I want to share a bit about our final day at the Oasis of Peace. As Brendan said, our first evening at the Oasis involved the kids letting loose in pillow fights, playing in the sprinklers and just having a fun time.
Monday we were able to sleep in a bit, breakfast wasn't till 8:30. We then spent the morning with Noam. What a gift! Noam is a young woman who grew up in the village. The Oasis of Peace is a village of 60 families. It was founded by a priest from a nearby monastery in the 70's. The land for the village was given by the monastery as well. It is a unique place where 50% of the families are Arab and 50% are Jewish. They have a nursery school and primary school where the students are taught by both Jewish and Arab teachers each speaking in their own language so all students become fluent in both Arabic and Hebrew. There are both Christian and Muslim Arab families. Anyway, Noam told us her story. She is Jewish, and currently studying at Brandise University in the states. She was asked about whether or not she was "obligated" to serve in the Israeli Defense Force when she graduated from high school. She told us of her struggle to decide what to do when she received the letter, her conversation with her best friend (who is Muslim) about her decision to be a Conciencious Objector. She stressed how her decision was because of how much she loved her country, and how she believes she can best serve by telling her story and living as she had been raised. Noam took us on a tour of the village where we saw the school, swimming pool, and House of Silence which is a simple dome structure overlooking the valley (and Monastery in the distance) with several rugs and small stools inside. We sat around the edge and had a time of silence reflecting on our time in Israel/Palestine and then sang "Amazing Grace" and "Sanctuary" in perfect harmony that echoed beautifully.
After some free time following lunch in which the kids had a blast in the pool we headed to Ramla to meet with Dahlia (From the book The Lemon Tree) at The Open House. In addition to hearing her story we met a young man who had grown up attending programs at The Open House who is now a song writer/rapper. He sang us a song he first wrote to the mother of one of his friends who had been killed. He has since dedicated it to all mothers who have lost a child. Following our visit we had another Middle Eastern style dinner in a room overlooking a courtyard where a B'tmitsva for a young girl was taking place. We enjoyed the music (inspired some dancing by youth on our roof, and a conga line instigated by our own Ellen and Dahlia. Our two speakers gave us much to think about and ponder as we drove home to pack and nap.
After only about two hours sleep we were up and on the bus for our ride to the airport. Why we needed to be there three hours before flight time became apparent as we negotiated all the security...
1) Bus pulled over. As we waited I watched as cars with arab license plates were emptied, bags opened, security members used mirrors to examine under the cars and the owners waited. After about 5 minutes (not long for this step) a young man came to the bus and after a brief talk with Don cleared us to go to the airport.
2) As a group we were put in our own line for luggage security check. (All Israeli Jews, showed passports and moved on to luggage check in). Don as group leader was interviewed by the supervisor and then we waited. Eventually we were told to put our bags through the enormous machine that literally throws them out at the other end...
3) All but five were then told to get in another line to have one or more of our bags searched. More waiting... then bags opened... ceramics (lead content we think) were the trigger for most. I was glad I'd packed all my souvenirs were in my backpack which they didn't ask me to put through the machine! And yet they wanted to see my checked bag full of dirty clothes... didn't look through the whole thing, I moved on quickly. Alas, Debbie had her bag completely emptied as they then looked carefully at her new olive wood creche. Of course they don't repack... you do.
4) Once we'd gathered again we moved on to the check in desk... wait some more... then
5) Passport check
6) Security Check (like all US airports)
7) and finally on to the gate.
We arrived at the airport over 2 1/2 hours before our flight time and got to our gate about 5 minutes before boarding began!
We all got some sleep from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam and then endured the LONG flight home reading, sleeping, playing cards, listening to music, watching the movies etc... And finally we were home!!... a quick passport check, gathered bags and moved quickly to our mini bus for the ride home to Livermore.
It has been an incredible two weeks. I loved having the mixture of youth and adults in our group. Each person contributed so much to our group. We laughed and cried, learned, played, worshiped, walked, and worked so well together. The travelers all stayed positive, flexible, and patient no matter how our plans evolved. Their faith and discipleship was demonstrated on a daily basis as they cared for each other, endured the heat, cold showers in Bethlehem and strange foods without complaining, and connected with the living stones (the people) of Israel/Palestine. As their blogs have shown none of us are returning home unchanged. I'm so proud to have been a part of this pilgrimage!
with prayers for peace,
love,
Cath
