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We went to Jericho with Namati and Mohammad Ansari to deliver school kits. We first stopped at the public school for boys in Jericho. This is the Palestinian flag.
The boys were eager to help..
have their picture taken,
and show what was in the boxes.
They showed us around the school including art work the students had done. We thought it was good and took pictures to show Neomi, the person in charge of the art gallery at the Jerusalem Center.
They gave us certificates of appreciation and refreshments of...
hummus and pita
We then went to the refugee camp in Jericho. It has been there since the War of 1948 and houses 30,000 people. The Palestinian people were driven out or left their homes hoping to return after the War of 1948. Theystayed in the camps hoping to negotiate a right of return, which has never happened. It's now a 3rd and 4th generation who live there with few options. The conditions in this home were quite nice compared to the camp and other homes we saw. Namati, the next 2 women live in the camp, Linda, Namati's sister who teaches at the boys' school, and Mohammad.
This is the mosque in the refugee camp. While we were there an announcement came over the loud speaker. I asked Namati what it was and she said they were announcing the death of someone in the camp. Namati said they would try to bury him that day or the next.
The camp was pretty run down. They have no clean water in the camp.
We visited another family that wanted hygiene kits. They have 9 children. This is their front yard.
The mom is in the blue sweat shirt in the middle with 5 of her 9 children. A married daughter lives there with 2 children as well.
The daughter on the left is 17 years old. She missed 2 years of school because of an illness.
Playing outside, I didn't see any toys- just dirt. They seemed happy.
In front of their neighbor's house was their transportation.
The family walked us to the gate and by this time the father had joined us. They invited us to dinner.
We said our good-byes through the gate.
Next we went to Namati's sisters house. This was the opposite end of the socio economic spectrum in Jericho. They live in a beautiful, 3-year old, Jerusalem lime stone home. The parents, a couple of children, and mother-in-law live on the main floor. There are 3 more apartments for family to live in. One of the sons and daughter-in-law live in one of the apartments. The other two are empty.
Front of the house.
Swimming / wading pool on the roof
This is the view from their roof into an upper economic Jericho neighborhood.
They had beautiful vegetable gardens and they gave us produce.
In front of their home, the goats meandered down the street.
The home was spacious and lovely with more than one living area.
The grandma lives with them. One of their daughters who lives in Saudi Arabia with her husband and 2 children was also there. The daughter has been with them for 4 months. Her husband is coming from Jordan tomorrow to take them home. The daughter said it will be about a 14 hour drive for them. The daughter was born in Gaza and her husband was born in Jordan so they don't have the same citizenship, thus they live in Saudi Arabia. She said they would like to move to the US. Nothing is easy around here.
They invited us into one of the living rooms for oranges. Grandson, daughter, Linda, Grandma, and our friend Namati.
Blaine and the father of the house.
Garden
We moved to the front porch with more food. Namati, her sister, grandma, daughter, and Linda.
On the front porch before
The grandma found out my name was Linda and she started singing an Arabic song by that name. Everyone joined in. You can't help but love these people. It must be a popular song because the young men in the grocery store at Wadi Joz also sang that song to me once.
Daughter, grandchildren, and mom (Namati's sister) all said good-bye.
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