Greetings from Syria!

Marhaba min Syria!I am not sure if my last note got through from Beirut--the internet has beenpretty shaky traveling around. Of course, problems are not anything new forusers of our seminary system ;) We have just arrived in Aleppo after comingyesterday from Lebanon and having seen the Krak des Chevaliers and today thecitadel of Aleppo. You might call this the 'Crusaders and Muslims' warfaretour of the Middle East, for all the archaeological sites that have beenexcavated and restored in these two countries. I feel I now know more thanI ever wanted to about the use of boiling oil, particularly from theCrusaders but indeed on both sides. But remants of former militaryinfrastructure does make a good backdrop for discussing the political issuesof today, of which we have been doing plenty also. I think I learned morein the past week than I did all last year. (The visual aids do help).This has been the most amazing 'insider's view' of both countries, not justpolitically and religiously but also in the history and culture. The guesthouses and restaurants where we've been include carefully restored old Arabhouses. There is often Arabic signs with French subtitles in the museumsand streets, so I am getting plenty of practice in both languages. Iespecially appreciate the practice in reading the elaborate Islamiccalligraphy on the fortresses, since this was not exactly covered in ourclassroom textbook!To see Syria and Lebanon with so much restoration of the historic sites andpreservation of Arab culture, I have a lot of hope for some time in thefuture for Palestine. It is truly amazing here. Of course, Palestinianshave done so much already to preserve their culture and history,particularly in the major cities. To explain more, large quarters ofBeirut, Hama, and other places were completely destroyed, or at leastheavily damaged; acres of olive trees and other agriculture devastated--andnow, after the war, and granted, with a lot of financial backing, so muchhas been rebuilt. Even the olive trees are coming up again in parts ofSouthern Lebanon. This is not a reason to become complacent about humanrights abuses in Palestine or the rest of the Middle East, but it is acomfort when I hear word of yet more tragedy taking place. But in reality,the only loss in war which truly cannot be replaced is the people. That isstill hard for me to deal with.I am still enjoying being a trip leader for the group of ten, despite thepresence of two very hard-to-please women (read: perpetually grouchy).Everyone else is great, very flexible. And that mediates the other two. Wealso have a local guide, a Palestinian refugee whose family was originallyfrom Nablus who grew up in Damascus, with a very good sense of humor andcharm. He is from the Hinnawi family, and knows exactly where his houseused to be, near the Palestine Hotel in the old city of Nablus. I haveprobably passed it myself several times during my visits there. We stayedup quite late last night talking about the invasion of Nablus, when I wasassigned there to document the atrocities.All the Palestinians we have met in both countries have been very openabout their frustrations that the Right of Return for the refugees has beenso ignored in the past several years due to the fighting within Israel andPalestine. The situation in Lebanon is more desperate for refugees [nolegal work permits, ability to own property outside the camp, or money forhigher education], but even still, Hussein would go immediately if given thechance to return--and he is a very successful business owner and universitygraduate. I mentioned in my last letter that we visited Sabra and Shatilarefugee camps just outside Beirut last week; we will visit another camp nearDamascus. We will also meet with Armenians here to learn more about thegenocide and how they have coped in the diaspora.We will be in Syria until the 6th, when we return to Beirut, then I'll havea few more days to cram-learn Dari and Pashto before heading on to Kabul. Idon't know if I'll ever get to make another trip to Afghanistan (so I'll bestocking up on extra rolls of overpriced film here), but I would very muchlike to return to Syria and Lebanon again, and I may try to wrangle a dealto lead the next group in October during fall term break.I hope you are all having a good Memorial Day weekend if you are readingthis from the U.S. Hope to write more soon!peace,Le Anne

Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan...leaving Monday

Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan; Leaving Monday
May 17, 2005

