October 26, 2003

Sawsan helps her son with his studies.

This morning Elizabeth helped Sawsan around the house a bit, her two sons studied, and Marthame went off with Sawsan's husband for some errands around Jenin.

Others were trying to work on Israeli permission for the bus. One of the Italian nuns went to the Salem DCO, a bureaucratic nightmare. And for nothing. No permission, no way. Maybe, they were told, if you change the bus.

At four, we went to the Roman Catholic church in the center of town for Sunday Mass. There were perhaps forty people there, including a French nurse and an Italian physiotherapist who are working through NGOs in Jenin hospitals. The Italian, who had just done two stints in Afghanistan, said she was exhausted by this place. The stress and daily difficulties in Jenin far outweigh what she saw in Afghanistan - sobering thought. The French woman had recently been in Iraq and said the Jenin hospital is better off than the one she was at in Baghdad, but was not as well organized as the one she served in Mosul.