To awaken the sleepy eyes of the participants of the exchange project, an energizing physical activity was required. Leaping like baboons, shouting like passionate martial arts students in order to transfer inner power symbolically from one to another. This encouraged and enhanced the group’s spirit and kicked off the amount of motivation needed for the rest of the educative day. After the humorous morning appetizer, the hors d'oeuvre s consisted of two country presentations from an another perspective; Participants from both Belgium and Israel studied the historical background and cultural constellations of each other’s homeland. The Belgian team presented their view of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, summarizing facts and data through a role-playing panel of critical persona and elements.
Sadaka Reut demonstrated a humorous and rather informal presentation. It involved both a MySpace spoof page on the Belgian king and royalty as well as a creative comparison on differing communities that live together and the compartmentalized structure of Belgian waffles. Their message was that there didn’t seem to be any hope for the Belgian king who stands to lose he’s job if the contemporary political climate in Belgium stays the same way. The waffle that is Belgium isn’t easy but the Israeli-Palestinian delegation did a good job explaining it.
The third dish of the day involved running back and forth from the Markas and the new main office of Sadaka Reut. The Belgian workshop instructors gave essential briefings and tips on the principles of writing journalistic articles and taught professional photographic skills for the blog. These quick-start tips were implemented in the actual work that followed. It cannot be understated these info sessions were constructive to add quality to the project and reaching out to online readers. The current article '(and the interviews) are a direct result of this work
The dinner consisted of a speciality at Dr. Shakshukah – a local restaurant famous for its deep-pan fried eggs in tomato sauce and appetizers. We were eager to kick up our feet and dance on Middle-Eastern rhythms, and went back to find out what the local exchange participants had prepared for us later that night. Because the Israeli and Palestinian Youth organized their cultural evening that consisted of more than just sweets, crackling sunflower pips, sweet pastries and smoking of the nargilah or water pipe Several songs and dances where introduced to the Belgians and even some choruses where taught in both Hebrew and Arabic. .The youth gave us insight in how even Palestinians and (Israeli) Jews can have a very hybrid, multinational background.
Karen (pictures)
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