A girls' point of view

Ryanne or I could not have fully prepared ourselves for the change in social dynamics that we would experience in Palestine - as women. On the surface, we prioritized dressing appropriately, by not showing too much skin - no ankles, no midriff, no cleavage etc. We wore long skirts, scarfs around our waist and shoulders, and we wore long sleeves despite the discomfort in high temperature. In spite of our efforts, we had bread and stones thrown at us on several occasions.

Surrounded by the men in the Music4Music ensemble and the largely male volunteers our contact with women was limited. But what follows highlights the few intimate moments we experienced in our time in Palestine.

In most of the workshops young girls were confident and eager to be equally involved. They showed no hesitation to stand up and conduct or dance for us. We questioned at what age are they no longer allowed to express such confidence. Often their mothers would be very enthusiastic and clapped throughout the whole workshop. We were unshure as to whether this was due to the lack of adult men in this environment. Women seemed in awe and fascinated by both our physical appearance and comfort in being not only in the presence of men, but also working with our western colleagues on an equal level.

The majority of girls appeared to all complete a degree at university. Sadly it seems their graduation is shortly followed by a marriage and a life out of the public domain. This seems to be the only option. Florian questioned whether women didn't realize the extent to which they were oppressed, because they knew of nothing else besides their own culture.
After our first workshop at a University in Nablus two female students came up to us to ask our email addresses. Three days later, when we were in an internet cafe, we spoke to them on MSN and they were both very afraid that we would forget about them. They seemed to really look up to us.

In Salfit we met a volunteer who worked for a christian mission. Whe she joined us for take-away lunch (pita falafel on the streets) we were surprised when she revealed it was the first time for her to eat out on a public street. Later we found out that she was betrothed to a man she had not met. She was determined not to marry a man that has been chosen for her by the mother of her future husband, and is currently undertaking a lawsuit to brake this engagement. This seemed very brave and unique for a woman not to conform to the social expectations of her community. She was putting herself in a very vulnerable situation, perhaps her desire for freedom was greater than her desire for acceptance within the community. As an unmarried and childless woman in her thirties I was regarded as being unlucky. As far as I'm concerned solitude is more desirable than oppression. Or maybe I just haven't found the right man yet!
Not that we were short of marriage proposals from eligable and attractive young Palestinians (counting 10 and up....)

Another aspect of the differences between non-muslim and muslim culture regarding women, is that in public there can never be any displays of affection between men and women. Surprisingly enough, men are really close and intimate as are women, but never mixed.
Most muslim women don't even shake hands with men.
Both of us found it difficult constantly being surrounded by displays of affection which we could not experience, let alone return. At home we are both used to displaying affection to friends, also men. As we became closer to the volunteers it was very difficult not to express ourselves. This was extremely hard every time we had to say goodbye to people who were spending up to 14 hours a day with us.

On the issue of clothing: paraded in shopwindows were revealing western fashions such as short skirts and sleeveless tops. None of which could be seen on any women on the street.
It was revealed to us that before the second Intifada women openly wore this attire and did not feel pressured to wear the headcover. We found out that the only situation where they do wear these fashions is in the privacy of their homes or girl parties.

On the positive side we both feel that our presence in Palestine at least gave women and girls an intimate insight into another existence. They wore the most warm and respectful women,but there was always a sadness in their eyes.
In our last days in Jericho we discovered that the young Palestinian men around us did not have an issue with us behaving and dressing as western women. This became very apparent when we went swimming in the Dead Sea. They appeared to be OK with us wearing bathingsuits, as long as there were no other people around that would hassle us.
They have been gentlemen to us from day one, protecting, guiding and informing us about these difficulties, always willing to translate what people in the streets were shouting at us, or explaining certain cultural assumptions men had about western women.

Both of us hope to explore the dynamics of life for the Palestinian women in greater detail when we return in the future.


Kirrily and Ryanne

Saying goodbyes...

Here I am, sitting behind the same computer in the same hostel in Jerusalem as two weeks ago.
We're back where we started, and our time in Nablus seems to be a dream.

