Update on Women's Group at Dar Assadaqa

Merhaba!

I am currently living and volunteering in Abu Dis, at Dar As Sadaqa and I have the pleasure of having an English conversation skills class with the women of Abu Dis (and Azarya!).

Our classes have been about helping the women in how to express themselves in English, to become more confident in their ability and to improve their vocabulary.

Ultimately, I feel I am the one learning from them as they are all amazing, strong and vibrant women with a lot to say and a huge amount of knowledge about their community, politics and Palestine!

During our first lesson we practiced basic conversation, how to ask and respond to questions and syntax. I also taught them what 'smothered' meant in terms of men and their mothers- apparently it is an issue here!

Our next lesson saw more women attending and we talked about opinions are expressing our thoughts. The lesson touched on gender relations in the local community and of course, the occupation and how they feel living under it for so long.

It was a really interesting session, aimed at getting the women confident in talking about what THEY think, not simply facts and observations, in another language...and they did far better than I would in Arabic!

The third session was about memories and past experiences. It was a really lovely session and listening to their childhood memories was a real honour. It was also tragic and beautiful that all these memories are tainted by the occupation. Whether it was about a mother visiting her sister who lost her family in 1967, or about playing in fields that can now not be reached....

We also discussed the big political story of the moment- the prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel. We talked about the female prisoners and those who had chosen to be exiled in Qatar instead of Gaza, raising an interest discussion about Gaza and the importance of staying in your homeland or having a family life.

Our fourth class was about telling stories, verbally...So how to engage people, exaggeration, including imagery and the story we wrote collectively was about a refugee and the conversation turned to refugeehood. We discussed how people see refugees and I talked about refugees in the UK. We also read from the 'Stories from our mothers' CADFA book, as two of the group had written for it and I got some more background into the stories they had shared about tragic occurrences in Abu Dis due to the occupation.

Our fifth class touched upon traditions and we discussed weddings. I was given a very thorough breakdown of wedding customs, clothes and food. It was very beautiful to listen to and imagine, and we also discussed South Asian wedding customs and how things had changed over time in Palestine. It was nice to hear about Palestinian culture- not just politics but the everyday rituals and traditions that make life rich and to appreciate how Palestinians have worked to preserve their cultural heritage, in which women play a key role.

Our sixth class looked at the environment around us. We discussed Abu Dis, the settlement of Maale Adummim, which looms over the town and The Wall. It was difficult to get literal descriptions of The Wall or the settlement because they are such emotive topics- everything about them touches on the lives of people here- how they look is part of that. The women spoke of the settlements stealing land and resources and what The Wall has denied them- freedom of movement and Jerusalem. I can go to Jerusalem but green ID card holders in Abu Dis cannot. It is mind boggling!

The next class saw only the one student as it was before Eid! But it was a quality lesson! We discussed various topics, from what it means to resist to what it means to be a minority. The following classes have explored myths and legends- leading on to a discussion of the 'Ghule', a monster used to scare children into behaving well and also writing down recipes for a booklet we want to produce to share Palestinian recipes and express how important food is in Palestinian culture!

The women I speak to in Abu Dis dispel much of the stereotypes you hear about women in Palestine. These women are not shadows, they are active in the struggle....as mothers, sisters, teachers, workers....They have important things to say and voices that should be heard, and I am very grateful CADFA sent me here to listen!

So that is a round-up of our classes so far! We are currently working on a 'Hello Camden!' letter for women's link and hopefully some photos to follow!

Merhaba!

I am the teacher of the women's English conversation classes at Dar Assadqa! We meet twice a week to practice speaking English and talk about different issues. Below is a letter the women wrote to say hello to you and get some communication going!

Dear Camden Women's Link,

Hello and welcome to you! We are all part of the women's group and activities at Dar As Sadaqa in Abu Dis. The women who attend are from Abu Dis, but also Bethany and Sawahar.

Abu Dis has been under occupation since 1967 and the separation wall prevents us from reaching Jerusalem and travelling freely, even though Jerusalem is ten minutes away! The occupation affects our lives in every way and it is something we talk about and discuss in our English conversation classes.

The women's group at Dar AsSadaqa does many things besides the English classes. We also learn and teach traditional handicrafts, write articles and stories for CamdenAbuDis about life in Abu Dis and have offered mental health advice and health services support. We learn about nutrition and healthy lifestyles, we do gardening together, we cook for the community, visit the families of political prisoners and support and attend demonstrations for human rights in Abu Dis.

There are approximately 25 women who take part in activities and we will also be offering civil defence training soon! We are part of the women's group because we enjoy these activities, like learning new skills and also to teaching others.

We would like to increase communication with the women's link in Camden and we have some questions for you!

· Why do you think the UK did not vote for Palestinian statehood in the UN?

· How can we communicate more?

· What would you like to know about us and Abu Dis?