP, and to be told about the situation ‘on the ground’ as they say. We have different things that we can do with them depending on how much time their tour has given them to be here. I personally am looking forward to this activity because it is not something that would have happened in Tulkarm.
Today, we walked in our first demonstration in Umm Salamonu/Al Masara and it was completely peaceful. With about 2 dozen soldiers blocking the road out of town and on rooftops, forty to fifty locals and internationals walked through town to where the soldiers had razor wire strung across the road. It always causes anxiety wondering if some Palestinian teenager will throw a rock at the soldiers and start a chain of events with sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets. The organizer, Machmud, spoke to everyone stressing the need for calm because the army had been in the villages last night but did not arrest anyone and they wanted to keep the peace.
At 5:30 p.m. today, we are going to attend a worship service held at the wall by the Sisters of Caritas, a local group of nuns who run a Baby Hospital in Bethlehem. They conduct this service every Friday, weather permitting, so it will be a regular event for us.
I apologize to those of you who asked and I told you I would continue my blog under the Accompanier. My technology skills, being what they are, did not enable me to go back to it in English. It kept appearing in Arabic!
Back to blogging in Beit Lehem another day.......
Disclaimer:
Susan Palmai works for The United Church of Canada as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches/Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer (The United Church of Canada) or the WCC. If you would like to publish the information contained here or disseminate it further, please first contact the EAPPI Communications and Advocacy Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission.
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