Tennessee Volunteers # 9

We had a great day on Thursday, the last day of camp. The girls have been SO eager and appreciative of everything we've done. We delayed the program for one hour so they could pick up their report cards for school (10 "til 1 rather than 9 - 12). After the girls left we had "tea" with the staff at the center. They gave the team a beautiful memento of Palestine and the team gave each of them a small gift.

We did not get to visit in the homes of our students as we had hoped. The violence that errupted there on Tuesday evening was still simmering and the staff at the center did not think it would be appropriate for families in the refugee camp to be having foreign guests in their homes. Before we left, they did invite us back to have a camp next summer.

After we left the center we went to a village about a 30 minute drive away for lunch. We ate out in a garden. It was a beautiful setting and we ate a great lunch. After lunch we prayer-walked through the village. This is a small village of about 700. It has always been a Christian village, but now about 100 Muslims live there as well. In recent years there has been some friction and persecution for the Muslims villages near-by. Although there are a number of newer homes, this village dates back to Biblical times. In the late afternoon we visited a festival in the village and bought some locally produced olive oil and olive oil soap. (OK, we had some ice cream, too.)

We cut the festival short and went back to the closest city in the West Bank for some last minute shopping. We didn't get back to Jerusalem until after 9 PM.

Posted by PL