Sunday 14 July 2013

Weekend in the North

     Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to travel up north with Juditta and meet with some amazing women that play a major role in the ToWo project. After figuring out the train system, I made my way to the beautiful city of Haifa. Sitting by the beach, I met with Itaf- a muslim woman that shared some wonderful stories with me about her work with Palestinian and Israeli young adults. Her stories were very touching. It was the first time that I was able to hear a muslim women's view on the situation in Israel, especially her opinion about the minority women. 
     After a relaxing lunch, Juditta took me to her village- Clil. I was surprised to learn that most of the community lived off of solar energy- some people even lived in tents! It was a very relaxing village- different from anything I have ever experienced before, especially back in the states. We even walked to a woman's small farm to get eggs and cheese for dinner! For dinner, Juditta invited two of her friends over and we talked and sang while playing the guitar. It was a very peaceful evening, despite the bees that kept attacking our dinner table. I even tried liver and heart for the first time.
     On Saturday Juditta and I took a walk to visit a woman named Olivia. She is a body therapist that recently moved to Clil. She was involved in a project that was very similar to the ToWo project. From Olivia, I collected some information and tips about grant research. 
     Our last stop of the weekend was to an Arab city called Shfaram. In Shfaram I had the pleasure of joining a christian arab woman named Suhila for a dinner filled with shwarma and a sweet dessert that reminded me of the american breakfast food called grits. Suhila also shared some touching stories with me about her clinical work in the Arab villages. 
     All three women participated in the video that I am creating for funding purposes. 
Overall, the weekend opened my eyes up many different perspectives of life in Israel- outside of the one that I am used to. 



Watch a short clip about the weekend here!