ybitran's blog

Coming from an environment in America of international apathy, it has been great to see such passion in so many people to support justice. Being in the holy land and the midst of this situation has allowed us to put a face, and a smile, onto these people who for so long, and for so many are nothing more than a headline. And what a reward it has been to experience such a rich and indescribably welcoming culture.

I have been living with a family in the small Christian town of Beit Jala for over a month now and I have become a fully integrated member of the family. My experience here so far has been extraordinary, the family has kind of adopted me, my host father now introduces me as his son whenever we meet people and my “brothers” and sister all show the same kind of care and affection.

Tonight, as a part of my program’s weekly “cultural” experience, our group spent the evening in Azzeh Refugee Camp. A man named Mashour took us for a tour of the camp, fed us dinner, and then took us to meet with a 1948 survivor who was herded into the camp in 1948 as a part of the Diaspora of the Palestinians. The man, Abu Ahmid, described life as a refugee, the events of ‘48 from his personal experience, and his hopes for the future.

I’ll be living in a refugee camp for the next month. It’s not what you may consider a refugee camp. It’s certainly not what I consider a refugee camp, and I wouldn’t consider the people living there to be refugees. Structurally, it is about the size of six American city blocks (2×3), with one main street, a little larger than the width of a car, cutting down the middle. There is a maze of 3-foot-wide alleyways cutting through thirty-foot concrete homes.