Peaceworks

The Bill

2008-11-30T07:56:00.000-08:00

They come and kill
U and me r left to pay the bill,
Any idea what’s the cost,
Strained eyes from endless hour of screaming TV sets
And that is not even the tip,
Please check again
Angry at people, who did not do what they could,
Sad at a 2 year child who lost his parents
Petrified at the thought of being in that place
Suspicious of a growth of hair in a chin,
Shaky, jittery, gloomy
Weary, unnerved, numb
Torn, repulsed, livid
Heaven forbid
That’s a long list
A heavy price to pay, nothing left to tip,
The drink left unsipeed
Many meals unfinished,
Conversations blown away
Each one had a life, and guess what,
Over it, no say
Is it happening to you?

Proud to be an Indian….MAY BE THAT IS THE PROBLEM!

2008-11-30T07:10:00.000-08:00

There have been many times when I have thought about the answer to that question (in case it is asked), and I realized I can never bring myself to say “I am proud to be an Indian”(IAPTBAI), I will be lying otherwise.
I response will be, “I am OK to be an Indian”, or better “I am cool to be an Indian”, or may be just state it as a basic fact “I am an Indian” take it or leave it.

I believe we have for too long and with disastrous consequences lived on IAPTBAI. Think about how many of us are proud Indians and how many are questioning Indians. I am often surprised by between Proud Indians and foreign nationals, where the Indians tell them so many Good things about India that when the foreigner passes by a slum he gets utterly confused about the tales of Proud Indians.

Another example of Proud Indians goes back to the last year of my college in Durgapur. There was a stabbing incident where an Indian student stabbed a Palestinian student. The Palestinian student was a friend and we wanted some action to be taken against the Indian student within the law. I was horrified when a lot of my batch mats and some people form college staffed actually came up to us and in casual conversation told us, “why are you bothered, the victim is not an Indian”. I can not in my life understand what makes a human being come up with such a Hitleristic thought.

OK so I am a Proud Indian, the question I will ask myself is what about millions of people who don’t get 2 square meals a day? What about 100,000 thousand women who are forced to be prostitutes in one city alone, Imagine what will be the number if we think of whole country. Take a guess will these women be daughter/sister/wife/mother of someone. Do you think they will be proud Indians? Or may be they don’t count!

History/culture/tradition to be proud about and I am sure we all know all the good things. Lets just balance that with some other not so glorious things about our past. Right from our mythology where Sita was abandoned and Dropdi was molested - something to be Proud about? DO you know about massacre of Jain community in Tamilnadu by a sect of Hindu’s in Tamilnadu? One of my journalist friend has done a PHD on it. What about a whole lot of people generation after generation for centuries being humiliated/insulted/treated as scum and termed as untouchables. Do you think they were proud to be Indians? OR can we today be proud of centuries of discrimination? Now we get angry about reservation and talk about how that has not worked at all?

So many places in India you go and tell your first name, what will be the immediate response – “what is your surname”. May I ask WHY? Can we not be just proud Indians why do we have to be Proud Brahmin Indians, Proud Rajput Indians, Proud Yadav Indians?

I can go on and on and ask about girl child being killed before or after birth by parents Proud Indians??

Garbage on the road, spitting on the wall, bribing to solve our problems, What do we do? What are we doing to change anything that will change even a little bit for better?
The whole politics of IAPTBAI is exactly to make us ignorant and inactive, because a proud nation does not need many changes, it implies things are fine with us, it prevents introspection, and it stops questioning old and outdated social order.

Even if we stop being proud Indians for one hour every day and in that one hour do something to become proud Indians we can make a big difference.

So my request is, LETS STOP Being Proud Indians even if for an hour every day!

Even with this Mumbai attack, why do you think it happened? We can blame/curse many people it will not stop the next one from happening. We need to recognize that we have angry/hateful people who are looking some way of expressing it and someone used them very skillfully to create this whole episode. We can say they are wrong or there is no place for such hatred or that those people are not proud Indians but the fact remains, there are people like them and I am sure the number is not small but significant. The more we hate the more this number will grow. The only way is to find ways to reach out to all angry people.
IN Peace
Agyatmitra

Understanding Appreciation …

2006-03-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

......I am told there is a Tribe in Africa. When someone in the tribe commits a mistake the whole village gathers in a circle and the person in question is asked to come in the center, next… Guess what?
Every single person present there talks to that person and tells him/her something positive they know about him!

What on earth are they thinking, one might say? When I first heard this story I was amazed at the possibility of higher consciousness a group of people can arrive at just by being focused on positives. Since then I have always been in awe of these possibilities that almost sound mystic as we loose our simplicities behind many masks of personal and professional performance to keep peace (pun intended) with the competitive world…

Today is 30th March 2006. Tomorrow I head back to India after standing 2 months in Israel, 2 months away from Swati; longest time in last 9 years that we were away from each other.

But this is a different story.Last night I spend 3 hours with a group of friends who blessed me with appreciation of there journey with me.

[The session was the conclusion of 6 week Play for Peace Facilitation course to set foundation for sustainability of Play for Peace process in partnership with Jerusalem International YMCA.]

I was addressed as a teacher, a mentor, a friend, by people who were 15 years in both direction of my age!
As I sat there and listened to the happy faces I started thinking what did I not do? What could I do better?
And then the beauty of appreciative approach hit me. In their love and faith, friends raised the bar for me; I can’t let them down!

As I was responding to them I was reminded of the Rastafarian Greeting with one hand palm facing inward, “I and I”, which means together we complete each other. What my friends said about me was also what they said about themselves!

As I was talking to Swati today and sharing this with her, she said “what did you do” and I said “I don’t now”. That’s not true though, I know what I did, “Play for Peace”.

This makes me fall in love with Play for Peace all over again. If 6 weeks of coming and laughing together can give people hope, show them a way, change/alter their life and work then I want to scream to everyone working for peace building, “do what you must, but don’t forget to play for peace!

Here is a glimpse of what people said that negated my need for any food last night …
I have learned new things about myself. The experience has helped me change my stereotype about many people. It has given me alternative methods to approach my work.
Simplicity of the process diminishes the gap between facilitator and participants unlike traditional methods where instructor is above the group.

This is a process in which equality is built in. I will like to spread it where ever I go.

When I began I did not know what it is going to lead to.These are not just games, it is an approach to peace. The experience has become an inherent part of who I am.

Being with this group has affected my approach. Now I think I can come back to Israel and develop this approach here to work with Jewish and Arab communities.

The energy of our group is very positive.

When one says we are good group, we must realize when we came for 1st session we were all unknown to each other. I think this is what Play for Peace is about. In a short time we connected to each other very well.

It has helped me take responsibility and be non judgmental. I have learned to accept people for what they are.

This is a process that has universal equal attitude to be applied anywhere.

It has helped me unlock some of my blocks about people and my fears.

This is therapy. I experience strong emotions.

The experience affected my very basic assumption about competitive approach to work and personal life.

In the last month since I wrote my previous report (expanding the beginning…) things progressed as promised.

