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.