Women visitors in Bradford

Molly Kenyon writes:

My co-host Riffat Akram and I were pleased to help Bradford receive visitors from Abu Dis.   Of the eight gatherings arranged for Im Shadi and Fatheya, several could provide ongoing contacts.

We were grateful for active participation from our local branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.  Their AGM was arranged to showcase this visit, and was well-attended despite growing awareness of Covid-19.

Bradford Community Broadcasting https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/ interviewed our visitors live on air, and recorded a more in-depth interview.  Fatheya and Im Shadi also recorded a greeting in Arabic for International Women's Day, to be broadcast alongside greetings in other languages from women across the world.

Young students from Belle Vue Girls' Academy https://bvgacademy.co.uk/ felt deeply honoured to meet our visitors, and would like to create a link with a school in Abu Dis.  

The Muslim Women's Council  http://www.muslimwomenscouncil.org.uk/ held a special meeting with passionate discussion of the injustices faced by Palestinian people. 

Another discussion which explored relationships, faith and political issues was hosted by faith-to-faith workers at Touchstone  https://touchstone-bradford.org.uk/   

At the only Peace Museum in the UK  https://peacemuseum.org.uk/ the long-running conflict in Palestine was placed alongside other world-wide and local struggles for justice.  

At a musical evening, strong feelings of anger, despair and hope were shared in a different way - including Palestinian songs from Fatheya. 

The final event - with special thanks to Riffat as host - brought together 20 women to prepare and eat maqluba alongside far-ranging conversations about issues of justice and peace.

We hope this visit deepened awareness of Palestinian issues among people in Bradford, also that our visitors gained some knowledge of our city's strengths and weaknesses.  A visit linked to International Women's Day was a good way to share what women have achieved, and the challenges we still face.

Palestinian women speaking out in Hastings!

Thank you to Fadwa and Rudayna for their fascinating talk tonight on how the illegal Separation Wall negatively affects women's lives in many different ways, from denying them their health and reproductive rights to their right to a family life. The village of Abu Dis, where Fadwa and Rudayna live, was once part of Jerusalem but is now cut off from the city by the Wall and the lives of all Palestinians, within and without, are governed by colour-coded IDs.

In 2016 Rudayna suffered a health crisis but was forced to wait over 24 hours for a permit to visit a hospital on the other side of the Wall – once, a five minute walk from her home – and the delay meant doctors had no choice but to remove her womb in order to save her life. Now, thanks to that day-long wait for a permit to go to hospital, she will never be able to have children. This is just one of many examples of how the Wall and system of identification represses Palestinian women and denies them their basic human rights.

Today, the Wall snakes through and encircles whole Palestinian towns, villages and lands, dismantling families, preventing young people from enjoying relationships with those on the other side of the Wall, or even marrying, and restricting access to vital medical services.

Meanwhile, a plethora of complex legislative measures works to displace Palestinians in Jerusalem by revoking their residency rights and making ordinary life impossible . As Manar, a Jerusamelite mother-of-five put it: 'The wall is a racial tool and restricts our freedom of movement, making us susceptible to ridicule, humiliation and degradation.'

Cadfa Comes to Cornwall by Tara Seaborn

I discovered CADFA via social media at the beginning of February this year and I am very glad that I did. I live in Cornwall, approximately 275 miles from Camden and the UK CADFA HQ . I was delighted when it was suggested that part of the Palestinian Women’s visit could include a visit to the Cornish coast. Cornwall’s natural beauty and charm makes it a lovely place to visit and is often a welcome change from the cityscapes but when planning the visit the level of support for the Palestinian cause was an unknown quantity.

Initial enquiries were encouraging and we soon had a meeting lined up with The Women’s Centre in Bodmin and an evening event at Cafe CHAOS in Truro.

The ladies travelled by sleeper train and arrived in Truro on a mild early spring morning. I had already met Abeer and Eman in Palestine back in February and it was lovely to catch up. It was great to catch up with Nandita too and find out more about CADFA’s history.

