February 2, 2003

Still no power this morning. Not unprecedented, but not without frustration. We split up our church duties this morning, Marthame going to the Orthodox church. The gospel this morning concerned the healing of the ten lepers (Luke 17) which took place in nearby Burqin.

Mothers and infants in celebration of the presentation of the infant Jesus at the Temple.

The Latin Church celebrates mothers and their newborns.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was at the Roman Catholic Church of Visitation, where the gospel was about Joseph and Mary presenting the infant Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem and offering a sacrifice of two doves. Fr. Aktham arranged some special liturgy for the occasion. First he asked for a Yousef (Joseph) and a Miriam (Mary) to come forward from the congregation. A teenaged Yousef raised his hand, but Fr. Aktham said that he needed older people, as they were also symbolizing the elderly Simeon and Anna, who recognized Christ at the Temple. There were some interested looks (what is he up to?) and soon two volunteers came forward, and they helped Fr. Aktham receive a number of symbolic gifts from the congregation, brought up by the youth. The symbolic presentation of gifts (oil, flowers, a cross, flowers) is common in this church, but the last gift was birds in a a birdcage - not so usual. As soon as the doves were presented, all of the mothers who had given birth over the last year brought their infants forward. It was quite beautiful. After Mass, Fr. Aktham and Deacon Homam drove down to Beit Sahour for the funeral of a father of one of the Patriarchate's priests.

Zababdeh children create art for an international peace quilt.

Elizabeth and the visiting American kindergarten teacher gathered with the school's art teacher and some junior high kids. Together, they are working on a a peace quilt, a project of a junior high school in New Hampshire. Each kid designed and colored a square of fabric, and eventually, Zababdeh's squares will be joined up with squares from the States, Bosnia, Kenya, El Salvador, and other places. It was a great chance for the kids to express their creativity.

One of Zababdeh’s children proudly displaces her quilt square.

The electricity was still out, so Marthame grabbed a taxi up to the University to recharge batteries (literally - not symbolically - of our laptop and camera and cellphone). The University runs on its own generators. It, the Naim Khader Center outside of town, and the modern bakery have generators and are the only places in the area which had electricity today. While he was gone, electricity came back to town, but only temporarily - before he got back, it cut off again. This is truly worrying. Not only do we need electricity for such a big chunk of our work - internet, emails, etc., and not only do we, like everyone else, need electricity to keep a lot of food from spoiling, but our building is set-up so that an electric generator refills the water tanks on the roof. Once they empty, if there's no electricity, there's no water.

We went out in the evening to run some errands (candles, batteries, etc.) and to pay some visits. Not much work happening at home. We might as well be social. We stopped by with friends and had dinner - if extras show up, extra plates are added welcomingly - in the half-light of kerosene and candles.

Before we left, though, the electricity was back on. A mere twenty-four hour outage. Life is good.