Greetings everyone,Where do I begin? There's been lots of changes in just the past couple days.On Friday, our Iran visas for the entire group were denied by the embassy. Thiswas really disappointing since I was doing lots of research and preparation togo, and I was especially looking forward to studying a Shi'a dominant (both inpopulation and in politics) society such as Iran. However, the Afghanistanvisas have cleared. Since people had already blocked out the time on theirschedules, it seemed best to try and arrange an alternate delegation for thetime which would have covered Iran. Saturday, Ladhan proposed that we go aheadto Syria and Lebanon as was planned for when I would have been on spring breakbut things were crazy there then. I agreed to go--two great countries to learnabout and speak on when I return home. So, that would be three countries in onemonth--Syria, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. Intense, but very exciting.Sooo...Ladhan called again today, and has asked me to be the delegation leaderfor the Syria and Lebanon part of the trip. Someone else will take over inAfghanistan. This is because I speak Arabic, am familiar with the politicalsituation, particularly surrounding Palestinian refugees and Israel, and haveled several delegations to the Middle East before for CPT. Wow! I'm lookingforward to it. Mostly I will be doing the group facilitating stuff and helpingprepare the folks for cultural issues, etc., I am very excited that GlobalExchange uses local alternative tour guides on their trips to arrange all thelogistics (transport, housing, food, meetings, etc.) I used to handle all thatas well--uff da! But I love it and I can tell my energy level is getting backup to where it used to be. I miss this line of work!My supervisor for my summer job which starts July 5 (orienting new internationalstudents and working on their ESL) was a missionary's kid in Lebanon and Syria.He really encouraged me to go, and said he would be there himself if not forwork commitments right now. My Arabic professor this past year also is fromSyria. They're both giving me plenty of helpful tips and people to meet.McCormick seminary (our joint campus) has a strong connection to the Near EastSchool of Theology in Beirut, so that is a comfortable connection, too. (And apossible future work or study site, I also hope!)I leave Monday, the flights are getting arranged, I'm packing up, throwing apotluck Saturday night here to welcome my brothers (James and Andrew who arecoming for the next two years and for the summer respectively) and say goodbyeto folks for the month, and get them all excited about the trip (hopefully theycan help with speaking connections after I return). Between legs, I get 3-4days to relax in Beirut, which is a truly beautiful city. Then we fly to Kabul.I still return around the 23rd of June.James and Andrew will be feeding my cat and hopefully enjoying abundant workopportunities around campus for the summer. It will be nice to have twohouse-sitters, and I know the single seminary women are a tad curious also ;)There may be more to report soon, and I am enjoying the responses. I'll let youknow how it goes!peace,Le Anne

Iran? Afghanistan? What?