For the last three days we've been gradually saying goodbyes to all the people who have come so close to us in the last two weeks. All the volunteers from project Hope, with whom we have spent such intense experiences. Today we gave our final performance in Jericho, in the morning with the circus and at night just the music. After this mornings performance, the last circuse-people from Project Hope went back to Nablus. They were really holding on to their clowning-skills, because I think we all were near tears.
It is amazing to see how close you can get with people who at day one were complete strangers and today dear friends. As the Palestinians put it: family.
Before we departed to this country I had been thinking a lot about what to expect, but I would have never gessed that the Palestinians we would be spending our days with would be the way they are: the most warm, integre and open people you can imagine. They completely welcomed us into their lives and homes, without any hesitation, which has been the most beautiful thing I have experienced here.

So tomorrow our last day in Jerusalem, then a flight back to Amsterdam to the "real" world, with a sad feeling to leave but very thankful for this amazing trip.

Ryanne

Bob in Jericho

I will attempt to pen a few tales from the Holy Land, in particular the WestBank of Palestine where (for those of you who don't know) I have come with agroup of 6 musicians to hold musical workshops for children in RefugeeCamps, towns and villages. The aim is to provide some musical "relief" fromthe effects of the Israeli occupation which hit everybody very hard here -it's a difficult place to grow up.We have done about 5 workshops so far, including in Balata Refugee camp, theUniversity, an Orphanage, the childrens wards in the Hospital and a largecollaborative party with a Palestinian Circus. We try to perform some ofour own music (which includes Mozart and Schubert Arias, Mexican Mariachimusic, Mack the Knife, Bach (instrumental and chorales), Gershwin,Mussorgsky, Jazz standards for example) and also to have interactive musicgames, and opportunities for the children to conduct us. We also encouragethe kids to sing their own songs and dance their own dances for us.It is a lot of fun for everybody - the Palestinians, I think, find it veryamusing to hear an "operatic" voice, and to hear this "bizarre" westernmusic full of harmony (Arabic music tends not to focus on harmonic elementsof the music, generally rhythm and a melodic line). We were asked by thestudents at the university "Why don't you use percussion in the Mozart?" towhich I replied "Why doen't your music have harmony?" The most successfulparts of the workshops for us are when we find possibilities to combinetheir musical and artistic cultures with our own. For example, jamming to asong that is sung to us, with a Local on the drum (they all seem to befantastic drummers) and getting up to dance with the children. Also wespent an evening preparing a childrens party with a young new circus here,to provide music to accompany the acrobatics, Diablo, clowning and
300 kids enraptured - this integration of ourselves and the Palestinianartists was the most rewarding thing we have done so far.The Palestinians are unbelievably welcoming hosts and take so much care ofus. We spend lots of time with them when we are not doing our music andlearn lots from them about their situation. From this, and from just seeinghow things work around here, it is hard to see how the Palestinians can beoptimistic about what is portrayed recently in the Western Media as"Cease-Fire and progress in the Peace Process." The reality, as I have seenand heard, is that their freedom of movement is still restricted (though notas much as when we came last year - the notorious Hwara Checkpoint outsideNablus was comparatively a breeze to get through), their economy is stillbeing strangled as a result of this, the wall is still going up and dividingcommunities and farmers from their farmland. Israeli military incursionsinto the Nablus Refugee Camps are down to "only about 3 times a week now" asthe Director of the Hospital told us and has resulted in a massive drop inwounded admitted to Hospital - though when Israeli Checkpoints outsideNablus are tightened, they see patient attendance at the hspital drop to asmuch as 20% the normal. (also 50% of the hospital staff live outside Nablusand have to commute through the checks to work.) But think how theseinvasions of the camps affect the children growing up in them - during ourworkshop in Balata, gun shots were heard fairly close by, but I didn\'t see asingle child flinch or turn his head. It is so normal here. There arestatistics from humanitarian organisations working here that a largepercentage of children suffer from post-traumatic stress. We are very awareof the short time we can put smiles on the childrens faces, but can only",1]
