Looking back at our Weekend of Palestinian Culture
One of the best aspects of our November Weekend of Palestinian Culture was the wild diversity of its participants. The people who came for hip-hop were not the same as those who came for the embroidery presentation or children’s story time, yet everyone seemed happy to be part of what we were doing: celebrating Palestinian culture and raising $4000 for a water purification and desalination system for the Ashbal Palestine kindergarten, in the al-Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
We kicked off the weekend at the library with “My Grandmother Lives on the Other Side of the Earth.” Gail, a retired educator, and Jessica, an OSU senior and activist, used the children’s book Sitti’s Secrets to talk about life in a Palestinian village. While Gail used the book as a way to illustrate details of daily life, Jessica showed power point photos and told personal stories of her recent trip to the West Bank to reinforce what Gail was describing.
As soon as their talk ended, we headed to the Multicultural Literacy Center to prepare for “An Evening of Palestinian Culture”. Rimah, a local Palestinian woman, and her family came with Arabic coffee and trays of baklava. They set up their table near the entrance and, as people arrived, sold them coffee and sweets. Starting an event this way always brings us success!
We filled the living room of the Center with about 50 people for the Palestinian film “Rana’s Wedding”. Despite occasional technical difficulties, everyone seemed to enjoy the film. (Our goal was an uplifting weekend and so we picked this film that, even though it portrays military occupation as the constant background to Palestinian life, still manages to be full of adventure and humor.)
After the film, we moved people into the kitchen for plates of hummus, stuffed grape leaves, falafel, pita, dates, cakes and tea. We had a donation jar on the table and people were very generous. Meanwhile we prepared for the next event.
Out in the hallway and on the front porch were several dozen young people—there to hear Khaki Mustafa, a Palestinian-American rapper and hip hop artist who grew up in nearby Albany. He brought with him his fan base of friends and family. We were all excited by his performance. My favorite part of the evening was when Khaki stopped rapping to ask, “Did you drink clean water today? Did you? And you? I did, but those kids in Gaza didn’t. Get in the kitchen and put some money in that donation jar and help those kids get clean water.” Khaki put on a fabulous show. Between the movie crowd and the hip hop crowd we took in $450.
The next morning we were back at the Multicultural Center, preparing for Jehan’s (a Palestinian citizen of Israel) and Rimah’s Palestinian Cooking Workshop. They demonstrated the preparation of Maqluba (“upside down chicken”) as well as side dishes and salad. Twenty-two attendees (plus two children) watched their demonstration and then enjoyed eating the prepared dishes together. We had suggested a donation of $20/person, but the participants must have been very happy because the total taken in for their cooking class was $610!
Next stop…we had the Main Meeting Room of the Library reserved for the entire afternoon and so set about transforming an austere meeting hall into a Palestinian living room, using carpets, embroidery, decorations from various homes, photographs and books of Palestinian literature and poetry.
Jessica, who had been to Gaza the previous December, had worked for months to get us artwork by children in Gaza. Her connection there, Nasser, was able to send six beautiful pieces of artwork from children at the Cerebral Palsy Center in Gaza City. The pieces were then artfully framed and hung in the Main Meeting Room of the Library along with an explanation of where they came from and why. (When Nasser asked the children at the Center if they wanted to draw something that might help a kindergarten in al-Zaitoun get a clean water system, they agreed without hesitation.)
The afternoon started with “Folktales and Songs of Palestine: Storytime and Music for Children.” Jehan and Rimah’s daughter Maisa lead young children and their parents in singing the chorus of a song that included the names of many Palestinian towns and villages. They took turns reading stories and showing pictures. The program ended with a children’s music video. Judging by the laughter and participation, people of all ages in the audience enjoyed themselves. (One of our volunteers, Nasar, offered to write the children’s names in Arabic, and children lined up at the opportunity. Nasar was generous enough to do this again later in the day and then on Sunday—always with enthusiastic takers.)
Then Mary, a Palestinian from Dallas, OR, and her husband Mark arrived with a carload of dresses, and our models—from young girls to grandmothers—disappeared backstage to get ready for the “Show of Traditional Palestinian Dresses.” The models lined up in front of the stage and dazzled the crowd, while Mary described each dress in detail. Dresses from varying time periods and from every region of Palestine, including Jerusalem, were on display. After walking through the audience so everyone could admire their dresses up close, the models changed and presented another round, even more stunning than the first. It was a beautiful scene and a perfect lead-in for our next presenter….
We were very fortunate to have Feryal, a Palestinian folk artist from Portland, give a presentation on embroidery and its importance in Palestinian oral history. No Palestinian home, she said, no matter where in the world, is without traditional embroidery. Feryal said, as Mary also had, that in the old days embroideries and dresses could be identified as being from one town or another. Today, though, they are all considered to be just Palestinian—they belong to everyone. Feryal’s stories showed how Palestinian culture and history have, for centuries, been recorded by women, through the rich art form of embroidery.
Just by lucky coincidence, the monthly Second Saturday Benefit Concert, held at Sunnyside Up Café, was scheduled for the same weekend as our Palestinian Cultural Celebration. The organizers of the benefit series (two of whom are on our organizing committee) agreed to make MECA’s Maia Project the recipient of this month’s concert and the performer, Mark Growden, was positive and supportive from the start. Mark is an accordionist, vocalist and all-round extraordinary performer from the Bay Area. He put on an incredible concert and raised over $500 for us.
On Sunday afternoon, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, we started our final event, “Celebrate Palestine”, with the winning combo of Arabic coffee and baklava—this time supplied by Mary and served by Mary and her friend Fadwa. We welcomed attendees with printed programs featuring live auction items—the six pieces of artwork, a Tunisian carpet and a painting of a Palestinian girl.
At each event throughout the weekend we offered Canaan organic, fair trade Palestinian olive oil for sale. On Sunday we added gift items made in the Holy Land of olivewood (and donated to us by the Palestinian Children’s Welfare Fund in Salem), handmade pottery mugs and plates, and “Colors From Palestine” calendars from Resistance Art.
Emmet (who came up with the idea for this weekend) and Jessica made a brilliant pair of auctioneers. They started out with a short power-point presentation of the Ashbal Palestine kindergarten (“Why we’re here today”) and the Cerebral Palsy Center in Gaza City (“The story behind the artwork”). Then Mousa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and water sciences PhD student, gave the keynote address on water issues in Palestine. Mousa was followed by local Palestinian poet and musician Shady, reading his poetry, and Shady was followed by a very lively live auction. The afternoon ended with everyone enjoying a fabulous buffet generously donated by Al-Jebal Bazaar. The tally from Sunday’s event–$2500!
Separately from our committee, David, from the Anthropology Department at OSU, arranged to bring Jennifer Jejah from San Francisco to perform her one-woman tragi-comic play “I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid To Tell You.” Jennifer gave a brilliant performance, brought in $100 in donations and provided a perfect ending to a rich and diverse weekend.
Our weekend of events was organized by the Palestine Action Group, supported financially and otherwise by Corvallis-Albany Friends of Middle East Peace and co-sponsored by the UUFC Peace Action Council. We had a fabulous team of volunteers (who we thank enormously for their hard work and generosity of time and energy), excellent publicity in the local newspapers, and the invaluable use of social networking. The key to our success, however, was the involvement of the young Palestinians, who made it a true Celebration of Palestinian Culture. Many thanks to everyone who participated!