We have already started building continuity by offering regular sessions to schools and organizations.
Some of the participants of the training program will be working regularly with the YMCA to further develop Play for Peace programs and initiatives.

Now to the many dollar question that everyone I meet here ask me, “Will you come back”
And my answer “if I am called, but not without Swati”

Though both Swati and me agree that the 2 months have helped us grow in our Play (some call it work). But I Guess there is only so much growth you can handle!!

When we started I knew no end
And no end I know now!
Endless possibilities
Fluid
Flowing love
Untied connections
Innocent intentions
And if you think that’s not enough
Be my Guest!
The journey has just begun…

...Agyatmitra

.......Expanding the Begining!

2006-03-04T02:17:00.000-08:00

As I begin to write this I am reminded of a standup Indian comedian who on the beginning of one his shows (Try and picture this) stood with his back to camera, and said “I am back”, then he jumped and turned to face the camera and said “and now I am front”.

That’s how I feel coming back here within 2 months, but missing Swati in many ways and finding myself in front of all the action.

And action it is!

Here is a look at what are the different things happening with Play for Peace in North of Israel
Play for Peace Facilitator training
- We are running a course of 36 hours with weekly sessions for people to get trained as Play for Peace facilitator. So far we have had 3 sessions and we will have 2 more. The course will end with a play session where children will be invited and the participants of the course will run a play session with them.
We have around 20 participants, Arab and Jewish, male and female. Participants include some students, teachers, some participants from MVP program of YMCA, some people who are practitioners and love Play for Peace
One of the participants is Aura, she came last Tuesday very proudly sharing the hard work she has put in writing activity cards and categorizing them in a handy folder.
This is in my knowledge will be the first effort of its kind within PFP and JIY to bring sustenance to Play for Peace. YMCA is looking at these participants as the resource for future Play for Peace activity after I leave in March.

Sessions in Karev, Shoreshim- In November we had done a session for the principals of different schools who were brought together by Karev. This is an organization that works towards improving the extra curricular activities in the schools. The head of the organization also attended the session.
On 26th Feb I did another session for school principals, and on 27th the managers of different programs in the organization attended another session.
What is most encouraging is that on 1st March, 40 teacher trainers attended a 4 hour session. These are people who work with teachers and also with children in numerous schools in the Galilee region. The managers for the program in a day’s time translated the handout that includes PFP vision/mission and some games in Hebrew.
As soon as the program finished some of them immediately requested programs for their areas.
A lady came and appreciated the program and since words are never enough she gave me a hug.
If you are a stickler for statistical feedback this might not be convincing but if we are working towards building positive relationships no other feedback can be more important and telling.

This organization can prove to be the best strategic partner for JIY and Play for Peace in the north as they work widely with both Jewish and Arab communities.

Coexistence Network – The Arab-Jewish coexistence network is a national network supported by the Abraham Initiative Fund. A lot of community organizations and individuals are members of the network. In November we had done one training for them with some 40 people attending it and everyone saying we want more of it, and that there are more people who want to attend it.

On 16th February, we did training for the members of the network and on 5th of March I will be doing one more training for the member organizations.
On 16th we had 27 participants 5 of them who chose to come back again within 2 months. There was one father who got along his daughter (young adult) to attend the program. From what I have been told there do 80 more people want to go through one of these workshops who are on the waiting list, but I am here only till end of this month so it has to be some other time.

Another interesting experience is meeting at least 3-4 people in these trainings who have in past attended a Play for Peace program, way back when Craig conducted a session.
This is an indication that the interest in Play for Peace has been alive but wasn’t kicking for some reasons.
It could be for lack of enough games, no identification with the concept (games might always be used) for lack of continuity and absence of our contact with them.

The way Vishwas puts it to us, Play for Peace is about 3 C’s, Consistency, Continuity and Contact. This is what seems to be working in last 6 months as we are able to provide them Play for Peace programs. Hopefully with some people learning the ropes of being Play for Peace facilitator we should be able to offer some consistency. But it will not be enough, and I think someone needs to come here regularly for running workshops for sometime to come, till someone playful emerges as leader for the program.

Other sessions-
Leo Baeck, Haifa- This is the largest community center in Haifa that works with both the communities. The workshop on 15th Feb was with the coordinators who work with youth and children. I will be doing another session with them on 8th March.

Regba, Akko – In November we had done a session with the school principals. One of them was Daniella. She has been using the games and when she came to know I was coming back decided to organize a workshop for the teachers of her school.

Bi lingual School of Misgav- if you have read the previous reports you will be familiar with name of a small Jewish community Massad neighboring Eilaboun where YMCA – outreach program and therefore I am located. In November during one of the session with children, one parent asked us about what we are doing. Listening to us she said “why haven’t you come to our school”. She was referring to the school where she works. This is the Arab-Jewish school in Misgav where both Arabic and Hebrew are taught. But it was the time when we were packing our bags.
Now I am back and on 23rd Feb I went to the school first to conduct a play session with children for 3 hours.

Later on we joined the teachers and played for 3 hours. Almost all the session and this was not an exception end with people asking us “so when are you coming back”.

Sessions with children – The first things I did after coming back was a session in Salami. It is a Bedouin village and the school here has a partnership with a Jewish school in Misgav. In November we had worked with teachers of the school. As part of their partnership they bring together children, so in November we had done a day with 200 children.
On 13th Feb another session was with 100 children, 50 each from both the schools. We did 4 sessions with 25 children each in 3 hours.
The interesting part of the story is that 2 sessions were conducted by Sheri, all on her own.

She has been taking few sessions even in our absence. She is also attending the Play for Peace Facilitator training.
Now we are hopeful that we will have PFP facilitators, who will be able to offer continuity to organizations and schools who want consistency once I am gone.

As I close this we are moving towards more opportunities, Oren is constantly reaching out to more organizations with possibilities of introducing Play for Peace and Samer is working towards expanding the reach of Northern outreach Program department of Jerusalem International in the region.
Samer and Oren are also working towards getting our game book translated in Hebrew and Arabic. The work has already begun and once completed will go a long way in Play for Peace becoming a continuous presence in the region.

Lonely here, but not alone
Moments come not to be gone
Hearts touched, promises shown
Who cares for time unknown?
For now it is Play for Peace
As I have Known!
-Agyatmitra

Traveler there is no Road, you make the Road as you travel…

2005-12-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

A Beginning … (at the end of a day)
How do you call an old man who jumps around with the curiosity of a young child an old man? Let me put it this way, at the end of the training one of the senior most participant came up to us and said, “I feel so happy to discover today that I am not alone in this world”. He was referring to the concept of using Cooperative games by Play for Peace. He has been using cooperative activities with children for many years. It was a humbling moment for me, and not at a better time when you have finished a good day of training.
Actors
PEOPLE from
Jerusalem International YMCA
Abraham Initiative Fund
Arab Jewish Coexistence Network
Play for Peace

Plot- Play for Peace initiation (1 day is too short to be called a training)

Location – YMCA center on the Sea of Galilee
Moral of the story
The day ended with the promise of a new beginning. Everyone expressed the need of connecting more frequently.
Few things people said after a day of Play for Peace filled with fun & laughter

-Today is a reinforcement of the fact that some of the most effective things are also the simplest things.

