Schools Out For the Summer!

It is astonishing to write, but the last day of school has already come and gone several weeks ago. I must admit that there were days this year when I thought the school year would never end. Then, quite suddenly, the last day of school arrived. The students finished their final exams and received their yearbooks. I got a yearbook as well and it is utterly surreal to see my face featured in the teachers/staff section. In previous yearbooks, I have always been among the students, so it seems like quite the paradigm shift. I graduated college a year ago but seeing my face among those of the teachers makes it much more real. 

A visitor, Musa, Principal Michael and Randa

The best part of the yearbook is the large section featuring photos of all the events throughout the school year. It is awesome to look through pictures of events and find my face! It drives home for me the fact that I have spent an entire academic year volunteering in this particular school. I was there for the teacher’s breakfast in the early fall. I was there for the students’ Christmas show and the teacher’s Christmas dinner. I was there when the students from Norway came on exchange and learned about Democracy in Israel/Palestine. I was there for every part of the English Bowl. I was there for the important events this spring such as Graduation and the Dabke concert. Astonishing. 

Sue, Najwa, Me and Pastor Saliba

I understand better now the wealth of community that stems from working at a school. Between teachers, students and staff, a school is like a tiny village. We have shared joys, sorrows, challenges and successes. I am honored to have taken part, if only for one year.

After the students left, the teachers piled into each other’s cars and drove out to a nearby village for a group lunch. We feasted on salads and meats. We laughed about the adventures of the year and looked forward to the summer.

There was a short presentation where I received a small thank you gift from the teachers and staff. I was unspeakably honored. The lunch was a great opportunity to say a formal goodbye to the people who have been such an enormous and meaningful part of my volunteer work experience here.  I have learned so much from these incredible individuals.  I have learned about teaching and education, but also work environment and community. The importance of coffee hour and a good staff room vibe. I have learned SO much about Palestine and the lived experience of being Palestinian. I have learned about responsibility, humility and generosity. 

Thank you for supporting me throughout this academic year and making it possible for me to have this awesome learning experience. I am ever grateful!

Where'd the water go?

Quite suddenly it is late June and I find that I have not blogged in far too long! I apologize friends, I have been very busy. Of course, that is no excuse since we are all always busy. I have approximately a month before I leave this country to fly to the US (inshallah), so I will try to keep you more updated on my summer adventures and this transitional phase.

In this post I want to tell you about a bizarre and uncomfortable incident that happened at my school. On the morning of the second to last day of school, I was getting ready to leave when I received a call from our host family. They informed me that the house was running very, very low on water and that we did not know when we would get more so we needed to be quite conservative in our water use. They suggest that we all take really short showers and avoid doing laundry until we knew more about the situation. I was a bit surprised that we did not know when we would get more water and I really did not understand the situation, but I wrote a note for my housemate and left for school.

An hour into school, one of the teachers came out of the bathroom and said that there was no water left. The administrative assistant responded that we had not received water from Israel for three days. In fact, she said that all of Ramallah had not received water from Israel for three days. I was shocked. What did she mean we had not received water from Israel for three days? How could they just not give us water? Who is not giving us water? Why? When will they give us water again? What would we do without water until that time?

The practical issues of not having water were quite severe. There are about 450 students and 50 teachers and staff at my school. When they say there is no water, they mean literally: No. Water.  As in, cannot even flush the toilets. Take a moment to imagine a school of 500 people, ages 4 through 60-ish with no flushing toilets for EIGHT HOURS. IN JUNE. Woof.

The students and teachers were surprisingly un-emotional about the lack of water. We got out hand sanitizer and everyone tried to avoid needing to use the bathroom. We went without our normal glasses of tea and everyone was annoyed but no one seemed surprised by the events, except me.

After school the house seemed to still have water but I wondered how long it would last... That evening I went to choir practice only to discover that the facility where we rehearse was out of water too. Once again, no one seemed particularly surprised by the lack of water. We did the best we could.

The saddest part of the entire incident is that no one was surprised. Being suddenly and mysteriously out of water is apparently a normal part of life in the West Bank and everyone just dealt with it.

Alhamdilileh, water came back the next day. As far as I could tell the water reappeared as mysteriously and unexpectedly as it had disappeared. I still do not know what to make of it. Who exactly in Israel did not give the water they were supposed to? How widespread was the absence of water? Why did it happen? Why was nobody surprised or talking about it? Why was it not covered by news sources?

Perhaps the most important thing to take from this is that the politics of water are brutal in this place. Access to water in a desert is literally a matter of life and death. And on a lesser note, being unable to flush the toilet is really annoying.

The incident served as an important reminder about the necessity to always be careful with water. It is such a precious resource and we must conserve it, even when we think that we do not live under scarcity.