Life’s a beach

A visit to Cornwall would be incomplete without a trip to a beach. The weather was fair so we ventured out to Perranporth to see the Atlantic Ocean and admire the views whilst walking along the coastal path. This is such a contrast to the reality of daily life in Abu Dis and Palestine as a whole. I have always realised that I am very fortunate to live here and the thought was even more prominent in my mind after my recent trip to Palestine with CADFA.

Women unite

The ladies at The Women’s Centre in Bodmin had agreed to hold a lunch meeting with us.They were very friendly and hospitable, providing a lunch of traditional Cornish pasties, salad, hummus etc. It was a very productive meeting. The women from the Centre were keen to find out more about CADFA and were particularly interested to hear about Sumood, the women’s group that Eman runs in Abu Dis. The Women’s Centre Cornwall has subsequently made a donation to Sumood and hope to become a sister organisation to the group. Some of the staff there have expressed a wish to visit Palestine in the future and I hope that it will be possible once the current pandemic is over.

CHAOS reigns!

Our evening event was held at Cafe CHAOS(Community Helping All Of Society) in Truro. Babs Rounsevell, CHAOS’ creator had kindly allowed up to take over the cafe for the evening and provided refreshments. The event was well attended with over thirty people coming to hear the women speak. We had people of different ages, race and religion and they all came together to show their support for Palestine. Abeer and Eman delivered informative and impassioned speeches. The audience were attentive and some were inspired to move into action.There are now plans to arrange meetings, events and fund-raising activities in and around Truro, in partnership with CADFA as soon as circumstances allow. We held a collection after the event and raised £137.50 for CADFA. Once again, we made positive connections and raised awareness about Palestine.

Onwards!

It was a long but successful day and I think we achieved what we set out to do. Nandita, Abeer and Eman retired to their rooms after 9pm and before we knew it another day had dawned and they were on their way to Salisbury for their next set of adventures. I was very impressed by all three ladies’ ability to keep the momentum going and their unshakable enthusiasm for their task. I hope that the visit was enjoyable and worthwhile. I also hope that we meet again, whether it be in the UK or Palestine.

Art exhibition

There was an interesting art exhbition at Cafe Palestina - We went there and did some talks as well

A very early morning

We left Bradford at ten to six in the morning - a long journey by coach.

When we got to London we went to Calthorpe  Community Gardens for their International Women's Day - This was a party with a play and singing and a Palestinian stall and other things -

Thursday 5th March

We went for a short time to a museum and later went with Molly and Riffat to a Muslim Centre - there were many people there and we did another talk. We had tea with them.

Then we went to a centre called Touchstone, listening for change - and met women from other religions and other nationalities, to have a chance to talk. They interviewed us about Palestine.

We went shopping to buy food to make maklubeh and we worked with other women to make meal for the evening, for all the people who came to an International Women's Day at Riffat's house - There were people from different backgrounds. After we ate, we talked, and after that Fathea sang

Women's meeting with musicians

We went to the Peace Theatre and Bradford Museum, just to see -  and then went to Riffat's house where we met musicians (and Fathiya also sang). They asked us to talk about our lives in Palestine - they asked a lot about schools and women - there was cake and tea

Wednesday 4th March

We had an interview with Bradford Radio - It was very interesting - We met girls from a local school at the same time. We talked in English and also in Arabic. One programme was live and one for International Women's Day.

Tuesday 3rd March

We went by train to Bradford - Annika took us to the station and Molly waited for us, and then took us to Riffat's house in her car.

We had lunch and we had a rest.

We went to a women's centre in an old German church. There was a big meeting about Palestine, crowded with people. They put a Palestinian map on the wall showing 'disappearing Palestine'. There was Palestinian food and a lot of discussion.  We enjoyed the meeting very much.

Monday 2nd March

We went to Parliament and had a good walk on Hampstead Heath.

Then we went to Crossroads Women's Centre and had lunch there and we spoke to a group of women. They talked about what they do and we spoke about Palestinian women. It was very good - we liked those women.

Then we went shopping with Annika and bought all the things to make makloubeh and mjadara and harisi, Then we showed people in the cafe how to make these things and we ate together.

Walk for human rights

This was the first time we ever did anything like this - walking in the street, holding banners. People were interested, they looked, they took leaflets...  It was long but good.

