January 26, 2002

Palestinian children are most dearly beloved.

One of our friends has returned back from Ramallah. He was working up until a few weeks before Christmas at one of Zababdeh's sewing sweat shops. Because of the situation here (at times impossible to get goods in and out) and similarly cheap labor available in Jordan, the owner of the shop closed up. Our friend, who was already struggling to make ends meet, headed down to Ramallah a few weeks ago to find work there. He's sharing an apartment with a bunch of other guys in the same predicament, eating bread and falafel (the Middle Eastern equivalent of mac n' cheese). He came back because his wife gave birth to twins. Two more mouths to feed...