D-5 Checkmate at Shiraa

Back to Shiraa and its beautiful kids always eager to learn some more.

We repeated the whole thing all over again: each kid was coming to the board and giving all the information about one figure to the others: how many points it's worth, how it moves, how it eats, if it can go back / jump etc ...

There are always some kids saying it is too easy, and when arriving at the board, they get it wrong :)

Girl Power !

Check and checkmate in one move exercises were on the board today, and I was really impressed by one girl ! She found all the answers before the rest of the class, and the more she had it right, the more she wanted to keep on.

In the previous days, she was not specially above the others, so work definitely pays off !

Time to play

We got the chessboards out for the children to play some real games! Unfortunately, there are not enough tables, so we put them all directly on the floor... I thought it was not very practical to play but I have been told they are used to do activities on the floor :)

I could pair them by level, which was really interesting for them; I could stay more helping the one in difficulties whereas the others were happily playing. You always get some situation when they call you for some help, and you arrive and see both kings in check, or a king missing ;) They all speak a little bit of English, and Rabea (Hussein's son) is always helping me anyway.

As you can see on the picture, he has 2 bishops on the same diagonal ... However, almost all the girls lost against the boys, grrrrr :) Even the best girl ! I noticed she was very competitive though, as a boy ... it is definitely a big asset to play !

D-5 More celebration for the released prisoners

Today, Hussein took me to the University of Bethlehem where he was invited to represent his brother in a celebration organised by the Student Union.

There were many Palestinian flags in the uni, as well as peace posters.
The room was full, there were about 200 people, all very enthusiastic !
Two students introduced themselves and the ones following: associations for the prisoners, ministry... It was quite long and in Arabic so of course I was getting a bit bored... I felt better when Hussein told me he was falling asleep as well :)
The atmosphere was really nice though, people were happy, and there was some very loud traditional music on.
When the speeches finished, a group of singers arrived, and everyone one was singing with them... from the youngest to the oldest :)

Then, they called the 6 prisoners (3 women and 3 men) who were released and allowed to come back home to Bethlehem... and they gave them a special Hero Price. Among them, was the Russian girl Eliana, who just spent 6 years in prison... her daughter and mother were there as well. They also gave the name of the ones who were released but could not return to their home: Hussein went to pick the price for his brother.

Hussein explained me not everyone in the room has the chance to have a member of his family released: there was an old lady who is still waiting for her son, after 28 years in jail. As Hussein's brother, her son received a 100 years detention pain (it was definitely a surprise for Hussein's family to learn he was going to be free then!). All the returned prisoners were giving her a kiss on the head.

D-4 Our 3rd chess session at Shiraa

Today, as yesterday, we started by rehearsing what we have been learning through the 2 first sessions.
We can see now a growing gap between some children and the others: some are very fast learners who want to go forward, whereas some others still have difficulties to assimilate the figures' different ways of moving. I think from tomorrow on, I will need to divide the class with appropriate activities for each group.
We learnt how to make "Check" and how it could lead to a "Checkmate" with exercises... The good thing is that they are all actively participating, and fighting to be the one to come and show the move on the big board!

Now they are all wearing their Peace & Sport t-shirt which make them feel like part of a project and they love it.

Team Game
To be honest, the boys are much stronger when it is time to play as a team. They won again the game against the girls very easily: they finished their game with a queen, a rook, a bishop, and almost all their pawns whereas the girl had nothing left !
It's hard to explain where this difference is coming from; it has nothing to do with their intelligence. I see the boys as more competitive, and motivated... They only speak between each other about the game and how to win, whereas most of the girls are chit-chatting ;)

"Courage, effort, creativity, respect for the rules, the opponent and the environment, the acceptance of defeat, discipline, plus the continual quest for progress are all values that Chess can put at the service of vulnerable youth to help them build a better future." I really try my best to make them all participate, respect the other team and shake hands even when loosing, as well as maintaining the rules like "a figure touched has to be played"even if it's a rule they definitely don't like!

