Breaking the Isolation

Today I did something my colleagues found unconventional if not distressing. I sent up my computer, connected it to the internet and speakers, then had my class of 26 gather around the set up. We had a date with Rula Awad-Rafferty, a friend of mine in Idaho. Rula is a diasporic Palestinian who had an amazing opportunity this summer to visit the ruins of her mother's village--destroyed in 1948. Read about her story here (I assigned this article to my students).

We are studying collective memory and focusing on 1948 to think through some heavy concepts. My students are really motivated and very capable kids. I decided to have them conduct an in-class interview with Rula over the internet. They saw her on my computer screen, and she saw them on hers. Together they conversed for 45 minutes. It was a brilliant and moving 45 minutes. A few times I even choked back tears.

Among other things, Rula spoke of the inspiration she felt at seeing Palestinian resilience and strength under daily occupation when she was here. She was moved by the interview experience because she was able to reconnect, online, to Palestine. As she praised these students for living under occupation, it struck me: most of them have never connected with Palestinians outside of the West Bank and Gaza. They don't know that people all over the world like Rula are working for Palestine. I asked, and they didn't know. And it's a two way street. These kids feel forgotten, isolated, abandoned by the world to endure injustice and violence. And Rula felt disconnected from the situation and people here. They inspired each other, and it was such an incredible experience to watch both of their differing isolations being broken, and replaced by inspiration and motivation.

When the interview finished I asked how it went. My students broke into joyful exclamations, saying how amazing that was. And then one girl said, "I felt a little ashamed. She is working so hard for us, and we aren't doing anything. We aren't political. We just go about our daily lives, like we have given up the fight. I want to do more." I put my hand over my heart and smiled with the joy I felt inside, "Yes! We all can and must do more. We can and must! And it starts here and now."