-For me (as a young man) to see a lady my grandmother’s age playing and having fun changes my way of thinking.

-We should do this more often.
In an informal discussion with one of the participant she asked; is there a difference between the response of boys and girls. I said- my larger picture of the world tells me, if things have to change for better it has to be women who take the lead. She was very excited and when we sat for a formal gathering she urged me to restate that I stand by it.

-“I am glad that I got legitimacy to play” said a lady and another person added, “Legitimacy to be silly and have fun like children”.

Most of the people felt a connection and wanted to share more; but for the time...
I wonder why we make our Adult life so difficult!

The story
Around 40 people from different parts of Israel- Eilat, Misgav, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Galilee. People from early twenties to late fifties (and may be more but didn’t show any sign of old age).

We started at 10.30am with ice breakers and were soon making as much noise as children in a classroom do, the exception was nobody to ask us to be quiet (isn’t it great to be Grown ups!)

We played name games, games in circle, focus games, theater games. Post lunch we started with team building games in 3 groups. 45 minute of playing one game brought up issues as diverse as leadership, trust, listening and compassion.

People often ask me what is the basis for saying Play creates… laughter, compassion and Peace. All I can say is look at our own experience when we play. For the time that we are in play we accept each other in our laughter. All we need after that is constant reminder of that experience.
Moral of the story – Let’s Play More !

We finished the training and it was time to drive down to Ramalla for a training next day with Teachers of Friend’s school in Ramalla. It was 5.30 in the evening .We were 3 hours away. One of our Jewish friend was very concerned she asked us- are you sure it’s the right time to go (she has never been in Ramalla). After we assured her she said "I don’t know what they know about us, so tell them we are similar people, show them our pictures and get their's for us." (Just a pointer to how much we crave for peace).

The drive to Ramalla was with a participant from the training. We talked about different places as we drove through..
Jordan River where Jesus was baptized, drove along Jordan border, Bet Shean, Jericho- a very old city( where a Casino use to attract everyone in Israel before it closed)
and the picturesque dessert.

Finally a walk across Kalandia check post and we were in Ramalla. This is our second visit to Ramalla and we go straight to our hotel and one Falafel sandwich later sleep to wake up to another day of training.

We walked through the Manara chowk(Square) to go to the Friend’s school. As we walk through the roads and the traffic, the sign boards, the tea cart by the side and another selling bread…, it was an unmistakable feeling of being in India.

We were in school at 9am A Turkish coffee and ready for the training.
(If you do not know what the Turkish coffee is, well my name for it is “a blow”. If you ever need waking up there is no better way than a sip of Turkish coffee).
There were 16 teachers including the Principal and the Vice Principal. We played the whole day exploring together our ability to laugh as much as possible.

Highlight of the day -
We compared the values of Play for Peace and Friend’s School, and agreed that they are common. Simplicity, honesty, discipline, equality, truth are some of the Friends values that merge into Absence of Judgment, Participation, role modeling.

Teachers often talked about how a game can be applied /used to deliver content. A teacher who teaches ethics said that she can use a game instead of talking about a value.
One of the teachers said the day has reduced the distance between them.
After the training as we shared our feelings, we gave them the message that our friend in Tiberias have asked us to convey, “We are similar”. There was a lot of pain as some of the teachers expressed their inability to meet their dear ones who stay in Israel.

"Bridge to me till this day
Was a masculine word
A unmovable structure
Now it moves me to feel
Every ridge needs a bridge
And that I can be!
In small measure but
To be a possibility
I am glad

I will not be seen to all But
One day some one
Attempting the ridge
Will see the possibility
And a bridge will be built"

A day at Jerusalem and we were back to business of having fun.

20th November

Today we had a session with 20 youth from Maghar who work as volunteers. It always makes me nervous in the beginning to work with youth groups. I always wonder for how long they will play.
My escape route is to start playing and let the game do the laughing. After many rounds of laughter one normally forgets anything about being nervous.

22nd November

Today we went to Maghar(GOSH Session) again to play with children, who have played with us 3 times before. Gaming was fast this time…Name of the game was enough for them to remember the rules and take off. Today we had Shiri from the MVP group of JIY with us and 2 youth from Maghar training also came to help. They also played some games with children. This is beginning to be a beginning; the waters are excited with the possibilities of beholding a seed.
Let’s continue to play and hope…

From Maghar we went to Salami.
Misgav is a Jewish community where we had conducted play sessions in the school. Salami is a Bedouin village. The Bedouin are a unique indigenous community that has lived in the Negev, Israel's southern desert region for centuries. Traditionally, they were organized in nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes, whose livelihood included raising sheep, goats, camels and engaging in seasonal agriculture.

The 2 elementary schools in these 2 places work to bring their children together. Today the teachers from both school gathered to explore Play for Peace. There were 16 teachers and we played for 3 hours! At the end of the session we planned the event on 28th November when 200 children from both schools will come together.

24th November
Tel Aviv,
A small story with no ending…

Play for Peace conducted a workshop way back in 1997-98. One of the people attending it was Lee Pearlman.

Lee Pearlman works with Abraham Initiative Fund.

In our second week in Israel Samer (Director, Northern Outreach Program Department- Jerusalem International YMCA), our host took us to meet Lee.

Lee immediately perked up at the name of Play for Peace and said we must organize something.

Lee with his family visited Samer as they are also friends. We met his wife, Edna. She heard us and said “wait, do you work with students”?

Edna Pearlman teaches education methodology to students (B.Ed.) of design. Today we were in her collage to introduce play and its possibilities.

3 hours sneaked by as 30 hearts, minds and bodies communicated and when 5 minutes were left I asked so how much more time we have ? Tongue in cheek a response came, “why don’t you take the next class also”.

The energy that was generated in 3 hours is a pilgrimage in motion.

At the end a girl came and told us she volunteers with an organization that works with people who are hearing impairment. She said the staff needs training.

And the story continues….
Everyone we met before going to Tel Aviv and after reaching there asked us to visit the Old city of Jaffa. We paid a short visit to history at the shores of Mediterranean. What a walk through layers of history, where now you have art galleries. And guess what at the top Taj Mahal – an Indian restaurant.

25th November
Massad has become like a 2nd home for Play for Peace activity. Today we had a (GOSH) session with children.

The second session was with youth. A team of 15 volunteers arrived from Maghar to join 10 youth from Massad. The age range was 14 to 18.

The youth from Maghar was for the first time visiting a Jewish Community.
There was a lot of nervous energy as the youth started playing.

Again the nervousness sheltering under games and at the end…

They were sitting in mixed groups talking about common things in life (commonalities), making a jingle that represents there group.

26th November
Today again the teens came together, only 15 so more order and more fun.
We played initiative games and the group went about the business the youthful way, high energy, quick desperation, cutting corners and loud cheers for perceived success.

One can always question “what about the larger questions, of identities, of conflict…?
What can one say, I am reminded of a saying “ Only change you can affect is by leting people experience you".

