First half of the exchange

There are many things I have enjoyed so far, which makes it difficult for me to choose one.

One of the favourite things that I loves was when the Palestinians showed us around the area and took us to their homes.

Political graffiti

because the streets are filled with history. Each piece of political graffiti tells a different story and the fact that they have their shaheeds on the wall symbolises their importance and significance.

Aaliyah

Shining eyes

I will not forget the shining eyes of the UK group when they saw the Dome of the Rock when they came with me. Their eyes were saying something which all words and language will not be enough to say - the thing that I love most is that I feel the we will not be left again.

Mohammed Eriqat.

After a few weeks wait, a day of rushed packing and a 5 hour flight, we found ourselves halted a further 3 hours in Ben Gurion airport. Now, it’s not to say that weren’t exoecting this, Israeli security is renowned for it questioning (what’s your father’s name? what’s your email address?) you know, the absolutely crucial questions needed to be asks in order to allow someone into a country.

However, the end of this what seemed to be a lifetime wait, was absolutely worth it. Our drive from tel aviv to east jereusalem allowed us to see the Al-Aqsa mosque and the infamous west bank wall within the first hours of being in the holy land. Once we reached Abu Dis we were greeted with classic Palestinian hospitality in the form of food (always a winner). We got talking to our friends on the Palestinian side of CADFA who explained to us that we got it easy. The route which most Palestinians take from Jordan often takes 2 days to pass. That, combined with our warm welcome soon made our relatively small problems melt away and we were excited to start our project.

Our team (Team Black) finally got to meet the majority of the group the next morning. Surprisingly we surpassed the usual awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time,  and got straight into learning about each other’s lives. The real task of the morning was outlining the differences between our every day lives and culture. We took an informal tour around Abu Dis Guided by our new Palestinian friends, which ended up with us looking over an stunning valley overseeing the whole of the city. Much to our surprise, our appreciation of our surroundings and what seemed like a personalized tour came back to reward us. Once we got back, we were asked to list all of these differences and given all of the surrounding we took in TEAM BLACK WON!!

Here is our victory picture: we are excited for the rest of this journey and the time we will spend with our new friends. 

We felt Palestine

After a long wait at the airport we were finally on our way to the accommodation. Some of us had fallen asleep on the bus, we were hot. tired and very hungry. Until we saw the bright lights of Jerusalem from the left of the van, we all stood up and took our phones and cameras out and started taking pictures, that's when we saw it. The dome of rock and Al Aqsa.
 That's when we first felt it.
We felt Palestine

Running up to the last minute...

... and running very close to deadline.

The young people's handbook has finally gone to press! It will be printed in Palestine and we are promised it will be ready on time!

The young people travelling from the UK are very excited, full of questions and we hope they have a great time.

Arrangements are being fine-tuned in Palestine ...

and soon the UK group will be out of the rainy July UK summer and in the heat of Palestine, making new Palestinian friends. Good luck everyone!

London meeting about the youth visit

Here are some of the participants and not all (and some of their mums and not all) after our meeting in Camden on Sunday. We all agreed that it's REALLY EXCITING that the youth exchange is just about to happen! Watch this blog to learn how it goes!