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unicycling - the resulting show was a lot of fun and had the crowd of about300 kids enraptured - this integration of ourselves and the Palestinianartists was the most rewarding thing we have done so far.The Palestinians are unbelievably welcoming hosts and take so much care ofus. We spend lots of time with them when we are not doing our music andlearn lots from them about their situation. From this, and from just seeinghow things work around here, it is hard to see how the Palestinians can beoptimistic about what is portrayed recently in the Western Media as"Cease-Fire and progress in the Peace Process." The reality, as I have seenand heard, is that their freedom of movement is still restricted (though notas much as when we came last year - the notorious Hwara Checkpoint outsideNablus was comparatively a breeze to get through), their economy is stillbeing strangled as a result of this, the wall is still going up and dividingcommunities and farmers from their farmland. Israeli military incursionsinto the Nablus Refugee Camps are down to "only about 3 times a week now" asthe Director of the Hospital told us and has resulted in a massive drop inwounded admitted to Hospital - though when Israeli Checkpoints outsideNablus are tightened, they see patient attendance at the hspital drop to asmuch as 20% the normal. (also 50% of the hospital staff live outside Nablusand have to commute through the checks to work.) But think how theseinvasions of the camps affect the children growing up in them - during ourworkshop in Balata, gun shots were heard fairly close by, but I didn't see asingle child flinch or turn his head. It is so normal here. There arestatistics from humanitarian organisations working here that a largepercentage of children suffer from post-traumatic stress. We are very awareof the short time we can put smiles on the childrens faces, but can only
that it does. We had to cancel a childrens party in Askar Refugee Campyesterday as a "Wanted" man, living near the centre where the party was tobe held. had been killed by the military the day before. Some say he shotfirst, some say it was them.But its not just the kids who have problems. one of our hosts is 18 andstill has to sleep with his mother sometimes. If he cant get to sleep atnight, he is often late for school in the morning. When he was 16 he wastaken by the military for 3 days - a harrowing tale - he went for a soldierwhen his mother was pushed around by them. They put him in a 2 x 2 metrecell with 10 other men overnight, apparently with food enough for 2 that hadbeen left out in the sun for a while. Then he was taken to a prison near TelAviv for a couple of days where he was interrogated for hours at a time,throughout the day. He finished his tale by telling how he was left in aJewish stettlement where he was chased off by settlers (with guns), runningfor his life it appears, until he found refuge in an arabic home. Who cansay how much of it is true, all I can say is he told it very sincerely. Healso told me about a missile attack from a helicopter on a car at the end ofhis road. Because he is a medical relief worker, he helped to take thecharred body out of the car (it gets a bit gruesome here), the shoes weremelted on to the pedals, so he had to pull the leg out of the shoe - but theleg was too hot to touch for a while, as he pulled the head off the steeringwheel, the skin from the head came away onto his clothes, and the hands hadto be peeled off the steering wheel. He told me other tales of how a coupleof his close friends had been killed by military attacks (shot for throwingstones at tanks). And the morning before we arrived in Nablus, he ha been",1]
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hope it makes a little difference. Our hosts are marvellously reassuringthat it does. We had to cancel a childrens party in Askar Refugee Campyesterday as a "Wanted" man, living near the centre where the party was tobe held. had been killed by the military the day before. Some say he shotfirst, some say it was them.But its not just the kids who have problems. one of our hosts is 18 andstill has to sleep with his mother sometimes. If he cant get to sleep atnight, he is often late for school in the morning. When he was 16 he wastaken by the military for 3 days - a harrowing tale - he went for a soldierwhen his mother was pushed around by them. They put him in a 2 x 2 metrecell with 10 other men overnight, apparently with food enough for 2 that hadbeen left out in the sun for a while. Then he was taken to a prison near TelAviv for a couple of days where he was interrogated for hours at a time,throughout the day. He finished his tale by telling how he was left in aJewish stettlement where he was chased off by settlers (with guns), runningfor his life it appears, until he found refuge in an arabic home. Who cansay how much of it is true, all I can say is he told it very sincerely. Healso told me about a missile attack from a helicopter on a car at the end ofhis road. Because he is a medical relief worker, he helped to take thecharred body out of the car (it gets a bit gruesome here), the shoes weremelted on to the pedals, so he had to pull the leg out of the shoe - but theleg was too hot to touch for a while, as he pulled the head off the steeringwheel, the skin from the head came away onto his clothes, and the hands hadto be peeled off the steering wheel. He told me other tales of how a coupleof his close friends had been killed by military attacks (shot for throwingstones at tanks). And the morning before we arrived in Nablus, he had been helping to evcuate a 10 year old boy who had been shot in the head by a plastic bullet - he was shot in a kind of cemetary - when they arrived atone exit, the military had blocked it; when they went to another, themilitary had blocked that also, eventually they went back to the first oneto put the boy in the ambulance. So these are just the tales of one normalguy here...even if just some of it's true, Im not surprised he has to go and sleep with his mum sometimes.

We are actually now in Jericho, working with Palestinian circus - a chancecombination that is working very well to entertain the children here...itmight have a good future, european music and palestinian circus, LOOKOUT!!!!!

Ill be back soon, take care all.you can read this and other notes from the other musicians on www.musicformusic.blogspot.com

Bob / Rob / Robert

Days in Jericho

Everyone of us seems to have gotten on the Bloggin spirit (now at the end of the trip...) so I'll keep mine short:

This country is so full of diversity it really is amazing! Now, having completely descended into the dessert valley that surrounds Jericho, we find such a different country that we face new challenges in our regular workshops.

Jericho is a beautiful place and we're very happy to have the opportunity to play in this area as well. In addition to the regular workshops, we've been able to organize that the "Small Circus" from Nablus join us as well. This means that our concerts for children have grown to include musical and circus combinations of juggling, acrobatics, Diablos, clowns, and stilts! This has been an amazing way to reach more children with the same goal, and work very closely with a Palestinian artistic group- which is a refreshing and exciting way to work with the wonderful people from this area of the world.

More later,
Thomas Myrmel

Arrival in Salifit

After a long wonderful "goodbye" party in Nablus, we awoke early to put ourselves and all our belongings into a small car and go back to Ha'wara checkpoint. Our esteemed volunteer, Issam, joined for the voyage from Nablus to Salifit; a mere 20 kilometers from from the edges of Nablus.

However, this trip took us easily more than one hour due to the several checkpoints between the two cities. After a safe arrival in Salifit, Issam returned back to Nablus, which, as an single palestinian male took him over 4 hrs.

In Salifit working with the Hanan center, we've managed to organize three workshops for today and tomorrow. Its been wonderful to step out of the large city of Nablus for a short while, and work with a center organized to help the villages, 21 villages, in the area. Already today we managed to play a wonderful workshop for 50 children in the Hanan center. They sang for us, we played for them, and finally we played together,

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day.

Tom

Circus in Nablus

There is so much to be done in Nablus and in Palestine. But there are people helping. Many of the volunteers that come through the West bank are amazed at the situation, especially in Nablus. This city was once a great metropolitan arabic city, but since the 2nd intifada 2002, the city has been under constant siege. The violence that occurs here doesn't even make the news any more since it has become part of daily life. Every night the neighborhood called the old city is raided, sometimes in search for rebels and sometimes only to remind the people of the occupation of their city. The situation is hard- and it shows on the faces of the people and children around us. Often when sitting and talking, as in anywhere in the world, the subject of age comes up- but in Nablus, no volunteer is able to correctly guess the age of the palestinian person. The events the children live through here take years off of their lives and leave them growing to adulthood long before they should.

In the midst of all this, there are some that are aware of what they call "their duty" to the community. In the month before we arrived, project hope organised workshops with a circus from Germany. This circus arranged funding to provide Nablus with circus equipment of thier own. And now, two weeks after, they have started their own circus. The first circus in all of palestine. Our organisation, Music for Music had the chance yesterday morning to perform with them for 300 children. Complete with clowns, stilts, juggling, and acrobatics this circus has a future making children happy.

But its not easy. Last night we had a meeting with the Coordinator from Project hope about the possibility of looking for support in NGO's in Europe. The situation is difficult, but the dream is clear. The goal is to make this circus the first professional circus in Palestine- and to make it free. We are going to help as much as we can, but it takes alot, and we're just beginning ourselves.

Through all of this, we will find a way. But now, I'm going to eat some Kanafa (Palestinian sweet cheese- I'm in love with the food here.)

That's all for now.

Thomas

First impressions

Its already five days since we arrived in this part of the world, and it seems to be five weeks. The environment is so different, the smells, the sounds, the colors of the houses and the city; around every corner there is always another thing to see. The rhythm of life seems to be stretched here, and we have to deal with the events of the day. Today for example, we had to cancel a workshop because of the death of a neighbor due to Israeli invasion. But its also amazing to see how the people here live with this events on a daily basis in their lives; they recieve it so calmly.