28th November

Salami is an Arab Bedouin village and Misgav Regional Council is an amalgam of many small Jewish settlements. Both are in the Galilee district.
The elementary school of Salami and Misgav are working towards creating common experiences for the children. So when the YMCA approached them with the idea of Play for Peace they liked it.
What followed was 2 sessions with teachers (rolling in laughter as mentioned earlier in this write up).

Today was the day when 100 children from Salami came over to join 100 children in their school in Misgav. The teachers made 8 groups of 25 children so that they were all mixed up.

From 9 am the morning we played with all the 200 children conducting 7 sessions. For us the highlight of the day was Shiri conducting sessions on her own. Since we were suppose to conduct 3 parallel sessions it was eminent that we will need a 3rd Person.
In last 5 month of our stay our biggest concern has always been, “what happens after we leave?” Shiri is from the “Moderate Voices for Progress” group of YMCA. She recently went to USA as part of a delegation of Arab & Jewish youth. We have done a training of Play for Peace with the group. So seeing her in action today marks a beginning in more ways then one!

29th November
Today began with a quick tour to Akko, the historical city where Napoleon tasted his first defeat. A Harbor city that was at the center of British occupation in 19th and early20th century.
The reason for being in Akko was a session with the Principals of various schools.

The session was organised by people who are responsible for Co-curricular activities in schools of Israel. The objective of the session was to explore possibilties of applying Play for Peace in school free time and within the classrooms.

After the session we discovered that all of us had apprehensions about how willing the principals would be to jump into the experience.
We had the most amazing sessions with 15 adults who were not only willing players but also a match for any group of children creating a racket.
For us as Play for Peace people who have been all but playing for last 5 years it was complete BLISS.
Obviously our apprehensions were led to rest within 3 minutes of starting.

Outcome
In the end we had a machine that sends teachers on holidays, Two machine that manufacture Peace, and a Joy machine.

(human machine is a activity where participants use their bodies to make a machine that produces something unique.)

30th November
As we come to the last leg of our journey the focus is obviously on- what after we leave.

Samah is another friend from MVP group. She works with special need teens that come from underprivileged background.
We went to Haifa to run a session with her for children of an underprivileged community.

There were children from 6 to 14 year and the boys kept pushing each other. These children were from families with problems of drug abuse and violence. We were reminded of Hyderabad in India where the communities have experienced so much violence that people have got de-sensitized to violence.
Jumana Zerik is a teacher from Eilaboun who also accompanied us. She has been helping us with some of the sessions. It was her first experience with children with special need. Interestingly she persisted with patience trying to bring order to chaos without losing her temper at any point.

But what was clear even in the chaos was that children love & need to play.If only there is a continuity...

Later on Shiri joined Samah and Jumana and we talked about the nuances of running a play session. The importance of planning ahead. We played some games to illustrate application of games that helps teachers and facilitators.

So as we leave Shiri, Samah and Jumana will be applying Play for Peace experience…

2nd December
Galilee Olive Shoots Project is initiated by YMCA with funding support from One to One Children’s Fund. The project aims to bring together children from Arab and Jewish communities together regularly for a year.

Today was the second time children were coming together, but unique since the Arab children from Maghar were coming to Massad, a Jewish community for the first time.

The project got crystallized after we came to Israel. The idea behind bringing them together was to create positive experiences for the children using processes like Play for Peace.

The questions that everyone had in the beginning were; how do you keep children engaged? Should we do this in neutral space so that everyone feels safe to participate? Would games be enough to hold them together?

The session was to start at 10am. When we arrived at 10am in Massad, children from Massad were already there and playing Basketball.

Soon they came into the community hall; they started playing there as if the place belongs to them.
We had planned for 90 minute session but changed it to let the children interact with the place and each other. For next 30 minutes children played table tennis, pool, some of them went to a room and soon they were in costumes and doing role play&making advertisements.

As the children from Massad came they kept joining their peers from Maghar.

At 11 we got our circle to play together.

In the game mirror and shadow they were in pairs and they mixed up without any resistance.

They sat in small groups and discussed their families and the facilitators coaxed them to remember all the names.

Finally we asked them to maked balloon towers in their groups. It started with 4 groups then merged into 2 groups and finally one collaborative tower.

In the end in the circle all of them introduced someone else.

They all said they had fun and one of the teen leaders was very happy that he has learned something new that he can use with his group of children.

This was our last session as we leave on Monday to go back to India. SO that made it our last visit to Massad. Aviva who energises the wonderful community center for children gave us the compliment of our visit when she said"What I feel is so deep that I can not speak it in english" then referring to Play for Peace she said "you are laeving back a treasure for us".

Well! that about makes the whole visit worth.A Small Journey

Many Small Beginings

Some Movement

Hearts Touched

Hands Held

Laughter Resonated

A Life Lived

Don't ask me

What we acheived

Time to Return

and later

To Return...

Nind-per-ende

2005-11-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Date- November 8, 2005; Place- Misgav Regional Council,
Elementary School no 2

These are 2 words that a girl spoke to us. We do not know what it means, and probably even she does not know. But what the words conveyed to us; “I feel connected to you…”
As soon as she heard we are from India she tried to convey this to us, and finally dragged her teacher to tell us that her Grand mother is from India. Well she spoke in a language that is from Southern India and we being from North India can recognize the language but can not understand it.
Hey! But who is complaining, here we are in a Jewish School in Misgav Regional Council Area playing with children who speak Hebrew and willingly join in dancing on English songs. Whatever works!
Sometimes one uses so many big words trying to make people understand the value of your work that you forget to state the simple. The girl drove home the point for me; we are in the game of connecting people. How I wish that the world had only children! Our Jobs will become so simple. Wait! May be we wouldn’t have a job.

Today was about connecting to 120 children in 2 sessions of 1 hour. We had not expected more than 40 children. In the first session we had a 60 children circle. We continued and there was chaos. Children love chaos.
Just before the second session the teacher told us that some children in the next group are slow learners, and she said it would be fine for them to play along with others. We changed strategy as this time we had 65 children. We did something that we normally never do. Children were sitting on the steps and we started the games as they were sitting. Once the energy started flowing and children started having fun we came into a circle and in 5 minutes had 2 circles.

Way back in school when I studied resonance in physics I never thought it will come back to me in great ways.
You are in one circle playing a game and in the pauses between words you hear the same words resonating from the other circle.

Time for children to go. We had a session with the teachers. Some of them already participated with children and were all ears to listen to us. To have teachers listen to you with child like curiosity is enough to know that they understand and have their heart in right place.
So it was back to Playing with them for 40 minutes.
And we learned a new game in the bargain .

Ups and Downs - Starts in a circle. Have enough space between two to have a ball bouncing between you. Start with one ball. Throw it to the person(X) on your right(or left) so that she can catch. After catching, X bounces it on the ground so that the person next to her(Y) can catch. Now Y throws… we have a pattern which is alternate. Once the circle is in rhythm with one ball introduce more balls. Let’s see how many balls we can do.
Enjoy!

When the clouds stopped to watch...

