For a long while now Yehudit and I have been teaching women of all ages in the village of Far'ata …. I teach Hebrew and Yehudit teaches crochet.
We began with lessons in the afternoon at 2.00. We made all sorts of experiments. One lesson after the other, parallel lessons, but it was not so efficient.
In the beginning both of us had many students but the number dwindled and the same women did not come all the time.
As a result of talks with the students and with the two women responsible we understood that it was difficult for the women to come in the afternoon. The children come home from school and it was necessary to look after them and to be with them.
Therefore we decided to change the time to 10 a.m. and this was more successful. But we did lose some students, mainly young women who had to work in the morning but it seems it is impossible to keep everyone happy.
Because we have not reported all the lessons I wish to pay my dues. In the lesson before Pssover I had an open discussion with the students without reading or writing.
I told them about the holiday, why we celebrate it (it is hard to speak of the 10 plagues and go and tell about the killing of the first born, too cruel), about the Seder itself, the families coming together, matzo, etc. Everything is Hebrew. I of course made a list of all the words translated into Arabic and was also helped by one of the students who had taught herself Hebrew. What was enchanting was that the conversation with the women opened up. They were very interested to know what dress I would wear for the evening and they wanted to know what gifts we brought when invited to the meal. Of course they told me that during their holiday the women do not leave the house and the brothers go to visit the sisters and bring them presents. Money only. The women collect all the money which they get and buy themselves gold ornaments. A wonderful habit which I intend to adopt. But I remembered that I only have sisters. And of course they wanted to know what we eat and how we cook. In short a wonderful chat between women
After I taught them the letters (by the way they themselves asked to be taught to read ) I prepared pages with sentences to read and handed them out. Some of the words we had learned and some were new.
But the sentences were long and complex. At the end of the last lesson I felt that all of the 14, 15 students, were able to read the sentences on their own and to understand what they were reading.
Their progress is amazing and exciting.
In Yehudit’s lessons the students, about 7 of them, show a desire to learn and creativity. They learn during the lesson and go home to work and come with really excellent works. The things that they make are also complex and special. If only we had a way to market their handiwork.
And to the story: one of the women in the Arab lesson, A. a delicate woman of 40, single, says that she worked as a seamstress for a Jewish employer. On the day of the lesson she asked if I could take her to her work at Al Funduq which is near to Far'ata. It must be noted that she came to nearly all the lessons and was very earnest and hardworking. We took her to her place of work and heard a wonderful story. Her employer is a very pleasant young woman, a resident of the nearby settlement who came to Israel about 20 years ago with her husband and two small children. Today her children are grown, the one has finished the army and the other is a soldier. She does sewing for shops which order things from her. She rented a room at Al Funduq and works there, either alone or with A. When she began working there, many years ago, she knew no Hebrew, only Russian and Ukranian. Her Hebrew she learned from conversations with her Arab neighbours. A. has worked for her for many years and they have a very good relationship even though they have no common language. Now A. wants to learn Hebrew so that they can converse. Her employer says that A. is a true friend and knows her heart without words.
While we were there, A. suddenly underwent a metamorphosis. Suddenly the head covering disappeared, the long coat (and beautiful) and the closed shoes and also the spectacles. And opposite us stood a young woman smiling with her hair in a cuckoo, with lens, jeans and rubber slippers. So A. looks in a different world. Of course we did not hesitate to ask the employer if she was not afraid to work alone and a Palestinian village. Her reply sounded just like that of a woman from Machsomwatch, enthusiastic and excited. She did not despair and explained to us that there was nothing to fear from the Palestiniahs. They are just like us, etc, etc.
One only needs a rucksack and cane and the good stories come along.