January 16, 2003

Latin School teachers in a workshop training.

The teacher meetings continued today and will continue for another few days as a trainer leads a workshop in how to deal with violence: violence in the Occupation, violence in the society, in the village, in the home, and especially in the school. With all of the violence that swirls around here, training like this is desperately needed.

Marthame went off to the Anglican Clinic today for a routine visit with lab work because his knee has been bothering him. They were very worried about our insurance situation. Do you have any? Is the school paying for you? Are you sure your church will reimburse you? Don't worry, he told them, expecting a hefty bill. It came to 65 shekels (about $15). Not even a co-pay in the States.

Meanwhile, as if to underscore the importance of the teacher training, two tanks took up their positions right at the edge of town - a flying checkpoint between Zababdeh and Qabatia.

We received an email today from a student at Carleton College whom we had paired with one of our students two years ago as a pen pal. She had written a play based on their conversations - and on the news surrounding this place - and wanted to share it with us. In the evening, we went to pay overdue visits to friends.

Fr. Aktham meeting with friends from the Patriarchate.

We stopped by the Latin Convent to see Fr. Aktham and Deacon Homam who were hosting two priests from the Patriarchate for the evening. They wanted to watch Fr. Aktham's Christmas Pageant, and since we have basically adopted his camera for the documentary project, we had to re-lend it to him. The sound isn't clear in the video, so we're talking about re-doing it more professionally - but to do so, we'll need a boost in our equipment capabilities.