Jurish, Za'tara (Tapuah)

Jurish, Tapuach junction

We left Rosh Ha’ayin at 14:15 and reached Jurish at 15:00.  Two classes awaited us, one of boys and the other of girls.  Ro’i first taught the boys yoga and Shosh first taught the girls English.  Later we switched, Shosh taught the boys English and Sara taught the girls yoga.  Sara, Hadas and Ro’i helped the pupils work in pairs, which greatly helped overcome the big differences among the children in how much English they knew.

Soldiers stood in the lovely field of anemones at Za’tara junction.  The sight of the blooming fields heightened the paradoxes of life under occupation.  A few soldiers also stood at the hitchhiking station.

A military jeep came through the valley and a military pickup truck stood at Tapuach junction.  Soldiers and laborers returning after a work day stood at Harsa.  Inspections were conducted near Haris.  A military jeep with two soldiers is parked at the junction.

The classes continued to discuss Nelson Mandela and his work.  When I asked the pupils which leaders they admired, many chose Yasser Arafat and Gandhi.  They well understood what the two leaders had in common and how they differed.  They view them both as freedom fighters, but Gandhi stressed a non-violent struggle.  All the pupils hoped for peace and had reservations about violence.  The discussion was frank and believable, and heartwarming!

In addition to the discussion we practiced conversation and grammar, in writing and aloud.

We watched the episode “Remy and Linguini” on Youtube, from the popular PIXAR series, in English, of course.  Most were familiar with the series and participated in the conversations and the exercises.

Hadas is working on a project of landscape photographs, buildings and texts.  As part of the project she visited S.’s home, photographed it and the family’s fields of ful, and met the parents, who welcomed her.  She was even invited to stay overnight!