Sofie's Birthday

We celebrated Sofie's birthday with cake, candles, gifts, dinner and good conversation. It was fun. Jon and I put up huge "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" posters. Jean-Maurice brought a cake with candles. We decided that even though our b'days are on other days in the year we will all celebrate a special day over the three months. So I am on 25 April, Jean-Maurice is on 25 May and Jon will be 2 June.
I wish her all the happiness and success in the future.

Land Day

On this day in 1976 six Palestinians lost their lives in an attempt to resist against the Israeli government occupying their land.

We attended a mass rally in the town of Nasslat Issa. Hundreds of people gathered to listen to the governor presenting a speech in remembrance of this day wherein he reiterates that never again will Palestinian land be taken. The day was marked with special traditional Palestinian dancing and singing.

The wall that seperates Palestinian families from each other is clearly visible in Naslat Issa. They have to travel up to two hours one-way in order to visit friends and family who used to live just minutes away.

Handover ceremony

We attended a beautiful handover ceremony. The former EAs handed over their responsibilities to us. It was very touching and I realised again the huge task and honour that we were blessed with. Bishop Munib Younin (Head of Churches in Jerusalem) shared his thoughts and vision for Israel /Palestine with us a few days earlier and requested that we continue our missionary work with grace and love.

THE EAPPI TEAM 35

WE ARE FROM:

Sweden, Norway, Germany, South Africa, the United States of America, France, Switzerland,

United Kingdom

Qalandiya Checkpoint

We went to our respective placements during the orientation week for an introduction of the tasks to follow. It takes roughly two-three hours to travel from Jerusalem to Tulkarm. However the return trip can be much longer depending on the mood at the checkpoint. Every person travelling from Tulkarm to Jerusalem needs to pass by this point manned by Israeli soldiers. It was a nightmare on the day when we passed through. Being from an international country made no difference. We were forced to wait and suffer the humiliation like everyone else. The first line we followed was mixed with men and women. We were instructed to seperate into male and female lines after standing in this line for about 30 minutes. Another 20 minutes later the second line we followed was closed because the computers went offline. We returned to the initial starting line. There we waited around 45 minutes before eventually passing through the checkpoint. We were tired, hungry and frustrated. Thousands of Palestinians have to follow this procedure on a daily basis in order to reach work. For good reason many people became restless and started arguing with the Israelis who ignored them.

New Arrival

I have arrived safely in Jerusalem. We encountered subtle moments of disillusionment at every security point between Johannesburg and Tel Aviv. The police in Amsterdam interrogated Mxolisi for roughly one hour. He mentioned that they used a sniffer dog to search the bags he had with him. I was worried and constantly on my guard - observing my surroundings. I felt angry and confused. We arrived tired at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 17 March 2010 to a warm and friendly reception from the EAPPI office staff in Jerusalem. They were professional, pleasant and accommodating. It was comforting to learn during introductions that other team members also had trouble during their travel to Israel-Palestine. Since then my mood settled. We are staying at the St Thomas guesthouse in Jerusalem for the duration of our orientation programme. This is a picture of the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem