Back to the City

Hi all,

We left Camp Valaqua on Friday evening and took the participants to the FCJ Centre, where they welcomed the running water, electricity and warm beds with open arms.  We were all tired from the week, but along with the fatigue was an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the experience and involvement with Valaqua staff and campers.  The Planting Peace participants went out of their way to get to know and spend time with some difficult campers during camp activities, and provided a much needed distraction and support for the staff.  Their involvement, spirit, kindness, enthusiasm and stories during the week was infectious.  We were worried that the presence of 10 international people would be more of a distraction than it would be helpful.  But that was not the case.  We are very grateful for the partnership with Camp Valaqua, and excited that they are interested in doing this again next year!
   
Tonight we began round two of Planting Peace at the FCJ Centre in Calgary.  Along with the 10 international participants, there are 20 Alberta participants, 3 folks from Saskatchewan and 2 from Manitoba, along with 6 MCCA staff.  It was a good evening, beginning with welcomes and registration at 8:00pm, and moving into introductions, games, walking through the schedule for the next three days. Gopar and Sani led us through a helpful introduction of what to expect from the sessions, and to close the evening Sani led us in a song about peace, and Gopar closed with prayer.  We have three days left together.  It is too short.  We are getting to know amazing individuals whose experiences and lives offer us rich and difficult glimpses into their lives and the conflicts and barriers that they are confronted with daily.  

Some snapshots from the past week and this evening:
-two young women, one from Jordan, one from Colombia, who do not speak the same language, walk arm in arm on day one, and communicate acceptance and understanding that transcends culture and language
-a young woman who had never in her life encountered a "pure Israeli", as she put it, was visibly upset and unsettled by the presence of the Israeli's
-the same young woman, two days later, was laughing and enjoying spending time with the two Israeli participants
-an Israeli young man, a vegan, who  was having difficulty watching the consumption of animal foods at Camp Valaqua, admits that he is also finding it difficult to confront this issue because he is being treated with so much kindness and acceptance
-two Palestinian participants whose lives and experiences are very different in terms of access to basic resources....health, education, travel, safety.  One lives in East Jerusalem, the other in Bethlehem (West Bank).  They share a common history of oppression, but live in two very different worlds.  One week before coming to Calgary, Usama, who lives in the West Bank, was in danger of being arrested for his work at Wi'am.  At 2:00 AM, Israeli military banged on the door of his family home and demanded to see him.  His father, a human rights lawyer, met them at the door and challenged their presence.  It took some convincing and a phone call to their superior before the officers left the house without Usama.  
-on Friday, I left camp with five international visitors in a separate vehicle from my husband; before leaving I asked him to pick up some groceries on the way home.  An hour and a bit later, when we arrive in Calgary, Usama asks me why my husband has not called me to make sure that I am ok.  I do not know how to answer his question.  He said that in the West Bank, if he were married, he would call his wife every few minutes on her cell phone to make sure that she was safe.  The assumption of safety, basic safety, is something that I totally take for granted.
-watching the international participants interact with the Canadian participants...what a very rich evening.  There was so much laughter and visiting and mixing.  Peace building is relational.  What a blessing it is to be a part of this.

Kim