1 August: The right frequency for peace

Today (1/08) members of Um4p and Sadaka Reut started the ten-day exchange in Jaffa, Israel. The first day was all about getting to know each other and getting to know the surroundings.

We started the program at 11 for the fist time because the members of um4p arrived on a plane at midnight. We had a nice breakfast, after which the group leaders explained the program, the intention of the program and some more practical information, like who takes care of breakfast, what the room division is…

After this we played some funny games to get to know the names of the other participants. After an hour of name games and many laughs later, Sami arrived. Sami is an activist for Palestinian rights in Jaffa, he showed us around and gave a very good explanation of the very complex problems that the Israeli society is confronted with in Jaffa. During the tour we witnessed one of these problems ourselves as somebody wanted the group to move away from her home, sending a security guard and shouting out of a fourth story apartment. When this didn’t help and after some more shouting she started calling the police. We decided not to provoke any further reactions and moved along before the police arrived.

We took a longer break after the tour. Then we received explanations about both Sadaka Reut and Um4p, who they are, what they do… After this we went to a Bulgarian restaurant where we had another well cooked meal. We ended the dinner by surprising Ben, a participant from Sadaka Reut, with a cake and a happy birthday song as it was he’s birthday.

After the dinner we went to the Sadaka Reut office and talked about the hopes, fears, motivation and expectations of the participants. The exercise was very important, but the tour took it's toll on the participants and when we finished the session, a big feeling of relief washed over the group, as their was free time for the rest of the day. After coming to the hostel to change the rooms, some people went to the beach, others went to the roof of the hostel where there is a big open sitting space and some of the participants called it a night and went to bed.