Rev. Loren McGrail is a UCC pastor and Global Ministries UCC/DOC Missionary serving the YWCA of Palestine. The YWCA was first initiated in 1893 by informal groups of Christian women meeting in Jaffa and Jerusalem, and established officially as the YWCA of Palestine in 1918. It was one of the first organizations to provide services for Palestinian refugees, even before the camps were established in 1948-49.
At the time of the establishment of the State of Israel, more than 750,000 Palestinians became refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon; and more than 525 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed.
 |
| "Fabric of Our Lives" Dolls (EAPPI/Jennifer G) |
Currently, the YWCA of Palestine is formed by three associations situated in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jericho, which also oversees two multi-functional community centers in Jalazoune and Aqbet Jaber Refugee Camps.
In Ramallah, women are taught to be an event planner (weddings and the like), eventually earning a certificate and help with job placement. Jericho offers a food production program for the women. Their dream is to produce enough locally sourced food so that people throughout Israel/Palestine can be fed. Unfortunately, checkpoints get in the way of their distribution, and products are not available outside the West Bank.
The YWCA also works with the EU in setting women up with micro-loans. This helps the women become self-sufficient making honey, jams and cakes.
The YWCA also offers training on civil engagement, so that Palestinian women can work to fix their own problems. Learning how to settle disputes, issues and conflicts is an important part of self-determination. In one small village, the women earned enough money to purchase a bus for their frightened children to get to school past gun-toting settlers. The young men of the village were so envious of their accomplishment, that they began to work on building a football field. In a place like the West Bank, where there is so much every day stress, having a place for children and youth to gather and play games is very important.
The YWCA's advocacy efforts focuses on women's rights, especially the right of return and self-determination. The women are organizing a National Action Plan that will challenge domestic violence. They believe that it is long past time to hold the system accountable for looking the other way at honor killings, which may be rare but still happen. A group of women go to the UN every March to a conference on women's issues, the delegation from Palestine also speaks about the violence of the occupation itself, especially when it comes to demolitions and access to movement.
Demolitions impact women differently than men in this society. The house is the one place where it is culturally appropriate for the woman to have authority, safety and security. Her entire world falls apart when this important piece of her life is bulldozed. Men often feel the trauma differently; as a personal failure. But for the woman of the home, the destruction wipes away her very identity.
With the newly passed Knesset legislation, many people here believe that more land will be annexed and additional settlements will go up soon, which will lead to an increase of despair and violence.
The separation wall is another issues that affects women differently than men. If a young woman in the West Bank studies hard and gets into a good university, she will need to pass through a checkpoint to get to class. Her father could say no to this because he wants to protect her from the potential violence and the sexual harassment. Her parents may encourage her to end her studies and find a husband. In this and many more ways, patriarchy uses the occupation as an excuse to keep women in their place.
Rev. McGrail also shared with us ways that women remember wartime events differently than men. Men tend to talk about the land, and women talk about the people. She told us about meeting a woman remembers fleeing the Deir Yassin massacre with her infant. As she ran through the village to escape the violence, the young mother (she was 16 at the time) encountered another mother dead on the ground. When she fell, she had dropped her infant, and he was still alive. Every day of her life the mother who survived mourns for that child she did not pick up. She still wonders what became of it.
Loren is an artist, and showed us some of her works illustrating the many issues that Palestinian women and children face. She re-purposes broken pottery, marbles, tear gas cans and bullet casings as unique works that tell a story of beauty in the brokenness. It is one way that she cares for herself so that she can care for others who have been traumatized by war and violence. It is breathtaking stuff.
You can see some of it yourself on her blog: lorenmcgrail.blogspot.com
In Ramallah, women are taught to be an event planner (weddings and the like), eventually earning a certificate and help with job placement. Jericho offers a food production program for the women. Their dream is to produce enough locally sourced food so that people throughout Israel/Palestine can be fed. Unfortunately, checkpoints get in the way of their distribution, and products are not available outside the West Bank.
The YWCA also works with the EU in setting women up with micro-loans. This helps the women become self-sufficient making honey, jams and cakes.
The YWCA also offers training on civil engagement, so that Palestinian women can work to fix their own problems. Learning how to settle disputes, issues and conflicts is an important part of self-determination. In one small village, the women earned enough money to purchase a bus for their frightened children to get to school past gun-toting settlers. The young men of the village were so envious of their accomplishment, that they began to work on building a football field. In a place like the West Bank, where there is so much every day stress, having a place for children and youth to gather and play games is very important.
The YWCA's advocacy efforts focuses on women's rights, especially the right of return and self-determination. The women are organizing a National Action Plan that will challenge domestic violence. They believe that it is long past time to hold the system accountable for looking the other way at honor killings, which may be rare but still happen. A group of women go to the UN every March to a conference on women's issues, the delegation from Palestine also speaks about the violence of the occupation itself, especially when it comes to demolitions and access to movement.
Demolitions impact women differently than men in this society. The house is the one place where it is culturally appropriate for the woman to have authority, safety and security. Her entire world falls apart when this important piece of her life is bulldozed. Men often feel the trauma differently; as a personal failure. But for the woman of the home, the destruction wipes away her very identity.
With the newly passed Knesset legislation, many people here believe that more land will be annexed and additional settlements will go up soon, which will lead to an increase of despair and violence.
 |
| Separation Wall, Bethlehem (EAPPI/Jennifer G) |
The separation wall is another issues that affects women differently than men. If a young woman in the West Bank studies hard and gets into a good university, she will need to pass through a checkpoint to get to class. Her father could say no to this because he wants to protect her from the potential violence and the sexual harassment. Her parents may encourage her to end her studies and find a husband. In this and many more ways, patriarchy uses the occupation as an excuse to keep women in their place.
Rev. McGrail also shared with us ways that women remember wartime events differently than men. Men tend to talk about the land, and women talk about the people. She told us about meeting a woman remembers fleeing the Deir Yassin massacre with her infant. As she ran through the village to escape the violence, the young mother (she was 16 at the time) encountered another mother dead on the ground. When she fell, she had dropped her infant, and he was still alive. Every day of her life the mother who survived mourns for that child she did not pick up. She still wonders what became of it.
Loren is an artist, and showed us some of her works illustrating the many issues that Palestinian women and children face. She re-purposes broken pottery, marbles, tear gas cans and bullet casings as unique works that tell a story of beauty in the brokenness. It is one way that she cares for herself so that she can care for others who have been traumatized by war and violence. It is breathtaking stuff.
You can see some of it yourself on her blog: lorenmcgrail.blogspot.com
 |
| One of Loren's pieces (EAPPI/Jennifer G) |
No comments:
Post a Comment