2005-11-06T09:56:00.000-08:00

Nov 6th 2005
Recipe of the day
The Delegation of One to One Children's Fund from Britain
The Jewish Children from Massad and Misgav
The Arab Children from Mughar and Eilaboun
The Jerusalem International YMCA
Play for Peace volunteers from India

What was cooking before
Prologue: The weather predictions for 6th of November said it is going to be a wet day. Imagine organizing an Olive Harvest Day when it rains. As we woke up today the clouds were looming over the horizon threatening to come down any time. If that happened we would have to cancel the olive picking, move back indoors for play session and drum circle.
And if you come from an NGO world how would you feel about people from your funding agency coming to visit you on such a day!
Things can really get washed out...

The Power of one to one (you and me)...
Six months back, David Altschuler of one to one children fund met Dr Hanna Swaid. They talked about starting a project that will bring children from Arab and Jewish community together. Dr Swaid asked Samer of YMCA to take it up.
Five months back, Swati and I arrived in Eilaboun from India to create value for the partnership between Jerusalem International YMCA and Play for Peace.

We sat together with Samer discussing the possibility of getting children together. What emerged as a result is GOSH!(The Galilee Olive Shoots Project).
The idea was to get children together and conduct play sessions with them. Our conviction in the value of this program comes from our 5 Years of having played in India and the value that Play for Peace process offers to children.

The project took off in October as we went to school and community centers in Jewish and Arab communities and conducted play sessions with children.(Please look at other reports on this blog down below about those sessions)

The (Olive Harvest) Day -different flavors for everyone to savor.
We were told from the beginning that on 6th Nov the delegation of One to One Children's fund will visit and will like to participate in Olive Picking.
As Indians, where the only olive you see is on the Pizzas that have become familiar only in last 6-7 years, we wondered what the big deal about picking olives is.
But while discussing the project I thought of the phrase (offered an olive branch of Peace) that I have heard in the news sometimes.
Since then we have tasted many olives (We have been here from 5 months now) and experienced the culture of olive.

The delegates arrived in the morning in the YMCA center at Eilaboun. The morning sessions was about introducing the realities of this world. We talked about the communities, the geography, and the socio-political equations.

The clouds seem to come together as we walked out to visit the Olive presses in nearby towns/villages. Everyone checked to make sure their fingers were crossed!

We saw the Olive Presses an Old one. Rabbi Jonathan reminded us that it applies the same technique of using a heavy stone (2 tons) for crushing, which dates back to 2000 years. The difference: from horses then, it is horse power now!

We curiously watched as the British Delegation fondly picked up the crushed olive, the dry extract. I have no understanding of what it meant for them, but I could feel as if people are revisiting some long lost connection that touched their heart.

A quick tour to a modern olive press and you realize what technology does as the whole process seem to be a 10 minute cycle from crushing to Oil.

Finally we reached the olive field with Clouds not allowing an inch of sunlight to get through. The wind had more bite...

It was lunch time and a typical Arabic treat was arranged. We had the Oriental Pizza(Mana'ish), Homus, Muzzadra and fresh bread being made on a hot plate over burning wood. All this under a Bedouin tent put up especially for this occasion.

The children started arriving and soon we had 35 children from Arab and Jewish Communities.

Rabbi Jonathan explained the significance of Olive in Jewish history and culture. He talked about a reference that says, you have to leave the trees at the corner of our field and the olives that drop to the ground for the poor to benefit from. All this was said in all three languages-Arabic, Hebrew and English!

As soon as he finished the children ran to become part of the Drum Circle and the adults gathered to pick olives. It is difficult to say who was more excited but there is no doubting that everyone had the child inside them sitting on their shoulders.

And a couple of rain drops from the sky...
Finally we gathered the children for a Play for Peace session and in 30 seconds it was back to Making melodies, Elephant Rabbit and 8 step dance. If any one had any doubts about how children feel about coming together here is something to consider
We had conducted Play for Peace sessions with children in Mughar exactly a month back but the moment we spelled the name of the game they were already shouting Me! Me! to start it from the center.
I was speaking in English and the children understood Arabic and Hebrew but for 30 minutes we played non stop with almost minimal translation. There were children and youth who were playing these games for the first time but if you were watching them from outside I bet you couldn't tell which ones.
When we asked them to find a new friend if they need a picture they gladly dragged 'other' children close to them.
Epilogue We were scheduled to finish at 4PM and the clouds turned wet just couple of minutes before. As it turns out our fears were misplaced, the clouds had stopped to watch the spirit of Humanity that this day symbolizes for all who participated. And when it rained it was as if the clouds wanted to soak out spirit of coming together and deliver us the divine message, "we are not passive spectators we are also participating-in spirit".
The Pictures we couldn't take...
As rains came down and everyone rushed to the safety of their bus, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg(from the Funding Agency) carried chairs on one side with the other end being held up by one of us(the implementing agency). Do you see a power relation here; I could only see a powerful one!

The Jewish children and youth from Massad had to come to Eilaboun(Arab village) as their bus got delayed. They did not waste a minute to jump in the activity room and start playing. I have this picture what I do not have is one when while leaving one of them asked "can I come back here with my parents?"

Wow, this is what GOSH project dreams to achieve.Could there be a better beginging!

LAUGH RIOT!

2005-11-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

2nd November

Today we went to Massad at a different time and for something unusual. 9pm in the night and a session with parents!

As we approach the community we saw a banner on the gate.
Surprise!

It was to invite parents to come for Play for Peace session.

Aviva, who invited us said because of Bar Mitzvah today many parents have not come. (At the age of 13 (12 for girls), children become obligated to observe the commandments. The Bar Mitzvah ceremony formally marks the assumption of that obligation, along with the corresponding right to take part in leading religious service.)

We started playing at around 10.15pm, thinking we will give them a flavor of what Play for Peace is in 10 minutes as it is to late.

We played for 40 minutes and laughter was stronger and wilder than what we heard during sessions with children.

And they stayed another 20 minutes discussing excitedly what they experienced.

A kindergarten teacher wants to attend training. A mother quickly noted the games she wanted to use in her son's birthday party.

The final surprise of the day was when Aviva said that one of the elder girls (youth leader) Liya is going to take a session with young children tomorrow.

MAKING MELODIES...

2005-10-31T07:46:00.000-08:00

As Play for Peace volunteers we have been working with our partner Jerusalem International YMCA (JIY) in Israel. JIY center in Jerusalem is hailed as one of the rare place where Muslims, Christians and Jewish people can come together and interact. We are working with the Northern outreach program of JIY.

One of the program JIY runs is called ‘Moderate Voices for Peace’(MVP). Equal number(12) of Jewish and Arab young adults(in their 20's) are selected and together they visit USA hosted by families connected to YMCA. These youth go through diversity and conflict mediation trainings in USA. This year first group from the Northern outreach visited USA. The group is expected to do a project together once they come back. The group decided to work with children as part of their commitment. The group consists of 10 youth that includes 5 Jewish, and 5 Arab(Christian and Muslim).
On 21st-22nd October we conducted training for these youth in Play for Peace introducing them to the concept of Play for Peace.
The training was conducted in the YMCA facility on the Sea of Galilee, inside the Chapel built in the memory of Archibald Clinton Harte. He was the man who helped built the JIY 3 Arches Facility in Jerusalem.

