Sunday, Sept. 28, our friend Inas called and asked Blaine and me if we would like to spend the day with her visiting her friends. She picked us up and we drove into Silwan to visit Mae and Fatia Barkowi. Fatia is the secretary at Silwan Elementary. They live in a normal looking Palestinian apartment. Nothing fancy on the outside. The inside is beautiful and modern. Mae, Fatia, Fatia's two children, 2 other single sisters, and the mom live on the main floor. A nephew and his family live in the basement. Their family is from Chad, Africa. They are trying to get a building permit to add another floor upstairs. The building permits are hard to get and if they do it without a building permit, the Israeli government will tear it down.
This is the outside and entrance to their home.
This is the front door and entry
The living area is very spacious and lovely.
There are 2 living rooms, a large modern kitchen, bedrooms and baths on the main floor.
The ceiling is an example of the beautiful detail of the home. They built it over a period of time working on it as they could.
From left to right: Tamara (Fatia's 14 yr. old daughter), Mae, Inas Ansari, Linda and Fatia
add Blaine and subtract Inas
kitchen
hall leading outside
The living area is on the left side of hallway and the bedrooms and bath are on the right side.
The living area is on the left side of hallway and the bedrooms and bath are on the right side.
Next we went to Ara, a Palestinian town about 45 min. north of Tel Aviv. Another one of Inas's friends from school lives here. It is a very nice town with large individual homes. It takes Ia about l 1/2 hours to drive to Silwan Elementary where she is a special education teacher 2 days a week. Ia has 2 darling little girls.
This is the kitchen. They designed the home and it's about 6 years old.
This is Luma in her bedroom.
family room
View of Ara from their home. These are individual homes not apartment buildings.
Luma doing a little karaoke to entertain us.
Landscaping with an olive tree in front of their home
View of driveway leaving their home
We went for seafood in a neighboring town.
We went out on the patio for desert.
We had kanaffe for desert which is a popular desert made with cheese.
Saying goodbye to Ia and her 2 little girls
We had such a fun day with Inas. She is so sweet to introduce us to her friends and culture.
That is so refreshing to see a single dwelling home, not an apartment. It is just lovely! Tell Inas hi from us.
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