"My dream is to live like the others" is the slogan on a rock along the bumpy dirt road that leads to the Bedouin village of Wadi Abu Hindi, in a deep dry valley between the Israeli settlements of Ma'ale Adumim and Qefar east of Jerusalem.
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| Landfill (on left) |
The road passes a sanitary landfill with noxious seepage. Not the healthiest place to live.
Wadi Abu Hindi is one of a score of Bedouin communities that are threatened with forced displacement by Israel. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says more than 80% of them are refugees, and more than half of them are food insecure despite receiving humanitarian assistance.
The 35 or so families that live in Wadi Abu Hindi have demolition orders on the white (more permanent) homes in the community and must negotiate with the army about where they will eventually be moved.
We visited the community today with Sister Alicia Vacas of the Comboni Sisters, who was featured in my February 26 blog.
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| Sister Alicia with EAs in Wadi Abi Hindi |
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| Village chief Abu Yusef |
On the way in, we passed the village chief or
muktar, Abu Yusef. According to Sister Alicia he has more grandchildren than I--21--but unlike me he has two wives.
We enjoyed playing with the children at the new village kindergarten, built with the help of Sister Alicia's order and international donors. They also trained the teachers.
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| Boy using me as a road |
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| How high can it go? |
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| Wadi Abu Hindi School |
Adjacent to the kindergarten is a school that serves 130 students in grades 1 through 9 from Wadi Abu Hindi and other villages. They are adding a 10th and 11th grade. The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education operates the school.
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| Homes in Abu Nwar Bedouin community |
Sister Alicia also took us to the Bedouin village of Abu Nwar. It is practically in the shadow of the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, which has a nice hospital that the Bedouins cannot use because of the separation policy.
The contrast is so stark. Could children from the settlement begin to interact with Bedouin children in any way to pave the way for better relations in the next generation? Games, activities, discussions about things they have in common-- like the dream?
ReplyDeleteSeems difficult to live in an Israeli settlement with modern amenities, when across the road there are people, including children, living in absolute poverty. It takes a Christian nun to help these people. Where are the Jewish charities?
ReplyDelete