As soon as we started the group was rolling in laughter. No matter how many times you play the same games it is always a pleasure to have a willing group jumping out of their skin.
When we finished the first day we asked the participants to come up with games that they knew. The requirement was that the games should turned to PFP games by changing rules so that there is no elimination, or competition.
Sure enough we had 3 new games the next day.
Here is what one of the participants had to say:
These 2 days were really good. We really had good time and that was great to feel as a child for the first time after a lot of years. That was also great that u gave us the opportunity to practice the game and to bring up a new games that we knew before.-Ori Levy

On day2, the participant were also introduced to the “child-to-child approach” by a facilitator from the organization. This is an established approach worldwide which encourages the greater contribution from children in community work related especially to children.
In the end there was a discussion about how to integrate Play for Peace with child-to-child approach. Another participant suggested that when we work with children we can encourage them to tell us games that they play or are known to their parents thus building an inventory of games with children.

Usually when we do the training adults who are little shy admit that the games are for children …that they have not had fun like this since childhood. Here, we were surprised when some of the participant said that they really enjoyed the games but were not sure if children would play them as they are use to competitive games.

We invited them to join us for a session on 26th October with children in a Jewish community Massad where we were invited to do a 2nd session…..

26th October...
This is our second visit to Massad to play with the children and the teenagers in 2 separate sessions.
Samah, Shiri and Reem who belong to the MVP group we trained, volunteered to join us.
The rest as they say was …FUN.
We played for an hour with 20 children and later with 10 teenagers. Words are not enough for us to describe what happens when children have fun with the Game “Making Melodies in my heart …” .

To give you a glimpse of what we mean; stand in front of someone you know well and sing “making melodies in my heart ...” with your knees bend, Bums out and, here is the catch- sing with your tongue out. If your friend is not laughing by now please call us!
To cut a laugh story short we are going there next week to play with PARENTS!

While driving back Reem said "… I am glad there are some things in the world that makes people happy"

A Pilgrimage of Peace

2005-10-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Father Bruno believed there were two “rights” in Israel and Palestine: the right of Jews to inhabit the Jewish state created in 1948 and the right of Arabs to maintain their homeland and live as full citizens in Israel. He envisioned the need for a place that could be a model for peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews. In 1972, he camped without modern conveniences upon a hillside that he leased from the nearby Trappist Latrun Monastery for 25 cents a year for 100 years. In 1978, the first family arrived to join him along with funds to begin construction on infrastructure for water, sewage, and electricity.
Eight years after his death, Father Bruno’s objectives continue to be fulfilled. The community has grown to 50 families, has hosted over 35,000 youth and adults at its internationally recognized School for Peace, and educates almost 300 students in grades K-6 in its bilingual bicultural primary school. “What is being done at Nave Shalom Wahat Al Salamm,” wrote Father Bruno in 1991, “is the result of the efforts, of the vision, of the tenacity of many men and women, from the beginning in 1970 up to today.”

September 2005
Today we saw the wall as we visited Ramalla. Back in Jerusalem we met Shai Kremer. Shai comes from Nave Shalom. What can be more ironical than to come across a symbol of divide and then to meet someone who has grown in a place that symbolizes peace.

Here is an account of our visit to Nave Shalom /Wahat al-Salam ;

….24th October 2005-
At 10.30 am Shai was at the signal to receive us and continue the 15 minutes of remaining drive. We turned left and through the winding road reached at the top of the hill which was Neve Shalom (in Hebrew) or Wahat al-Salaam (in Arabic) meaning oasis of peace. http://www.nswas.com/
Shai took us to her home, which was in the middle of a green cover of a variety of trees, including a guava tree, and grape fruits of different variety.
Soon we were joined by Shai’s father, Eitan. He is an educationist, one of the first persons to move with his family to this hill which was meant to be an oasis of peace.
There are about 50 families staying in Nave Shalom. Of these some are Arabic and some Jewish. Their children attend a common school.
We say hello to Shai’s mother, Smadar who is cooking for us. We whisper to Shai that we are vegetarians and were surprised to hear that they normally prefer vegetarian food
even on a festival day .
We start our walk through a path amidst trees and bushes towards a hum quite familiar….the school. Our 1st encounter is with a group of 1st grade students sitting under a tree with a teacher. They were attending a science class!
Today the school has only Arab children. Jewish children have a holiday for Sukkoth. (The holiday commemorates the 40 year period during which children of Israel, were wandering in the desert living in temporary shelters called Sukkoth. It’s also a harvest festival)

The school has children coming from around 40 different villages and communities.
We were accompanied by the school Manager. In one of the classes the teacher asked children to sing for us and they all sang an Arabic song. We could not resist and asked if we could teach them a song.
Inspite of not knowing English they all sang “watermelon” with us!!

Some children, very curious, were saying hello to us.
The founder of elementary school, Eti Edlund passed by and children were all over her.
A little boy asked Agyat to teach the watermelon song again!
We went to the oldest building of the school.

Shai remembers that she was one of the 1st students in that building in early 80’s.
They were 3 children then. I took her picture where she had her 1st encounter with formal education.
What do you feel about being brought up in Nave Shalom?
I think what ever I am today is because I was here…Shai, born in Nave is one of the few Jewish (only one we have met) who speaks Arabic as fluently as Hebrew. She has traveled around the globe alone, spent lot of time in India working with NGO’s, now works in Health sector in Tel-Aviv.

We walked through the tranquil trail to reach 'House of Silence', which was a peaceful corner facing the beautiful valley. It was quiet inside the dome. We could here ourselves breathe!

It reminded me of J. Krishnamurty centre in India, which has similar structure and peace around it. I studied in a school which was made by this philosopher and nostalgia showered!

Back to Shai’s home where we could smell the treat we were to get! Slowly we discovered that this family not only traveled to India but has imbibed many values and had great respect for different cultures. The grandma was proud of her daughter and granddaughter. She used to be a Kindergarten teacher when she was young.

A quick walk to School of Peace. This is a center that runs programs for coexistence dialogue between Arab and Jewish groups. Since its establishment in 1979 more than 25,000 young people have attended their programs. From our 5 months in Israel we can say that the school offers a rare opportunity for both Jewish and Arab community to interact meaningfully to, and about each other.
We met Nava Zonenshaina, of School for Peace who gave us a brief picture of their detailed work in peace efforts. She showed us a book that documents some of their work. She said they normally sell it for 100NIS (that is 1000 Indian Rupees) I have never bought a book so expensive.
She said you can pay whatever you want. As I struggled to come up with a number she said, “I think I can give you this as a present”.
WOW! To want a book desperately and at the same time find someone who is kind enough to offer that to you!

On the lunch table we were pleasantly surprised. Smadar had made Indian curry for us, and ofcourse we finished it!!
And we never got up from the lunch table. Sweets as it is festival time … then Cuban coffee.
As we looked out from the window Eitan pointed at the valley below trying to answer “how was this place selected?” He said, the place selected itself!

