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Tent of Nations

Just got this Email from Daoud. I was working with him on their land for around 9 month. Please spread it around!

Dear Friends of Tent of Nations all over the world,

Today (27.05.2010) at 2.00 pm in the afternoon, 2 officers form the Israeli Civil Administration guarded by Israeli soldiers came to our farm and gave us NINE demolishing orders for nine ( structures) we built in the last years without a building permit from the Israeli Military Authority. The demolishing orders are for: tents, animals shelters, metal roof in front of both old houses, the restrooms (Shelters) , a water cistern, a metal container and 2 underground renovated cave structures. One officer was writing the demolishing orders and the other was taking pictures with two cameras, Israeli soldiers were following them everywhere and pointing their guns on us.

The demolishing orders were written in Hebrew and I refused to sign receiving them. We have 3 days only to react against those demolishing orders. The timing for delivering the demolishing orders was plant properly and purposely on Thursday, in order to make it difficult for us to try to stop those orders by the Israeli court within 3 days, because of the Jewish weekend (Friday and Saturday). The idea is to make it impossible for us to act quickly. I contacted our Lawyer and he will write an opposition and send it to the military court on Sunday morning. We hope to get a paper from the court through our Lawyer on Sunday morning to stop the demolishing orders.

We would like to ask you to be prepared and alert for actions, if anything might happen. We will keep you updated and will guide you for actions but please forward this E-mail to your friends.
PLEASE be prepared for actions… Thank you for all your solidarity and support.

They are trying to destroy our spirit, but we are determined to resist and overcome the Evil with GOOD and justice will prevail.

Blessings and Salaam,

Daoud

Daoud Nassar
Director

Tent of Nations
-People Building Bridges-
P.O.Box 28
Bethlehem - Palestine
Tel: +972 (0)2-274 3071
Fax: +972(0)2-276 7446
Mobile: +972(0)522 975 985
info@tentofnations.org
www.tentofnations.org

Ya Old Jaffa

Where have you gone? All the tales being tolled about your oranges and lemons - where are they now? Buried under the rubble of old houses, under the walls of newly build real estates, under the foundation of new tourist apartments. Where did your old beauty go? It's vanishing during the years under the feeds of thousands of tourists which made believe that the streets they are walking are the old ones of the Crusaders, the Ottoman Empire or pre 1948 Palestinian build pathways towards the port.
Having been hear every now and than since a couple of years, you feel the atmosphere changing.
The main language you hear is Hebrew (not that I have anything against it) but its strange in a supposed Arab city. The way people look around changes, you often see old Arab man cleaning the streets. I am wondering where the young ones are. (Destroying there old houses and building the new shiny ones)
Old Palestinian houses aren't renovated or rebuild - I heard that already fall 2008 and seeing it with my own eyes. Palestinians setting on their broken bench in front of house, hold together with an improvised metal frame. Close by shines a sign


It reads "Luxurious and Unique Apartments & Penthouses" and in the back of the picture you see the wall holed together by a metal frame.

Oh Old Jaffa
where have you gone?
the see is endlessness rolling
and the wind strongly blowing
salt in the air
heat makes the flair
the clock is ringing
Muezzin singing
Rabbi whispering

time moves on
Oranges are gone
sun is down and night has come
stars and moon shine strong
people walk the quay
getting equal thereby
dreaming of the days gone
dreaming of the days to come

having Jaffa in mind
bagging it be (our) kind

I think Mahmoud Darwish found nicer words on Jaffa - cant find them - so used my own words ...

The moon above Jaffa - its not going to change!

Haiti - seeing destruction and joy

written for "we strive"

Crossing into Haiti on the 11th of February from the Dominican Republic offered us an insight into the busy, chaotic boarder region where international aid piles up and local small business try to make their part of the cake. We are on our way with 14 educators, psychologists, art therapist, doctors, nurses and experiential educators to do an emergency education intervention with the „Friends of Waldorf Education Rudolf Steiner“ to help stabilise children, possibly traumatised by the earthquake of 12th January.

As we arrive in Port au Prince, one of the images stuck to my head was people searching in an totally destroyed mall for corpses, the smell of decomposition in the air, people staring at the flattened building, a few climbing up and down in the ruins at the risk to fall.

Oh what do I have to expect in coming days?

