[Original published in note.com by Masaya SAIKI, Intern for the Palestine project (March 15, 2022); Translated by Y. Miki/F. Farina] Ms. Ayat, one of our local staff in Jerusalem, visited Gaza. Here is the report on the final day of her visit following part 2. — Drinking coffee in the morning with the sunshine in Gaza is “a great ritual to start the day” for me. Unfortunately, though, a taxi to the place I was visiting had arrived. I always wanted to check out the view of Gaza from the top, and when I went up to the roof of the building I was visiting, there was a lot of…
JVC’s local staff in Jerusalem visited Gaza (Part 2)
[Original published in note.com by Masaya SAIKI, Intern for the Palestine project (March 7, 2022); Translated by Y. Miki/F. Farina] Ms. Ayat, one of our local staff in Jerusalem, visited Gaza. Here is the report on the second day of her visit following part 1. — Today, I visited a community center in the Al Brij refugee camp to monitor the workshop for the local health voluntary advisers. Once I arrived at the venue, women from the northern and central Gaza were already actively sharing their experiences. Those ladies who attended the workshop were very enthusiastic, committed, and strong with sensitivity like a hammer. Behind their smiles and laughter, they…
JVC’s local staff in Jerusalem visited Gaza (Part1)
[Original published in note.com by Masaya SAIKI, Intern for the Palestine project (February 3, 2022); Translated by Y. Miki/A. Taguchi] Ms. Ayat, one of our local staff in Jerusalem, visited Gaza for the first time and had a good experience. I will introduce her report in three parts. Gaza had been off-limits for a long time, so we were not allowed to enter there. Therefore, when I visited Gaza for the first time, it seemed to be a very distant place from Jerusalem. I had many stereotypes about Gaza. It might be because of various briefings on life in Gaza I received for many years. Most of what I had…
Emergency support for Gaza, Palestine
In the Gaza Strip, Palestine, 11 days of airstrikes by Israeli authority killed 256 people including 66 children and injured about 2,000 people since May 10 (as of June 6). The airstrikes intensified day by day, and people spent days in fear. We received heartbreaking messages from the local people every day: “I might be the next to die,” “I just want you to pray for us,” “I can’t stand up because my legs are shaking, and I can’t even press the buttons on my phone because my hands are shaking.” Although a ceasefire was reached on May 21, the buildings and infrastructure in Gaza have been terribly damaged. While…
Why can’t people put Christmas trees away?
Behind-the-scenes story related to Christmas in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip [Original by Yoriko YAMAMURA, Palestine Project (January 28, 2020); Translated by H. Ueda/A. Taguchi] What comes to your mind when you hear the word Christmas? It is widely recognized by the Japanese that December 24 is Christmas Eve and the 25th is Christmas Day. After the 25th, people in Japan put away Christmas trees and put up New Year decorations instead. However, things are slightly different in the Holy City of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Christmas decorations including Christmas trees remain here and there even after the 25th. The same scene can be seen in the West…
At the end of the 4-year Project: The Growth of the Children Observed at the Symposium
[Original by Syunya NAKAMURA, Intern of the Palestine Project/ Yoriko YAMAMURA, Palestine Project (February 25, 2020); Translated by J. Sparks] On February 4th, a symposium was held in the theater room of a partner organization in Ramallah, the center of the West Bank, to conclude the East Jerusalem project, which JVC has supported for four years. The project has been implemented in order to improve both the resilience of the Palestinian youth living in East Jerusalem and the health environment in the community by cooperating with local NGOs. Resilience is “the power to flexibly come back from events or encounters with difficult situations”, and in a Palestinian area routinely exposed…
Women in Gaza move forward with their heads held high despite many difficulties confronting them, living their lives with a positive attitude
[Original by Yoriko YAMAMURA, Palestine Project (July 30, 2019); Translated by M. Kanai/M. Hajjaj] Scorching hot summer has started in Gaza, during daytime people will be soaked in perspiration if they merely walk down the streets. In Jerusalem, I can walk around wearing short sleeves. However, in Gaza it is considered inappropriate as is customary for women to show their skin in public places, so that I also cover up myself with a thin long-sleeve shirt when I go to work. In this report, I would like to share with you a story about Palestinian women living in Gaza. Due to stress arising from the blockade, considerably high ratio of…
Sharing early spring from the Jerusalem office
[Original by Mai NAMIKI, Public Relations (February 28, 2019); Translated by M. Goto/S. Altman] Hello, this is Namiki, the former program officer of the Palestine project. I moved to the Public Relations department this January. I will start reporting what you want to know about our work overseas and the local people. I would be glad if you could feel closer with us. I went on a business trip to Jerusalem, Palestine, this February. From my previous experience, I thought it would be cold in Jerusalem. February is the rainy season in the Middle East and it usually rains a lot. However, this year, it was warm and full of…
At a school in East Jerusalem: The students who are changing even in a difficult situation
[Original by Yoriko YAMAMURA, Palestine Project (December 20, 2018); Translated by M. Takahashi/S. Altman] Hello, everyone. It’s been cold in Jerusalem. There are many houses built on stones here. We feel colder inside of a house than outside. This time I am going to tell you about a school in East Jerusalem that we visited under our project. We visited the Hassan Al-Thani School located close to the old town in East Jerusalem. Together with our partner organization, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), we provide various kinds of training for the students of the school health committee. The students work with local residents in order to solve problems in…
Muhammad in Gaza
A 10-year old boy undergoing periodic hospitalization for anticancer treatment in Jerusalem away from his family [Original by Yoriko YAMAMURA, Palestine Project (January 10, 2019); Translated by M. Kanai/S. Altman] Hello. My name is Yamamura and I’m serving as a representative at the JVC Jerusalem Office. Today, I would like to introduce an article written by Ms. Hiromoto who’s working as an assistant in our office. About half a year ago, we received an urgent message from a woman who’s a member of an organization collaborating with JVC in our operation in the Gaza Strip about her relative, Muhammad. He was to be admitted to a hospital in East Jerusalem…