A visit to Hebron, Mother's Day and gender roles

I spent a very relaxing weekend with Asmaa's family in Hebron. I had met Asmaa in London when she, Beesan and Summa had come to London as representatives of their particular towns for the Twinning Network visit to UK last November and they had stayed with me at Ampton Street. She has recently graduated from university and is currently trying to find a scholarship to further study in UK. She is the eldest of six, two girls and four boys. Such a charming family particularly the two younger boys who totally won my heart.

Fridays are like our Sundays used to be - a family day with all shops and public places closed. We did, however, go to a "children's party" - at least that is how they described it when they asked if I wanted to go.Well it turned out to be quite a formal occasion with political and civic dignitaries making long speeches followed by a karate display by the local sports club. As I have never actually watched a karate contest I found this bit quite interesting. The family also watched a fair amount of TV in the evening - mostly drama from ~Egypt and Syria.


On Saturday morning Asmaa and I went to the old city and to Abraham mosque. The mosque is very ancient and contains the tombs of Abraham and Isaac as well as Adam and Eve! The building is divided into two - half for Moslem worshippers and half for Jews. Because of these religious connections there is a Jewish settlement actually within the city and to ensure their safety there are many more soldiers than there are settlers. Their presence is very intrusive and they even control the entrance to the mosque itself. A neighbouring house to Asmaa's was recently forcibly taken over and the occupiers turned out by the Israelis for use as an army headquarters. I find it incredible that these actions are accountable to no one or no law - just the law of the gun!


We also walked in the old city which was comparitively deserted with a few struggling tourist shops, as with the current conflict, few visitors are coming. Such a pity! We emerged into the busy market area of Hebron - everything made in China of course!

Shop selling embroidery by a Women's C0-0perative

Mothers' Day
I got back to Abu Dis just in time to attend another "party" held by the local general trade union for Mothers' Day. More speeches by dignatories, Koran glorifying the mother, poems and songs and a Dabka dance performed by our local youngsters. A good gathering but difficult if you don't understand the language!

Boys from Dar Assadaqa dancing Dabka

Women's roles
Of course women are honoured highly in this culture for the role they perform within the family and home but times must change even in Palestine. I observed in Asmaa's family how it is the girls who wait on the boys hand and foot. They pick up the cups, pour the tea, clean, wash up, cook,etc etc and nothing is expected of the boys. They both have the same educational commitment and future job aspirations, but their roles in the home is traditionally gender based. Women constitute 60% of university students. I was recently shocked by the attitude of a group of 16 year old girls who I teach when I pointed this out to them. They felt that this was absolutely as it should be; it was the role of women to look after men, men who cooked and did domestic things weren't real men. However I think their attitude will change in the future if they go on to higher education because all the uni graduates I have talked with do not think this - in fact one of them told me that if they have sons in the future they will train them do most of the chores as home rather than the girls. The times they are a-changing!