We were looking for an local organisation in Leogan (25km west of Port au Prince and around 30km north of the epicentre) we could work with. We found it in Acre Derb, an organisation wanting already to work with children directly after the earthquake but having no means to do so. By destiny we could connect to them and start our work with around 200-300 children, changing from day to day. In the morning we could offer a small snack and some water, both a rare thing after the unimaginable for these children, living in tents since the quake. Starting than with different groups, around 50 children up to five years were taken care by our lovely kindergardeners, the others split in to groups six to nine, ten to twelve and 13 to 16 years. We got beautiful pictures drawn in the art therapy group, some gave us a lot to thing about the kids experience. Great fun we had in the different experiential education groups, children sending around an imaginary ball, jumping over an invisible stick, passing around a ball which is thought to be burning hot, telling a story and children doing the movements to it, balancing over a rope back and forward looking into my eyes. What I saw? Everything you can imagine after such an catastrophe which left 90% of Leogans buildings and infrastructure in rubble. Fast moving eyes looking everywhere, calm eyes focusing on my eyes, sad ones, ones which showing the grieve of loss of someone close, some happy and some full of joy being able to do something else than sitting in tents or ruins.
Our doctors were taking care of children being sick or having untreated injuries, they also helped out in a hospital on the campus we stayed.
A small part of our team is going back to Prot au Prince to work there with young adults to train them in our methods because they are working with children from different areas from Port au Prince. A story which touched me there, was a young lawyer telling me: „Listen, I think the earthquake has also a chance for us Haitians, it could bring us back together and lets us start from the nothing, to build our own future.“ Asking him, if believes that it would happen as he wishes he says: „I fear people are to busy with their daily struggle and not concisely enough about their new chances in building an independent country.“
On my birthday I got a great present from my new won friends. A new born youth group „Nouvelle Vision“ sung me a beautiful birthday song and hold me high up in the air. Afterwards we went to their destroyed houses and made short video clips with them. The story of 14 year old Rose-Mica kept me thinking and thinking. Her family had a small small hut, 4 by 5 meters which collapsed. Asking her how many people she was living in there, she couldn't tell because she was unable to count, later I found out that except her name she couldn't write as well. She is asking children and youth in Germany to help her to go to school again and give her parents work. She still had all the fear in her eyes was shy looking around her while we spoke. Asking about her future, she couldn't say anything and said that till two years nothing will change and happen except our activities tomorrow. I hope that she will find the strength to deal with her life and that future bears some happiness for her to come.
Being back in Germany feels strange, the earth isn't shaking anymore as it used to do at least once a day; there is so much more to do. Building temporary schools for children will take at least until End of April and less to no psycho-social support is there to help especially children. The cities of Leogan and Port au Prince are full of homeless people, tones of rubble are laying around, I just hope people around the world wont forget the shaken country of Haiti and help in a true and honest way to rebuild it, otherwise we will face more of these tragic catastrophes in one of the poorest countries in this world.

All pics by Michael Schnur


The Haitian and German Team together


at work


my birthday

Story about me

A short story by Finn Jesch, written after I tolled him, what I love to do and where I get my energy from. Enjoy and thanks to Finn!

My car is finally road worthy for the long journey ahead. My family have joined me to wish me farewell, some of my friends are there too.
Together we load the car with carpenters tools of all shapes and sizes, each having been made for specific purpose.
As important are the toys, there are several coloured balls and a parachute which is cavity to be held by a group of children is a wish.
The tank is loaded but it will be needed to be filled many more tomes to make the long journey to Mongolia.
On my way I will use my skilled hands to work the tools and I will teach children games, in return I hope to see a smile on a young girls face. I want to help young people to do what they really want to do and to help those that are less fortunate or face difficulties in life.
I am privileged but that's not what is important, to me a gift can be a 19 years old boy telling me his life story, I will listen with wide eyes, as the light dives at dusk.
I will collect stories which I will take with me on my way back home over the Caucasian mountains.

emergency education in Sungai Batang and Malalak, West Sumatra

There would be so much to write about, but finding time and words for it, is kind of difficult.