Greetings everyone,I recently realized how long it has been since I've written. There's been lotsof changes since February, and I've had my nose to the grindstone in many ways.Now on a cold rainy day, after my Israel's Prophets final exam and before I wrapup a couple papers tonight, it's more than time to catch up.The big--and somewhat urgent--news is that I've decided to take up my friendLadan's invitation to participate in a delegation to Iran and Afghanistan laterthis month after classes let out (May 23--June 23), provided the visas comethrough. Since I am considered to be a "well-known activist" (who, me?),meaning that if you Google my name lots of articles come up, it is notguaranteed I'll get into Iran. But I shouldn't have any problem enteringAfghanistan, and the delegation there would be ten days in Kabul. It would be along letter to attach the trip information below, but most of it is online athttp://www.globalexchange.org./I was really hoping to have more definitive information on the visas beforewriting and getting everyone riled up, but I have a feeling things are runningmore on Eastern time than Western time--meaning I'll know whether I get to go atjust past the last minute but everything will still be okay. When I get back,I'll have fresh material and focus for public speaking, presentations, andwriting articles. I wonder if I will be the first Lutheran-girl-peace-activistever in these two countries? At first, this was going to be a trip to Syria andLebanon over my spring break, but things got riled up there just in time topostpone that to a time when I was already back in classes. So...next bestthing, no?I'm working the trip into an independent-study course for seminary by focusingon Christian-Muslim relations in both countries; the role of religiousminorities, women, and the impact of U.S. foreign policy and military activity(i.e., how does the church need to respond?); and the PowerPoint and thearticles and a reflective journal will serve as tests and papers. The schoolapproved that last Friday. I am hoping to recoup some of the extra travelexpense through my speaking and article writing afterwards also, and I wouldgreatly appreciate your contacts!I got to know Global Exchange (which is also the founder of the 'Code PINK'women's antiwar movement) a few years ago while in Palestine when I took a groupof theirs down to Gaza for a long weekend. I was really impressed by theirorganization and the number of places they are involved, as well as theiradvocacy efforts in the U.S. And the number of women in their leadership roles.I don't know how much I shared earlier that I resigned from CPT in December dueto a losing two-year struggle with sexual harrassment and sexism in theorganization. It was incredibly tough to leave, and I'd wanted to spend manymore years with them, though it was proving quite toxic to do so. Perhaps thisis a next step in getting back in the international sphere. I am still lookingforward to working for ELCA Global Missions after seminary, and have had somereally encouraging, inspiring talks with people in their offices about thefuture. However, that is still a few years away yet.It will be kind of good to get off-campus and off-country for a while thissummer. There are many things I enjoy about seminary, and I've been about asactive on campus as a student can be. I spend most of my time with theinternational students and the students from McCormick (Presbyterian) seminary,as well as the peaceable folks on campus. However, I was quite surprised, thendisillusioned, and then have become quite activist about the levels of fear,silencing, control, and power displays on campus. Yikes! Theupperclass(wo/men) let me know about it real quick. I never expected such athing from an ELCA seminary, let alone this particular one which has areputation for being 'open-minded.' The seniors and PhD students tell me it'sbeen this way for a while. It's a culture of not sticking your neck out orspeaking up about issues in the classroom or in the community, and I feel quitecompelled to work to change that in whatever way I can. It's meant doing a lotof what I spent the past four years doing: Listening to peoples' stories ofpainful experiences here; looking for patterns; going to talk to faculty andadministrators; and writing plenty of articles for the student paper. Andstaying involved in the groups that are making a difference. It's wasn'tsomething I was expecting to do, for sure, and I remember feeling like I quitebacked into it by accident--which is what happened with the Middle East, anyway.That work has meant some incredibly lonely and frustrating moments this pastyear, but also lately is starting to show its fruits. I went to our first-yearclass retreat, and most of the other folks who attended were not my usual'crowd'--the white, younger students who haven't spent much time outside thecountry or in other cultures, and associate mainly with folks like themselves oncampus--yet each one of them in our 'affirmation' afternoon told me specificallythat I was doing something important and necessary for our campus and communityand I needed to keep on going. Wow! There are more people beginning to speakout and organize too on addressing the issues here, and that is giving me muchhope for a healthier school. Last week, I was surprised to get nominated toevery position in student government that was open in my class for next year; Iaccepted for the spots I thought I could do the most good; and I learned thisafternoon I only missed being elected class co-convener (president) by a hair.Fortunately, two close buddies did win and I've spent a lot of time talking overissues with them and I believe they'll be good for us for next year. And I gota little email pep-talk from an outgoing co-pres about the necessity of mycontinuing to be the rugged grassroots agitator on campus still. Hmmm.......Back from a quick phone break where one of said above buddies just called up andsaid the two of them are scared they got the job and maybe they should hand itover?! And an invitation to chat/celebrate/cross-stitch tonight. The papersare almost done, and then I have much housecleaning, winter-put-away-ing, andsibling-welcoming to do. James is moving in with me for the next few years toget his B.A; Andrew is coming for at least part of the summer to work; Tom iscoming for a few visits. I should yet make it home for a couple little visitsthis summer.It is indeed a strange world. Made stranger by a new adorable kitten. But thisletter is long enough and I promise to write again soon. From outside thecountry, if possible!peace,Le Anne