What can we learn from Haverstock's twin in Palestine?

Article for our school newsletter:

“You don’t know if you’re going to get to school or not, because you don’t know if there’s going to be a problem with the Israeli soldiers.”

“I live pretty near to the school, like 5 minutes walk, but some days it take me 30-40 mins because the soldiers and their tanks line up here and make problems. I miss my first class. Sometimes they line up outside my house and they don’t allow us to go out at all.”

“They throw tear gas at us. Sometimes in the middle of a class we smell tear gas and the teacher closes the windows and we have to go home.”

“My hopes for the future are pretty normal: a job; a family; a house; and to live in a land of my own, without having an occupation restricting what I can do.”

“We would like you to learn about our history, and what happened with the British people and the Israelis and how they occupied our land. Besides the past, we would like you to know about our culture. If you learn about us you’ll see that we are amazing people and we have the right to stay alive.”

These are the words of students from Haverstock’s twin school in Palestine, the Arab Institute. During half term I had the incredible opportunity to visit as part of a teacher exchange trip organised by Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association.

This is the start of letter writing exchanges and partnership work on human rights. We have so much to learn from the students and teachers there – about life under occupation and their inspiring struggle to keep living, keep learning, and stand up for their rights in these challenging circumstances.

You can find out more about the project here: http://teachersinaction2016.blogspot.co.uk/

Replying to letters from Haverstock students.

The 8m wall built by the Israeli government. It runs through Abu Dis, separating people there from their friends, family members, olive trees and holy places on the other side.

Mural in the school playground – can you work out what the message is?

We have olive trees

And I love sitting under the trees

But we have a problem, there is the wall