From the 13th till the 22nd a group of 11 volunteers from the organisation Friends of Waldorf Education were working with children which were effected by the earthquake which happened end of September.
In the first Camp there were around 700 people living on a soccer pitch in tents sponsored by Rotary International, only 95 tents fit on the land so that sometimes two families had to share one tent. Imagine 5 to 13 people sharing a tent of 4 square meters. Anyway the children were comparatively healthy compared to the ones in Gaza we met in July.

In the second Camp in Malalak is the situation much more difficult due to the landscape. The villages lays on top of a mountain, main parts of the road got destroyed either by the earthquake or by the following landslides. Out of the 808 houses in the village 566 are damaged or destroyed, 28 are not seen any more - covered by soil and rocks. 62 people got killed whereas 33 are still missing - oh no 32 because we found one dead body. Luckily we didn't see it as a whole, because after 6 weeks its only a black corpse any more with a horrible smell. Interestingly enough that the area wasn't searched with heavy machines, I don't understand and know why. Now people aren't looking any more for the missing bodies because of there strong Islamic believes, they said the dead ones are buried, so why to disturb them any more. But can you imagine walking over an area were you are sure that dead bodies are laying below you?

In that area work was much more difficult, children showed symptoms of traumatic experience. In the school we worked, 12 children are dead. And keep in mind, that only three years back a earthquake happened at the same spot, not as strong as the last one, but still. People therefore just finished rebuilding and settling back to normal live and than it happened again. People losing faith in the stability of the earth, there basic stronghold also on a symbolic level gets disturbed or destroyed. So of course children in school can't concentrate any more, aren't that motivated, opposing the teachers, getting aggressive, wake up at night because of nightmares and so on ... so we could set a starting point for children to strengthen their self healing abilities. Lets hope it is sustainable and helps the children to overcome their traumatic experience and integrated it into their live.

work info about Gaza

read Annies Blog (colleague of mine) about our work in Gaza AnnieAlina I don't have the time at the moment to write about it.

Lukas

preperation for Gaza

I am going again to Gaza, on Tuesday 14.7.09 we hopefully manage to get into Israel and on the 15. to Gaza via Erez.I hope that I am able to provide you more detailed information about the whole situation in Gaza and some personal insights in the next days.

I am following the "Free Gaza Movement quite close and found that post just a second ago.

Was würden Sie tun, wenn Sie für ein Projekt zur Woche des Grundeinkommens 2.000 Euro zur Verfügung hätten?

Es kommt vor, dass jemand eine Idee hat, die er oder sie gern realisieren möchte. Ein Projekt, eine wirklich originelle Aktion, eine Veranstaltungsform, etwas ganz Besonderes. Es fehlt nicht an Fantasie, auch nicht an Mitstreitern oder an Motivation. lese hier weiter!


Perspektive Wechseln am Unternehmen Mitte in Basel



Schwindelerregend, ob das schon die angestrebten 30m sind? ca. dreimal so hoch wie unser Hochseilgarten, ich bin gespannt wie ich mich darauf fühle, wir werden sehen.



Neuland - so sieht es aus!

(Bild von David Masuch)

das war letztes wochenende in hugolsdorf bei captura, jemand hatte eine slackline mitgebracht, ich habe immer wieder versucht darauf zu laufen - es ist schwer - macht aber unglaublich spaß.

Ich hatte dort 5 volle tage, wieder unglaublich energiereiche tage. vor einigen wochen hatte ich das gefühl, ich müsse immer min. 8 std. schlafen um fit zu sein. nein, es geht auch anders, oft habe ich nur wenige stunden geschlafen, die begegnungen und menschen haben die kraft gegeben, vieles erleben zu dürfen. so ein glücksgefühl wie dort hatte ich schon länger nicht mehr. ich habe im moment das gefühl, dass das leben einfach läuft, ich treffe hier jemand, der mir etwas anbietet und dort jemand der mich auf den länger gesuchten gedanken bringt - ich bin glücklich.

eins wurde mir deutlich, über diese tage. ich haber in meinem leben immer zwei pole die zusammengehören und sich gegenseitig unterstützen oder befruchten. sei es die schreinerausbildung und die schule, das studium und die arbeit bei idem, die tiefe frage nach dem daseinsgrund des menschen, den beweggründen für sein handeln und die aufenthalte in israel und palästina, mit seinen tragischen momenten.

deswegen auch hier ein zweites bild.