my mom came to "say goodbye" last week. in between art projects with my students, she surprised me with a list of questions, a video recorder, and the intention of getting me to sit down for an interview. my brother adam, a renowned audio producer, had the idea of asking my family to submit questions inspired by my trip to lebanon and turning the resulting interview into a bloggable audio piece. so, mom and i did the interview (somewhere between one and three times), and here's the transcript-- audio to follow, n'challah! (thank you so much, family*)
Kate: It's clear with this being at least your fifth big international trip, you have a passion for both travel and humanitarian efforts, which is great. When/how would you say that fire was first lit?
That's probably the hardest question you could ask. I don't really have an answer for it -- I think it's something that came about organically from the influence of my parents, who travelled the world and piqued my curiosity about foreign places... From having studied foreign languages from such a young age, and finding out about all the places where French is spoken outside of France. I always liked those parts of the textbooks best.
I don't know if any of that is actually what precipitated the desire in me, but the main thing is that once I started I couldn't stop feeling more and more curious, and more and more desire to know people and learn languages. It was like a ball rolling down a hill.
Jeremy: Of all the possibilities on the planet, what inspired you to choose a refugee camp in Lebanon? And what gave you the determination to follow through?
This program in Lebanon came about a lot like other programs I've done. Not necessarily out of nowhere, but at a time when I was looking for ideas for travel and work and language... It felt exactly right when it came up. I was looking for something that would allow me to work on a language that I had already studied, living and working within a community. There's been a lot of heat in this area for so long, and maybe because of or in spite of that, it felt really right and valuable and important for right now.
Where does it fit in helping other people, who are more needy than us in the first world?
I don't really see things in terms of being a first world person going somewhere needy. But I think of this experience just being... I see myself being in a position to help both ways. With my summer vacation and teaching background, I'm able to go to a place in need of teachers and exposure to English to help the kids pass the Lebanese national exam that they might not otherwise be ready for.
I also see myself being a willing and able American going to an area that I think Americans could stand to be educated about, bringing back an experience of a place that a lot of people might have some incorrect notions or curiosity about. To help shine some light on a part of the world that needs a lot of light shined on it at this time.
Kate: Being a travel expert now, do you have any pre-travel rituals you do to get you in the mindset for such a big endeavor? Any post-trip rituals to mark coming home?
Andrew: What language preparations are you making/ have you made for the mission?
Pre-travel rituals? I guess about a month of steadily intensifying chaos or maybe even panic, when I'm realizing the number of things I have to do to be fully prepared physically and mentally and professionally. I usually like to study up on some language. I had great intentions to work on Arabic beforehand, Levantine Arabic in particular, but I really don't think that's going to happen this month! Instead, I've been concentrating on reading up on the history of the area.
Also, finishing my school year -- that's a big ritual because I'm usually heading off on a trip shortly after a super intense school year ends.
As for rituals when I get back, I don't think I usually think that far ahead. But if I had to think back, I usually just try to make the rounds, letting my mom know I'm healthy and alive in person. Checking in on my brothers and my niece and nephew. And then this year, I'll definitely want to check in on Julie and Tim and their brand new baby.
Eric: Where will you be living? How will you be getting around?
I'll be sharing an apartment with other volunteers. It will be thee or four of us to an apartment and we'll be living in one of two refugee camps that are right in the vicinity of Beirut. That's what I know about living quarters. I guess it won't be that different from other places I've been that don't necessarily have all the same amenities as here. It could mean defined times of day with and without power, or possibly not having hot water.
For transportation, I have no idea. I think I'll just be walking or taking buses or maybe riding a bike -- doing whatever people are doing there.
Mom: Stats-- how many Palestinian refugees are in your camp and overall in Lebanon? (I think of the 1000s of Hmong refugees who were relocated to Thailand after the Vietnam War, and so many of the younger MN/WI Hmong Americans were born in those camps.)
There are over four hundred thousand Palestinian refuges living in Lebanon and those are the people who are in the camps. Also, I know that there are about 12 camps throughout Lebanon. I'm not sure the exact numbers of the two camps that we're going to be living in.