D-4 Celebration for the released prisoners

About 300 Palestinian prisoners have been released yesterday in exchange of an Israeli soldier.
Among them, was one of Hussein's brother who just spent 10 full years in prison, from 24 to 34 years old.
Only 3 members of the family (his mother, and two sisters) had the permission to visit him, so Hussein has not seen his brother for 10 years... and actually he is not going to see him any time soon either, as he is not allowed to leave Gaza. Unfortunately, for Hussein and his family, it is almost impossible to reach Gaza...

In order to celebrate this amazing news, a traditional celebration has been organised in his honour, in his family's house.
As I was explaining in a previous post, men are having their party outside, whereas women are having their own inside. I was obviously at the women's party :)
It started very early, around 5h30 PM. About 40 women were sitting in the living room, until one of them started to play the tambour. Several women then stood up and started to dance and sing. They don't put any CD, they are their own music... and a pretty amazing one!

Of course, there is no alcohol circulating, only sweets and juices. They kept dancing for hours ! Every time someone was leaving, someone else was arriving... I think about 150 women from the whole camp showed up that night, the room was always full. Among the guests, I noticed one my little students, she ran to kiss me and introduced me to her mom: it was so cute.
At some point, the phone rang, and one of them sitting by the phone heard it. One of Hussein's sister replied and started to cry immediately: it was their "free" brother!
I looked through the window, and the men's party looked quite similar with everyone dancing. They had some music on though... I asked Eliana the house's keys, she explained me her dad had them and she could not go to his party to ask him "Noooo, there are many men !"... She asked a little girl to help us, for whom it was not an issue :)
I felt so lucky to be in this room, the only non-Palestinian person ! The communication was not easy though, as no one spoke English, but I tried to enjoy my situation to the most.

D-3 Chess Training at Shiraa

The second chess session at Shiraa Association has come!

We received a special guest today, the Palestine West Bank Chess Champion, Ahmed, so we co-animated the class.
Firstly, we went through their notes taken yesterday, and the children got it all correct :)
Then, we continue on new pieces' movements on the board, with some corresponding excercices. We tried as much as possible to make the kids participate.
So everytime a answer needs to be done, the kid are coming to the chess board to show it. They are very proud of themselves when they find the correct answer.
In order for them to work as a team, we made them play one game on the big chess training board, boys against girls ! For every move to be played, one member of the team was coming to the board. They were quite competitive, and instead of playing on their own each move, they were thinking about it all together.
The boys won the game ...

D-3 Cultural differences

Today, I have been invited to Hussein's sisters' place for some conversation.
My first surprise was that they are living in the flat just above :) My second surprise was that they were actually between 40 and 60 years old, which is something I was not imagining for 3 sisters living together.
They actually still live at their father's house because they are not married. They explained me a woman can only leave her parents' house when she finds the man she'll be spending her life with. The 52 years old one confessed she has not lost hope yet and is confident she'll find an husband soon. The 40 years old asked me to take her in my luggage back to Spain as she thinks it will be easier to find there. She asked me "Do they like fat women there?" ;)
One of Hussein's son was translating for me. He added "Men can leave their parents' house whenever they want; I know it is not fair. But I would not like my sister to live with a man if they are not married, so she will stay with us until she gets married as well".
They asked me about my situation and were happy I was married... They could not understand though, what I was doing here so far away from my husband.
It was definitely a cultural shock!
As usual since I arrived, we shared some traditional food; I love their convivial way to eat all together, all in the same plate, with no forks or knives.

D-3 Bethlehem

I visited the church of Nativity, and it was quite interesting to see even though I am not much of a Catholic... they were so many tourists! Mainly Spanish and Russians.
Hussein told me they are all coming to see the church within the day but are not actually making the tourism industry work, as they never stay overnight in Palestine. There is no airport in Palestine, so they are all coming from Tel Aviv, where many touristic packages are being sold, with accommodation within Israel obviously.
Since my arrival, I have already replied at least 10 times to the question "what is your religion?", this is really a main subject here, as well as politics.