Destination Palestine

Tomorrow I travel to Palestine... a long day of travelling that will give me plenty of time for  reflection as I fly first to Athens with a long wait before my flight to Tel Aviv... then its the long drive to Jenin... it will be in the early hours of Friday when I have arrived at the refugee camp where I will spend the next 2.5 weeks.

I am excited about the prospect of meeting other educators, of exchanging ideas. I am nervous about pitching the course I am holding right... enough challenge, but not too different that there is resistance and the need to preserve own ideas no matter what.

With learning it is always a balance.

Since Christmas I have been reading books and reading articles online... learning more about muslim pedagogical history so that I can attempt to make this course as meaningful as possible.

But what I realised is that when a nation or a person or a an area of the world (and I am taking my knowledge as a historian, my first degree is in history and ancient history) feel threatened then learning stops evolving and become about preservation. I did not fully realise this until learning from a muslim point of view (I have always been taught and therefore learnt from a Christian/Western point of view). I also feel this is natural from an individual point of view... if you do not feel safe then it feels rather pointless to learn something new that does not aid survival.. learning is a luxury, preserving who you are and what you have becomes essential.

Creating a safe place to learn IS essential for all children, for all humans.

In the coming 2.5 weeks I will be sharing a short daily update about my adventures in Palestine... so if you are interested, please join the adventure through this blog... please also add feedback and ideas that I can share with the participants  of the course... every thing is of value.

two years ago in Jenin

I really intend to listen