[We'll be based in Bourj-el-Barajneh and Shatila camps, which have 20,405 and 12,235 residents respectively, out of an estimated 422,188 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon-- 10% of Lebanon's population]
Adam: It's hard to have a clear picture until you actually get there and have a chance to get into the work, but what do you imagine an average day being like from beginning to end?
I don't know what a particular day would be like for a citizen of the camp. However, I know for the volunteers that we'll be dividing our 400 students by the 20-some volunteers. We'll have 3 hour sessions in the morning, working on various English language skills. We'll then have a short break for lunch followed by an afternoon session with a different group of students, again for 3 hours.
Twice a week we'll have extracurricular activities based on our interests and experiences and the things that we like to do and teach -- art and sewing, maybe theater, drama, hip hop, soccer, although I'm told we don't really have enough space to actually play a full game.
After classes each day, we'll meet in groups with other volunteers to go over the day and dialogue ways of strengthening lesson plans and behavior management, helping everybody to get through it. A lot of volunteers haven't had any experience teaching.
We'll be figuring it out as we go as a group.
Andrew: How are you planning to adjust, if any, your behavior/dress/persona for the environment that you will be operating in?
The most helpful thing to do is to just be aware. Be aware and pay attention to how others carry themselves and how they dress and how they communicate. But to always remember that I'm not exactly the same as everybody who's there. I'm an outsider, for sure, and nothing will change that, so I'll probably have to carry myself with a bit more discretion and in a more conservative way.
Just to be humble and to be discreet -- to try not to attract too much attention, because I think that's something that's just going to come with being an outsider and being part of a really big group of outsiders. I'll follow cues from the people around me, and try to be respectful, and try not to create too garish of an impression.
Eric: What foods are you most looking forward to trying or checking out?
I haven't put a lot of thought into it -- I know I like Lebanese food, but I think I'd be most excited if I were able to share a meal at any time with a group of people from my community and from the neighborhood there. If there was a family or group of local people who would invite me to join them, that would probably be the best experience I could hope for around food.
Adam: For a trip like this, where you won't have extra space to pack much of anything, what are the small luxuries and reminders of home you plan to bring with you?
I was just working on a list today and I guess a lot of the luxuries I plan to bring, a lot of that weight, will be stuff that would just make teaching a lot easier and more pleasant. Your basics from Office Max or Staples -- the American office supply mega-stores: notecards, Sharpies are amazing, Crayola products, sticky tack... You can't find that everywhere.
What about something personal?
On a personal level? Having an ATM card that hopefully allows me the freedom to spend the American way which is kind of a big luxury! Having my passport, so I can come and go freely. That will be a big difference between me and the people I'll be working with.
I mean, probably the most frivolous thing I could say would be a bottle of perfume because it's going to be really hot and sweaty. *Smile*
Mom: A reciprocal act: What do you hope to learn from the kids in the refugee camp?
I don't have much greater hope than to try to gain some insight into what it's like to be a Palestinian person who is living in a refugee camp in the year 2011. I have no idea at all what that would be like and I don't really know anybody who does know what it would be like. I can't even begin to imagine or be so arrogant as to think that I could imagine. I just really would like to know what it's like and what kind of outlook one would have on the world coming from that perspective.
That's the biggest thing -- I want to know what it's like to be a kid living where my kids will live, and find out how much of an impact their living situation has on their view of life as a child. Children are very alert to their surroundings and I'd like to see what they see and learn what they know.
Jeremy: If the summer went perfectly.... what would that look like?
Hm. I don't think there could be anything more fulfilling than whatever eventually comes of this.
If I come back being able to speak some amount of functional Arabic, then I would feel really successful and fulfilled.
If I come back knowing that somebody over there would remember my name or remember my face or look forward to me coming again. If I made that kind of personal connection with somebody, that would be incredibly fulfilling.
I don't know. I guess to come back here feeling there's a place in the world that has accepted me in some small way as part of the community and that feels in some way like a home. That would be the best thing I could hope for.
There are no wrong answers for what I hope from this.
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