The land below used to be in Jordan till 1967.The war even now known as “6 day war” changed the geography of Israel and the nations around it. He told us that this has been a land of war historically. There use to be a big wall built centuries back. He said there are reference that even ancient Egyptian ruler (Pharos) fought a war here. During the world war too there was a battle fought here. There are pictures of British army prisoner’s camp from 1st world war in this place. Eitan’s father, the eldest of the brothers was the only one who survived the holocaust. He lost all is close family during that period.

As I listened to him I wondered, could all those dying in the battlefield said a prayer for peace in their last breath for this place to become an oasis for peace.

We had stories from Play for Peace India to tell and Kremers were good listeners!
Smadar gifted us a book ‘when the cloud lifted…’ written by Fr. Bruno, the founder of Nave Shalom. She autographed it which was very touching.

Dear Swati and Agyat,
Thank you for the spirit of India,
That you brought to our house.
And for all the inspiration, interest and joy
You gave us on your visit today.
Our home is your home!

We had a little globe on a Play for Peace marble with a dancing guy on it which we left with them.

Samer was back from Jerusalem to pick us up.
And here was another interesting situation. In 1984, 21 years ago Samer was the first Arab intern to be in Nave Shalom. So this family remembered those days, and was catching up with good old days for an hour. It was amazing!!
It was getting dark. We must move now…grand ma too came to say good bye.
We hugged, (not so usual for Indians) and left with a promise to come back again, to play with children in the school and ofcourse eat Indian food.
Kremers now have a home in India which they would visit next year.

What defines the spirit of this place, the people of course! They have spent their life here not talking about peaceful coexistence but living it. But when Eitan and Shai saw us doing watermelon song with children and children responding to us- strangers, they laughed and got excited.
I wondered why! It struck me later that they don’t preach peace; they are excited about peace… with the innocence of uncorrupted faith. This is my effort to give words to what I felt.

Our first play session in Jewish settlement

2005-10-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

On 19th October 2005 we visited Masad. Masad is a small “Community village” we were told. It was created in late 70’s. It has around 80 families living on top of a hillock.

If you have not been to Israel, let us add that the topography of north Galilee lands itself to a lot of settlements that are on the hills. If you stand on top of a hill and look around you see a land full of curvatures, roads that go up and down. You see villages and towns that run on the length, or should one say height and breadth of different hills.

Masad is 10 minutes drive from Eilaboun. It took us 3 months and 4 days to reach there.

The rains poured early morning and as we were driving to Masad we joked about the number of children who might turn up. Our friends Samer and Oren accompanying us told us just in case children are not enough you will have childish adults.

As we approached Masad we had to stop for the gates to open, luckily a car drove out and it offered us the opportunity to drive in. While returning we were given a code.When you punch that code on your mobile the gate opens (technology!) .

The play session was in the community center for children. There were around 10 children of different age. Aviva was our host who looks after the center, or rather the children (well! Looking after the center and the children may not always be the same things).

By the time we started the play sessions we had 20 children, 2 childish adults, Aviva and us(Swati & Agyat).

I must share that for 3 months we have come across a lot of emotions ranging from disbelief, fear, tentativeness, not sure, reluctant-confidence about how Play for Peace will work with children.

There is a belief that children here have a lot of privileges and opportunities to play (community center, school) and they will not be attracted to our games.
Whenever we heard this we would later on look at each other and ask our self “do we need to attract children for games”.

We started at around 11.15 am and played till 12.45 noon. When we stopped it was not the children who wanted to stop.
We know neither Hebrew nor Arabic. So we were depending on Oren and Samer to do translation for us. But a lot of time the children started speaking as soon as we stopped, trying to explain to others what they understood.

Another surprise was when Samer told them that we have come from Eilaboun. All of them said they always come to Eilaboun to do some shopping or for hair cut to 'Fadia’s saloon.' Interestingly, Fadia is our landlady!
Eilaboun is an Arab Village and Masad a Jewish community. We had no idea such relations existed.
In the end when we sat with children for an informal chat.A girl asked " what will you say for- we had lot of fun, in your language". We told them in Hindi(India's National Language) "Bahut Maza Aaya". All the children began chanting it for us.
One little boy asked us if we(agyat and me) were brother and sister. When we said we were married all had a good laugh!
Aviva was noting down all the games as we played and then we had a very interesting meeting with her after the session.
She said -“….when ever we tell these children to play together they never agree, there is always some excuse . Today was a miracle…”
Well, we are going again there on 26th October!

A Walk Across!

2005-10-13T04:20:00.000-07:00

A fortnight after the disengagement in Gaza and parts of West Bank has been completed.

Ramallah is half an hour drive from Jerusalem. We stay 3 hours away from Jerusalem in the north in an Arab village called Eilaboun.
When we reached half way to Jerusalem just to reconfirm that all was ok I asked Samer to make a call to the school we were visiting in Ramallah. Samer called and they said, he could not come in. No Israeli citizen can go in.

Just last night they found the body of a young Israeli soldier very close to the school. He was allegedly abducted by Palestine hard liners.

Could we go? A couple of more calls and we were clear that those who had an Israeli passport could not go to West bank, and anybody else could go.
Now, it was almost 12 noon. Our meeting was scheduled at 1.30pm.
We went round and round the old city of Jerusalem to look for a taxi that would take us to Ramallah. Well, all said NO. So the new plan was to take a cab up to the check point, Kalendia and walk across to the other side of the WALL and take another cab. Now that sounds crazy…border…different country? Where were we heading to…?
The taxi driver was an Arab who spoke a bit of English. He asked was 60shakles (NIS) (600rs!). Bit too much for Indian to drive for 20 minutes. But much relieving than going round the old city for 30 minutes!
Samer left us with all instructions to the taxi driver who enjoyed his cigarette as he drove through the crowded streets. We were at the check post. It was like a fish market. We were ‘back home’, I thought. Venders, cars, cabs, buses, trucks and flies and noise…construction work going on...of what….the wall was not complete yet.

I stood there for a couple of minutes ….the taxi driver said he could take us in if we gave him 300 shackles …and he would take 4 hours to get out of there so we had so much more time to ourselves…..No way were we paying that money….and we didn’t know how much time we would take in the meeting.
We started walking towards the checkpoint. Many were walking with us. Many women with veils, and children with them. Nobody stopped anybody.
As we reached close to the wall and the check point we saw these young men in olives, with guns. A couple of them had it in their hand as if ready to shoot. I am sure they were just posing!
Then was this long walk through the fenced wire on both sides.

In 15 minutes we were on the other side…again a big traffic jam and chaos.
We got into another taxi.

As we drove inside West Bank, it was clean, same houses as we see in Israel, same construction and same traffic rules…offices of international NGO’s and funding agencies!! We also saw an office of Media center of State of Palestine.
(I am reminded of my Palestinian friends from collage in 1990 that use to swear by the name of Yassir Arafat. I wonder where they are and how they feel when they see it.)

… children in the school were the same, they played as much and laughed the same…parents came to pick them up and there was this little corner where a vender was selling chickpeas and corn. Kids were thronged there.
(A lot of the children were picked up by their parents in Car. A visual of having a car and richness, and still feel as not being on the fair side of the life. You can still be belonging to the Marginalized section of Population).

