A new year!

Last week was short because of Rosh Hashana - the jewish new years. I was in Asalam school only Sunday to Wednesday. Still it felt like a long week full of new experiences and reflections. Since the first week was mostly about getting to know the school, the organization and to get a perspective on what kind of work I will do there, the second one was more about trying to find ways to build an internship and how to grow in the role as a social worker.

I've tried to work on a theme about countries that the group of children seem to be interested in. I did this with two different groups. They were both into football and especially Real Madrid and Barcelona. Therefore I teach them about Spain. We looked at the map to see where those two cities are, and we listened to Spanish music. To follow up we played football together the next day. For some reason, and I don't know why this is where I felt that it was a big challenge to communicate. Much more difficult than in a classroom. Maybe because the situation was a bit different and confusing for everyone, and maybe my role as a teacher also was more diffuse. Anyhow, we manage to play a bit but there was lots of discussions between the children. Especially in the second group where two of the boys didn't let the two girls play. I was surprised at first and then I tried to figure out a way to solve it so everyone could play together. In the end the girls went aside to play. I felt like this class was a failure and that I will have to work on a way to communicate and work with this phenomena. I was also very upset personally since I thought that it was so unfair towards the girls. I didn't know how to react at all and especially since this probably is very cultural.

I've also been chocked how violent the kids are when they play. When I ask why they for example hit and push each other they don't see it as a problem at all. I spoke with one of the teachers about this, and she agreed with me and explained to me that it became so common to hit each other and to be violent. Because of this I decided to talk about friendship and different words for feeling in English by using youtube, the game pictionary with some basic words and by asking questions like "how are you today?" It was fun and a very good ending of the week in Asalam. Kasem, a teacher from the high school near Asalam, also came by the school to see how it works over there and to discuss a project about teaching English to adults in Rahat. Starting that kind of project, mostly by doing research is going to be very interesting for sure.    

Except for being in the school I also went to a meeting with Jamal. Five other social workers, all involved in working with the Bedouin community discussed methods to get parents more involved in their children's educaion. It was all in Hebrew so there were lots of things that I didn't understand. It was still interesting to see how a project starts and how much work there is to even get started. 

One week has passed

I have now been more than a week in the school. It feels so amazing to be going to a place where people are so enthusiastic about me being there. The kids are wonderful! I still haven't seen much of Rahat, but taking the bus every morning has been interesting every time. I try to speak with the bus drivers and they are always curious about why a Swedish is going to Rahat every day. It's still a bit difficult to explain.

I'm teaching groups with five children at the time. So far we have been introducing ourselves and I have been trying to explain where I come from and how things are in Sweden. The kids have so many questions and want to know how things are in my life. Both sides are struggling with communication, and even the most simple thing like talking about how many brothers and sisters we have is not easy. I can also see how frustrating it is not to be able to make yourself understood. It's difficult to be personal and that I wont be misunderstood. Probably the kids feel the same way, but they are helping each other to translate from Arabic to English.

Some of the hardest parts have been planning activities. It's not easy to come up with a class when you can't explain the games, meaning of words and not even tell if the kids understand me right. I would say that I didn't really expect it to be that difficult. Also I feel like it can be hard to understand some of the teachers sometimes. Everyone doesn't speak English, even though everyone is trying and really wishes to. I also struggled with expectations from the other teachers and from myself in the beginning of the week. Some of the English teachers are hoping that they will see a big improvement in the English language among the students during my time volunteering. They also hope that I will be a part of teaching the students that still can't read and write so well. That puts some pressure on me, since I'm not here as a teacher, but as a social worker I questioned if I'm really the right person for this project. After speaking with Julia during our weekly supervision she made it clear that I can't be responsible for teaching. She explained that the language is more of a tool to be able to do social work in Rahat and to work with coexistence and exchanging culture. Hearing that was a relief.

This week I also got the chance to meet up with Jamal to talk about my experience so far and to see how the organization is trying to expand. We replied emails and discussed what can be done this semester. I hope to start planning a English corner for adults in Rahat. I told the teachers and everyone is very exited and hoping that this will work out. Hearing this and seeing how some things are already changing to the better is hard to take in. I asked about a library in the beginning of the week, and Ghranema just told me that the library that is now used as a storage will be organized next week. They also ordered a new globe and maps for the school since I asked for it. This is great news! I also got to know that some of the kids in the groups are "trouble makers" and I didn't see this at all. So over all there are things that are hard and that I will have to work on. On the other hand everyone is so positive and grateful and I can see what the organization is accomplishing.

I found a globe in the libarary today. It's all in arabic, but a good way to explain where Sweden and Europe is, why it is colder there and the distance.  

   

The first two days in Rahat

Today I have been going from very nervous to very exited and enthusiastic. I met up with Julia and Jamal Sunday morning and after some introduction we went together to Asalam elementary school. I had a good feeling about this straight away, from seeing the excitement from the kids and the teachers engagement in A new Dawn's project at the school. Being in Rahat was also an important experience, as to see the social issues and the marginalization there. Even though the school seems like a secure and happy place for the kids Rahat as a city have some issues like unemployment and poverty. Jamal told me about some of the problems and how important it is for the young people to encounter the world outside Rahat and Israel.

After the visit at the elementary school we made a quick visit in the High School as well. There will hopefully be after school projects running there soon as a way to integrate the Bedouin youth.

During the second day I acknowledged how eager people from Rahat are in general to learn English and to be able to speak to me. On the bus to Rahat the driver asked me in Hebrew if I could teach him English. Due to my poor Hebrew and since I don't speak Arabic I couldn't explain to him exactly what I was supposed to do in Rahat or that I unfortunately couldn't teach him English that evening. It all was very frustrating but still inspiring for me since I realize the need of language exchange in Rahat.

At the school Ghranema, who is one of the English teachers, met me and we went on a tour around to show me the classrooms the schoolyard and the garden around. I noticed that it's a quite small school compared to the around 640 children going there. It's more similar to Swedish schools than I expected though (except for the big cage with all kinds of birds, including parrots and chicken in the schoolyard).

I attended three English classes with students from 3rd, 4th and 6th grade. The children were all chocked that I didn't speak Arabic or Hebrew. They actually didn't believe me at first. During the classes I was mostly observing, but I also tried to help the students with the assignments as much as I could. They were all very exited about my presence, as in their eyes I'm a native English speaking person even though I'm Swedish. Grhanema told me that I'm probably the first one they have ever met. It feels very different to be looked at as someone from a completely different world. I believe that that feeling and experience is an important lesson from today. By now I'm also starting to realize how comprehensive the segregation of the Bedouins in the Negev is.

I went home so overwhelmed by the warm welcoming and all the new impressions and thoughts. It feels great to have started and to be a part of the project, but I also have to remind myself that this is my first day and that things will have to develop further over time. Everything is still so new for me as well for the kids. Tomorrow I will have my first small groups of students. I'm really looking forward!