Day 0
It’s almost time to leave and most things are sorted out. There
was a last flurry of activity and the difficult choice of what to take with me,
complicated by the fact that I have never packed a suitcase with the aim of
building a house before! In the end I settled for ‘old and serviceable’ with
additional layers in case it would be cold or wet. (This proved to be a
sensible precaution…) The last farewells from friends and family this morning were
lovely and moving ‒ with many people praying for me, the team and the project
and promising to keep doing this every day……I am driving to Reading to stay overnight with Lindsey, another member of the
team, as it is a very early flight tomorrow.
Finally we are here in Bethlehem! It was great to see all the members of the group again (we haven't seen each other since the briefing day), but of course we had all forgotten each others names. There are 25 of us, so it is going to take a while to get to know everyone. No trouble at the airport, we hope we are below the radar of the authorities. Re-building a home is an illegal activity under Israeli law, but we would argue it is more than legal under humanitarian or moral law.
We are staying in the Holy Savior seminary in Beit Sahour, a simple but clean and comfortable guesthouse run by the Melkite Church. Tomorrow will be an orientation day where we will visit the Holy Land Trust (HLT, our partner running the project), Battir village and the site of the house. We will also meet the family.
Day 2
We started the day with a lovely breakfast of tomatoes, little cucumbers, pitta bread and yoghurt. It makes a change from my usual fruit bowl! There is a minibus to take us around, supplemented by Marwan’s car. Marwan is the project worker from the HLT. He was our guide for one day on the St. Paul's alternative pilgrimage to Palestine in October 2012. He is an amazing person, full of stories and jokes and with the biggest heart you have ever come across. People are what he cares about and he will always help a friend in need. Everyone in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour knows Marwan! We were shown a short but very moving video with interviews with the home owners Abed and Wa’fat, describing their home demolition and the effect it has had on them and their family (see link below). At least we know why we are here!
We drove to Battir village and had a look around. It is absolutely beautiful with ancient terraces and Roman springs and pools. They are trying to achieve UNESCO protected status, and much work has been done to create paths and places of interest for visitors. We visited one of the springs; I had hurt my thumb earlier and held it in the cold water as it was throbbing. Within minutes somebody from the village appeared with a bandage and antiseptic spray, and my thumb was bandaged with several of the village children looking on. How lovely and kind these people are!
We visited the site of the demolished house, which is high up on a hill looking out over the valley to a large settlement. If the separation wall gets built by the Israelis as intended, it will go across the valley and completely encircle and cut off the village, except for one point of access. We were welcomed formally by the mayor and thanked for our help and our solidarity with the Palestinian people. Wa’fat spoke about her feelings, how she did not believe at first this project would happen and that she had only come back to the site of the house one week ago. It was too difficult for her before that time to face the rubble. Much of it is still there, you can find the odd plastic toy between the stones, but a space has been cleared in the middle and moulds created for the pillars to support the house. We all waited for the ‘elephant’ (see photo below) to come and fill the moulds with cement, which marked the real start of the building and was very exciting and interesting to watch.
We spent some time in the afternoon looking around Bethlehem, visiting Aida refugee camp and the wall. Stark reminders of why we are here…..
It’s been a very good beginning to the project but I can’t wait to get started tomorrow. I have come to build and am very impatient! I hope there is going to be enough work for all 25 of us…
Video showing the interview with Wa’fat and Abed:
Photos:
At the Holy Land Trust:
The site of the house with the pillars in place:
Wa’fat with two of her sons, speaking about the demolition. On the left Marwan, the project worker, on the right some of the village elders.
Part of the separation wall, with a burnt watchtower as a protest.
Aida refugee camp:
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