When we got to Trafalgar Sq there was a women's demonstration. We spoke. It was great to see women from lots of different places and unite together - it made us feel strong.

(Abeer) - this was the first time I had ever spoke in public like this but I found myself very enthusiastic and happy.

Reading

When we got to Reading, we met Allied. She was also lovely. Every place we went to we really loved the people.

We went to a restaurant before our event. The event was one of the best ones - Lots of people. a real mix of people, Irish, Syrian, people from lots of places. There were lots of questions. They organised traditional Palestinian food for all of us - vine leaves and olives and hummus and dates...People wore Palestinian clothes and Allie welcomed us in Arabic. We really enjoyed the interaction with people there.

Sunday 1st March - first day

We all met at the Cafe and met Nandita and some other friends. We had an induction meeting and talked about the journey.

We went to the middle of London by bus and then we walked - we saw lots of things - Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye and a beautiful garden (St James' Park)

Later we ate at Cafe Palestina

Arrival

We arrived in London on 29th February. It was a really very cold, windy night.  We went by train back to London to rest. It was great to see old friends and be in London.

Worcester

We were in Worcester for most of two days. On the first day we met Eve at the station - she was lovely. We went on a visit through Worcester and saw lot of places - parks, the river, the cathedral. We met Colin too. He took us to Worcester Council where we met the Mayor and we talked to him about Palestine.

In the evening we had a meeting about Palestine in the Unity Centre Worcester - The audience was very mixed, old and young - there were not as many people as in Salisbury. We had a positive discussion.

Friday morning was restful - We got the train to Reading.

Salisbury

We were picked up from the train station and went for lunch with Barbara - it was really raining. After lunch we went to our event at the Bishop's house - there were about 50 people there, mainly old people, maybe because it was in the day time and others were working? The outcome was positive, people were interested, shocked and wanted to know more. They took a lot of photos for the local paper. There was a lovely tea.
Later we walked around the old part of Salisbury near the cathedral.

Truro event at Cafe Chaos

There was a mixed audience - different ages and backgrounds, white people, Arabs, Muslims, men and women - The cafe was full! We talked and answered questions and the good thing was at the end people decided to stay in touch with each other and start a Friends of Palestine group. Some of them want to help with a CADFA children's visit this summer if possible.

Cornwall Women's Centre

This was a very positive meeting with people who work at Cornwall Women's Centre - We heard about each other's work. We had a discussion about the situation for Palestinian women and the difficulties that everyone faces in Palestine. There were a lot of questions. It was very moving that the women there want to twin with Eman's women's centre in Abu Dis

Cooking for our hosts

We cooked mujadara for our hosts - They enjoyed it very much!

Edgware Road

This big meeting was organised by City Circle- mainly 50 people, very international. This meeting was different because it also included Kashmiri women speaking - this meant that each woman had only 5 minutes which wasn't enough time! More questions were raised about Kashmir than Palestine because it is a new subject for many people.

City Lit

We had a meeting with students - women mainly - at City Lit. It was a smallish group (16 people?) but it went very well, they seemed interested but the time was too short!

Whitstable

We didn't see much of the town because we arrived late and it was already dark - We had a nice dinner with our host and then took part in an event with a very good audience. It was nice to see some young people as our other audiences were older. One of them was Palestinian and is active in the BDS movement. There were good questions.

Hastings

It was a really rainy day. When we arrived we went to the beach and the countryside, and we visited two museums - Hastings is a really nice place. It is mixed, not only white. The event was good. And we met some Palestinians there - Someone wrote an article about our visit.

Chichester

We visted Chichester cathedral, museum and the countryside before our event in Chichester. It is a nice small town. It mostly has white people.
The event in the evening went very well - it was the first time we know of any event like this in Chichester.  We weren't able to connect the projector so we couldn't use our presentation but it didn't matter. People had a strong reaction and a long discussion - they raised lots of questions. Some of the people we met now want to go on a trip to Palestine with CADFA.

Looking forward to our next women's visit to the UK!

Here in London (and also in various places across the UK*) we're looking forward to the women's visit in early March 2020, which will bring six old friends of ours from Abu Dis to the UK, where we will take part in International Women's Day activities and a speaking tour across the country (mainly in the south).