As we were being walked by one of the staff of the school she asked us- is Play for Peace planning to bring children of both communities together….because many people will object that…it is normalizing!
This term still remains fresh in me…questions me!

(Normalizing is used by many Palestinians to refer to some of the peace efforts to improve relationship between Jewish and Palestinians. They believe this is an effort to normalize a situation which is anything but normal, referring to constant discrimination by the state of Israel on Palestinians.)
The school helped us with a taxi to take us to the border. The traffic jam was still there so we got off the cab and started to walk. Taking pictures, looking at the wall which had graffiti’s. A caricature of Gandhi …tear the wall….break the wall….and many more in Arabic that we could not understand.

From a distance we could see Israel on the other side of the wall. We were in Palestine! Soon we reached to the checkpoint which was not the same as what we experienced when walking in. It was a police station kind of feel. High security. Male citizens were lined up…it was a long long queue. I was in the ladies queue which was shorter. I had my passport (thank God I had got the extension of visa stamped on it!)which this young olive girl scanned, detectors beeping. As she was checking me out I was wondering what she is behind this garb…what does she feel…every day keeps an eye on the Arabs who might be suicide bombers and walk out of west bank…every individual had a identity card which they must carry to go out of this point.

I had to wait for 20 minutes for Agyat to come out. I had enough time to look around at all these innocent citizens who were waiting for their husbands or brothers or sons to come out of the drill. Some were being questioned. Some soldiers were huddled in the corner enjoying a smoke, some on duty frozen at fences with guns pointing towards the wall as if they were playing the game of statue!!

We decided to be brave this time; after all we passed all the security checks. We sat on a local bus costing us just 4.50 shackles (NIS) each.

Many face looking strangely at us.
I did check under my seat if there was an anonymous bag or something (!!) After all we were in a public transport for the 1st time in 5 months of our stay in Israel.
A curious person did ask Agyat, what we were doing in this part of the world…. He said there are Indians in the better part of Israel but no one comes to Ramallah…
The moment I said I am from an NGO that works with children he asked is it ‘save the children’…so people are aware of NGO network here!

We had hardly driven for 10 minutes…another check point…2 men in olive came in.(it’s such an irony that olive is a symbol of peace!) They looked at each face, it was probably the normal check as all were ready with their identity cards which were again taken to a army van where it was scanned and returned in 10 minutes…we had Indian passports… we were exempted from this !

In 30 minutes we were in Jerusalem…the old city which no more looked as terrible as it was in the morning when we went round and round looking for a safe taxi driver and a safe journey to the West Bank!!

A young Arab student doing PhD, an Israeli citizen shared-“I have never been to West Bank. How does it look? I have heard it’s dirty and poor…is that true?”

Another Jewish friend, who teaches organizational development said-“… I want to go to Ramallah …but I will wait for the day when there is peace!”

When I saw the wall so tall,
I felt tiny, so small.

Overwhelmed by its length, and strength,
I thought-will peace come by the wall !

I thought-Disengagement,
Settlements, colonies…
Workshops on co-existence…
Olives-a symbol of peace,
New games,
Will people forget it all!!
-Swati

Is it a Wall?
Or a place where humanity took a fall.

I went on both sides
But couldn’t stop wondering wide.

Which side are the prisoners?

Who can roam free here?
Except hate and fear…

-Agyatmitra

PFP in Mughar

2005-10-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

A NEWS story about Mughar (FEBRUARY 2005)

In the beginning of February 2005, the village of Mughar in northern Israel became a battleground between Druze and Christians. A Druze teenager spread a rumor that Christians from Mughar were displaying pornographic images of Druze women on the Internet.
Although the rumor was false, it sparked three days of riots against the Christians. CBN News visited the village to see the effects of the riots, and what lies ahead for the embattled Christians.
During the riots, hundreds of Druze attacked Christians and their homes and businesses. The impact of the riots devastated the Christian section of the village. The Catholic Church in the center of town was attacked and its windows broken. Cars were burned.
No fewer than 40 cars were burned or damaged, as well as 20 houses and 25 shops and businesses, all belonging to Christians who make up 22 percent of the town's population, compared to 58% Druse and 20% Muslim Arabs out of a population of about 19,000.
Two Druse were wounded by shots apparently fired by Christians in retaliation for the attacks.
Some 2,000 residents, most of them Christians, left the village because of the riots.

"I view these incidents very seriously and give my full backing to the police in whatever actions they need to take," Mughar local council chairman Ziad Dagash said on Sunday. "I totally denounce this violence, which is totally unacceptable especially in the 21st century in which we live. These incidents have put a black stain on the whole Druse community," he said.
His comments were echoed by former Druse minister Salah Tarif, who was also involved in the attempts to negotiate a 'sulha.'

Play for Peace in Mughar (OCTOBER2005):

Mughar is less then 10 minutes drive away from Eilaboun. These are Arab towns in the North Galilee District of Israel. Just to give a geographical picture-we are about 180 kilometer from Jerusalem and around 30 Kilometers from Nazareth.

When the violence took place a lot of Christian families took shelter in Eilaboun. Some of them have permanently shifted out.

As volunteers of Play for Peace in Israel we have been based here at the outreach program of our partner Jerusalem YMCA International.

Samer Mouallem is the Director of YMCA’s outreach program in North based in Eilaboun. He tells us that within the ARAB minority of Israel there are different religions and sects. There are Muslims, Christians, Bedouins and Druze. All of these communities have varying faith, practices and culture. He says “The relationship between the different communities within the Arab minority is taken for granted. All relations need maintenance and there have been no efforts towards that for many years. Thus creating potential for conflict as there are many villages where there are mixed population.”

Since the Arab community as a whole struggles for fair democratic space in Israel the problems within the intra ethnic groups are neglected.

As part of a YMCA program we went to a school in Mughar to introduce Play for Peace.
As we appraoch the school gate the security person asks for our passport!(Never been asked that before in a school).
The school has 80% Christians, and 20% Druze and Muslim children.
The Principal asked us to 'show' what is PFP is all about. We conducted a 30 minute session with 6th grade children. The principle invited us to work with the 6th grade children in the coming week.

From 3rd-6th of October we conducted 8 play sessions in the school playing twice with 160 children of grade 6. Which means,320 participant days.
The sessions went of very well again underlining the fact of the universality of the games.
The potential for the school is great. Many teachers who participated or stayed through the session appreciated and even stated that such sessions were important.

Later on we got to hear from 2 different sources that people in the village came to know about the sessions as children were talking about it after school hours .

IMAGES OF THE PLAYSESSION

Indian Volunteers in Israel

2005-09-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

We are Agyatmitra and Swati. We came to Israel in June to initiate Play for Peace process here. We come with experience of 5 years of working with Play for Peace in India. We started Play for Peace in India in 2000 and took it from one city, 30 youth, 300 children to 10 cities, 1000 youth and teachers who have gone through training and 10000 children who benefit from the fun and laughter Play for Peace games provide.