We started to work with children, and this experience is also quite surprising, because the children appear very happy to see us. They are so open and ready to welcome us, that its hard to imagine what they have already experienced in thier young lives. I even feel that is was easier to make music with them than in some of the schools in Europe. Perhaps because they seek real refuge in the music from living in such tension on a daily basis. They really know when they are happy, it happens so little. Today is already friday, the day of rest, so we'll breath a little; but I'm looking forward to do more in the coming days.

After these four days in Nablus we will go to a smaller village not too far from here to make some more workshops. After that we will head south to Jericho, then return to Europe. There is so much to be done here, sometimes it feels like the drop in the bucket just isn't enough.

Until the next post, Florian and Thomas.

Busy day

After a day of traveling from Jerusalem to Nablus, we arrived in Nablus well rested and ready to make some music. After a short rehearsal and an evening of conversation we awoke to our first day in Nablus city. We went first to the Al Najahe university to meet some of the music students in Nablus University and make an exchange of our western musical heritage in turn for some of the palestinian music. We played, they played, then we played together. At first the students, although eager to hear us, we very shy, but again music opened the communication where we shared in the differences of the ways in which we make the same art.

After lunch at the university, we made our way into the Balata refugee camp to work with the children for the first time. A group of about 30 boys and 10 girls waited eagerly to hear, play and smile. The music we played, some short pieces from Schubert, Mozart, and Bernstein as well as some eastern european and mexican folk music. The result was phenominal! The smiles on thier faces was bigger than any I've ever seen. The attention they gave and fun that they had reminded us why we came here.

In the midst of these workshops we met with a small circus that we will perform with tomorrow, and many meeting- always with tea, to discuss the situation, the problems, and the beauty of our lives bringing us together.

Now to bed and prepare for another day.

Tom

Culture-shock

After spending less than two days in Jerusalem I can already say this has been quite a culture-shock... Especially for somewhone who has never been outside Europe! The world we entered yesterday cannot be compared to home in Holland. Everything is different; languages, alphabet, weather, food, houses, nature, social values, ... Jerusalem is quite an outstanding place to be, having all kinds of religion mixed in one city. We walked around in the old part of the city yesterday and today, taking in all these colours, sounds and smells. We enjoyed a good cup of Palestinian coffee (which is so strong that you won't be sleepy for the next four hours...) and a good nagila (waterpipe), and met some really interesting people. What kind of hit me was actually seeing the wall outside Jerusalem, dividing Palestine from the rest. An eight meter high concrete fence. Today we also did some serious rehearsing to get our music to a higher level and talked about how we expect the workshops to go, though that is (at least for those who weren't here last year) quite hard to imagine or plan. I've started to get to know this country but I already feel that we can really do some nice things for the kids we'll be visiting.

'till next weblog - Ryanne

Arrival

Arrival from Holland to Israel is like a sunrise.

We stay in a small international hostel near the Damascus gate to the old city in Jerusalem where every day more volunteers are moving in and out in order to help the situation in Israel/Palestine. Every evening is full of conversations around mint tea about the possibility of peace, about the struggle of a people, about the miscommunication, about the future. Last night, two irishman arrived with a harmonica- soon all the intruments were out, there was dancing, singing, and smiles as the musical banter escalated into the night. This is just a beginning for us, but how refreshing it is to see the music on the faces of every person in the room.

Tomorrow we will take a shared taxi into the west bank, through several checkpoints to our destination: Nablus. There we will play and sing and learn for the next three days.

more soon to follow;

Opening of Music for Music 2005

Music for Music

Palestine 2005

As I'm sitting here in my squatted house on the west side of Amsterdam, its hard to decide how to open such a documentation of what may transpire in the next few weeks.

As many of you reading this know, last year Robert Smith approached me to organize a project of music in the form of humanitarian relief to the children in the refugee camps in the occupied territories in Palestine. After the powerful impact we felt through the trip, which turned out to be six musicians working closely with Projet Hope (http://www.projecthope.ps/) we realized it was something we need to keep doing.

With the experience behind us, we're trying to allow this year's experience to reach more people and create more of a cultural exchange, allowing a population that has been kept under siege a means of communicating with the outside world. Our means of doing this, as studying musicians, is to bring our music and our love for music to share.

This year we will be leaving in early April with another group of six musicians to make yet another tour through the west bank. At this point I will turn the word over to Robert, who will be making regular updates on this blog to allow everyone an insight into our experiences.