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Testing the Waters— Palestine & Israel, 2006 |
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Journal, March 22, 2006—RamallahFor photos: Ramallah Friends School, Part 1 What can we do for you, dear child? Yesterday Anna Siefert (a Friend from the UK) and I toured some of the elementary Ramallah Friends School, mainly to observe the special needs section. One very touching moment occurred when we met a young girl, about 8 years old, with cerebral palsy. She walked with canes and seemed well loved by some of her classmates. I marveled at the risks she took to walk—in narrow hallways, her canes extended to each side, kids careening by, they could easily kick one of her canes and knock her to the ground. Children are mainstreamed, completely integrated into the classrooms. Before this innovative program began, they might have had to sit drearily in the back of a classroom, unable to fully participate. Or go to a special facility, isolated from peers. Or perhaps, in the worst case, remain at home, without any significant schooling. Language is a big challenge for learning disabled children, so the unit has created special materials like Arabic script which distinguishes the letters by separate colors. They’ve also made letters with sandpaper and as cutouts so children can feel as well as see. A child might come to the special needs resource room for individual attention, or the staff might engage the child in his or her own classroom. Other teachers use some of the pioneering done by this staff as vital curricular material for their regular teaching. Salma Khalida is the director of this program, a vivacious and energetic woman. She was trained in social work and educational psychology, living many years in the UK and Jordan. She told us about her son who has a full scholarship to study the double bass in Germany. He graduated last year from the Ramallah Friends School, plunging into music and continuing his studies at the Ramallah conservatory, all the while aided considerably by the Barenboim-Said music program staff. One teacher in particular, a young German man, helped him find the scholarship. A question I did not get to ask was what proportion of special needs might be caused, in part, by the occupation. As on my first trip, I am totally enamored of this school. The children are zestful and exuberant, the teachers are welcoming, Diana the principal, as always, is very helpful and open. From what I can observe the school is imbued with the core principles of Quakerism: peace, justice, equality, community, service, truth, and simplicity. These blend synergistically with traditional Palestinian virtues of warmth, hospitality and friendliness. One side note however, to make sure this account is in the real world. I was chatting outside with the 3rd grade English teacher when a blast of psychological turmoil enveloped us. Two boys, about 10 yrs old, were hitting each other hard. One had a bloody face. Both were crying and yelling. The teacher calmly put her hands on both boys’ arms, spoke softly to them that they must stop hitting and start talking. They did, reluctantly. Not understanding Arabic I couldn’t follow explanations of why they were fighting, what the issues were, but perhaps I could observe more carefully how the teacher swiftly defused the violence thru love and compassion. A small incident, perhaps, but one that could be pivotal in the lives of both boys and the numerous onlookers who seem entranced by the situation. The flowers, both wild and cultivated, are out in full profusion. Daisies abound at the school. Irises also. A grape arbor outside my apartment is leaving out day by day. Days are longer, nights are warmer, we’ve passed the equinox. Along with the flowers come the birds, free to migrate across borders, checkpoints, walls, and closed military zones. All these notions are incomprehensible to birds, as they are to wildflowers, and as they might someday be to human beings, Homo sapiens, “conscious beings?” How long before fully conscious? And conscientious? |
