Joy and Pain

Sometimes it's hard to maintain your balance here. This is a diary of the last few days. Each day has an accompanying slideshow at the right.

SUNDAY: I visited a Palestinian refugee camp for the first time - Jalazon Camp outside Ramallah in the West Bank. There are about 20 camps in the West Bank with a total population of about half a million. There are about 14,000 people in Jalazon Camp.

The camps began when people left their homes in what is now Israel during the war for Israeli independence in 1947-'48. They consider themselves refugees, as does the UN (www.un.org/unrwa) and they have been in the camps for these 60 years, so two generations have now grown up in the camps. They are small towns, not "camps" in the way we might think of them. They have schools, businesses, homes, shops. They are variously administered by UNRWA, the IDF, or themselves depending on various factors. In other words, no one is really in charge and the people there do the best they can which isn't that well. Health care and schooling are poor. Very near Jalazon is an Israeli settlement. If you go too close you will be shot at. The school in Jalazon has a third story but it's not allowed to be used so that the settlers can't see it. So the usable space in the school is too small and children have to go to school in shifts. The last shift gets out after dark. See the photo in the slideshow of children walking home at dark.

Rather than me try to describe the camp, look at the slideshow. The photos are poor quality because I took them from a car and because it was getting dark, but I hope you can see what life might be like there. Although unemployment is high, many people there work. So why have they stayed there all this time? Why not move out and get on with it? They will tell you because they are refugees and they wait for the time when they are allowed to return to their homes.

I kept asking myself, What kind of place is this? The answer came: it's a ghetto. The ironies get piled on top of each other here.

MONDAY: A return trip to Gaza. In the morning I saw some children at our hospital there. They all had anemia and malnutrition. Two had burns. Two had post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is endemic in children here because the children see the conflict up close. Soldiers entering homes and destroying them. Many have seen their relatives shot. Many have fathers, brothers, uncles in prison.

I went to Gaza with two Australian friends. One used to teach in Gaza and we had lunch with some of her former students. It was a delightful lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean. It's easy to forget Gaza is a coast town and would be a really nice vacation spot under different circumstances.

What a wonderful group of young people I was able to meet then! All working (relief workers, teachers, journalists, interpreters). But each has this story: They want to pursue graduate studies or attend a seminar somewhere or advance their career in another place with more opportunity. None has. Despite many attempts, none has been allowed to leave for further education.

How does it benefit anyone to keep these bright, enthusiastic, committed young people under-educated, and the children impoverished and in poor health? But I put those thoughts aside for awhile that day to just take in this completely different perpective on Gaza and enjoy good company. It was an experience I will always remember. A Gaza full of life and hope that afternoon.

A few hours later, after we left, there were 3 air strikes in Gaza. The strikes were directed against people believed to be involved in shooting the missiles out of Gaza and into nearby Israeli towns. The people in those towns are suffering, as well, and some have been killed and injured. I'm thankful that none of my new friends was hurt in the strikes.

TUESDAY: Today my friend Jill took me with her to help with the Christmas party at the Holy Child Program in Beit Sahour, just near Bethlehem. It's a program for children 5-13 who have behavioral and psychologic problems, mostly from traumatic stress. They come to the center when their family and/or school is no longer able to cope with them. After 1-3 years, they are returned to school and most of the time back into healthier lives.

They put on a program for us, including a wonderful rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Then Santa visited! Toys for everyone! Take a look at the slideshow.........there's something about that Santa...............

Finally, we all had some birthday cake for Jesus.

It was a day of joy and life, energy and songs, laughter and happiness. Surely there will be more such days for this place, inshallah.