An Evening with Lina and Friends

Walking up what felt like 100 flights of stairs, Samin and I finally reached Lina’s house in our neighborhood of Khallet al-Amood. Lina is a mother who is in both my nutrition class and Samin’s aerobics class, and after weeks of asking us to come to her house, we finally had the time to visit with her in her home. I can speak for both myself and Samin when I say it was one of our favorite experiences in Nablus thus far.

Lina outdid herself with delicious tabbouleh salad, cakes, and fruits piled higher than I have ever seen! Slowly, one by one, familiar faces began to enter the room. Other neighborhood women from our classes began entering Lina’s living room to join us in conversation and good food. The women talked about their families, their children, their frustrations, and their lives during the first and second intifadas.

For me, the most interesting part of the entire night was speaking to Lina in Arabic and her responding in English. Throughout the evening we would switch between the two languages so that each of us had a chance to practice speaking and understanding.

Quickly into the night, Lina’s youngest son Hassan and Jenan’s son Saleem joined us. Both boys, are arguably the most adorable 6 and 4 year olds ever. They spent the entire night running in and out of the house, eating cakes and making and flying paper airplanes across Lina’s living room. Samin and I could have stayed there all night playing with the two boys. When it started getting late, Samin and I politely excused ourselves and thanked Lina and her family for their hospitality. We promised we’d be back to visit before we leave Nablus.

As our time here comes to an end, I have had the chance to reflect on my experiences here. I have fallen in love with the city of Nablus, that was undeniable, but until last night, I couldn’t exactly put my finger on why I loved it so much. And as cliché as I know it sounds, I have fallen in love with the people of Nablus. Just yesterday when I walked down to the juice stand with my fellow interns, I heard my name being called out and as soon as I turned around, I saw one of my students, little Alaa, waving her hands furiously from 100 feet away. It’s Alaa’s enthusiasm and joy and Lina’s wisdom and hospitality that are a constant reminder of why I love Nablus so much.

-Tala

Tala is a summer intern at TYO Nablus

Intern Journal: TYO’s First Women’s Nutrition Class

This summer, fellow intern Megan and I are teaching Women’s Nutrition, a first here at TYO. Megan and I want to show Nabulsi women that healthy food can be easy and delicious. So far we’ve had an amazing turnout and the women have been enthusiastic about the hands-on experience. They love taking their own basic ingredients and supplies and watching them transform into a new dish they can make from start to finish. They’ve already asked if they can bring their daughters, sisters, nieces, cousins, and friends to class with them!

When we asked the women what they wanted from the class, they explained that they wanted to learn not only how to make new types of dishes, but also, how to integrate new flavors into traditional Palestinian foods. Some are interested in making Italian dishes, and others want to try very spicy foods, but above all, they want to teach us how to make some of their favorite dishes. What precious windfall for Megan and I, and a perfect example of the kind of cultural exchange that is so central to the TYO program! I hope they teach us how to make mloukhieh (a stew made with jute leaves) and tabbouleh!

Intern Journal: Walking Club

Last week, Leila and I took our Fitness class on our second walking club through Nablus. In general, it would be fair to say that Nabulsi women do not walk merely for the sake of walking. Walking is for when you have to get somewhere and can’t take a taxi.

While our first walking club two weeks ago was ended by an unfortunate downpour, this week the heat of middle eastern spring was just shy of becoming too warm. We wandered to a nearby park, took a rest under the welcome shade of tree, then took a longer route back to TYO chatting all the way.

March 21st is Mother’s Day in Palestine, and women dropped off one by one from our walk, some saying their mother lived nearby and they had to go see them. I took a moment to text my mum back in England to wish her Happy Pali Mother’s Day.

Leila, translator Hanin, and some of the class

One of the fun aspects of walking club is that I can talk to the women one on one or in small groups – translation usually needed! One participant, Jinan, told me that she likes to walk at least 30 minutes a day. She could speak a little English because she studied Finance at An Najah University, she told me. And, six of her textbooks were in English. She’s married, with three kids: ‘khallas‘ she said, – it’s enough. I agreed that three sounded like a good number, having grown up with two siblings myself.

After a steep climb arriving back at the TYO centre, Leila and I set off with one of our students – Hanan, to have lunch at her house. It was such a treat. Delicious stuffed vine leaves and stuffed courgettes, salads, luminous pickles, bread, tea, kanafeh, and fruit, piled high. Plate after plate of amazing food that had no doubt taken hours to prepare. I was full after three platefuls, but managed five, as with typical Arab hospitality Hanan generously refilled my dish with sometimes ten stuffed vine leaves at a time despite attempts at polite protestation. We were even given kanafeh (local cheese topped with semolina and sugar syrup) to take home, on top of the three we’d just eaten.

We met some of Hanan’s children, neighbours, and saw beautiful photos from her wedding day. At this time, I realised that she had been married fifteen years, had five kids, but was only six years older than myself. After a thousand shukrans (thanks), we rushed home in a happy quasi food coma to give our afternoon classes.

If I were a calorie counter, I’d say we had consumed about three times as many calories as we’d burned on Monday. But we certainly enjoyed it. Looking forward to teaching this week’s kickboxing and yoga class to burn off all this sugar!

- Mathilda

Mathilda is an intern at TYO Nablus.

TYO-MEPI Collaboration: First Literacy Training!

On Saturday, February 5, 2011 Tomorrow’s Youth Organization, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, began a three-part workshop to instill the values of volunteerism and civic engagement in 30 youth and 10 women from Nablus. Through these workshops, youth and women will receive the necessary training to teach children (ages 6-8) how to read as part of a new TYO-MEPI literacy collaboration.  For more information on this collaboration, read: TYO launches a new literacy project in partnership with MEPI.

TYO Founder and President Hani Masri interviewed on MBC Arabic’s “Sabah il Kher”

On Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Nadia Bilbassy interviewed TYO Founder and President Hani Masri for MBC Arabic’s  “Sabah il Kher”  (Arabic: Good Morning) program. During the interview, Mr. Masri spoke about the importance of investing in children, youth and women in Nablus, Palestine, where he was born and many of his family members live today.

The kids come to our Center to take classes in IT, sports, music and many other subjects that are not available at their schools, Mr. Masri told MBC Arabic on Monday at TYO’s Virginia office.

Mr. Masri also commented on the importance of programming for young women and mothers. He added that the TYO Center is open to the participants’ mothers who are eager to engage in English, computer science and aerobics classes. Moreover, TYO developed a program to train young female university students interested in starting their own businesses.

Following the interview, Ms. Bilbassy commented on TYO’s innovative approach and commended Mr. Masri for investing in developing societies in the Arab world.

FWEN Participant chosen as one of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women

Nehaya, a participant in TYO’s Fostering Women Entrepreneurs in Nablus (FWEN) project, has been chosen to participate in the Women’s Entrepreneurship Leadership (WEL) Certificate Program sponsored by Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women project, which began this month at the American University in Cairo (AUC).

The five-week certificate program, which began in Cairo on September 18, is for a select group of women from Egypt, Jordan and the West Bank, who have nascent business plans and leadership potential. At AUC, they will develop skills in business and entrepreneurship to support their business plans and ensure their future success.

Nehaya, 25, developed through her work with FWEN a business plan for a female owned and operated restaurant that serves traditional Palestinian cuisine. In July 2010, her exceptional business plan was among the ten chosen for the second phase of the FWEN project at TYO.

“Nehaya takes time to think and analyze before she acts,” said Fatima, the project manager of FWEN. “She is one of the most willing and engaged participants in our program.

“I am excited to meet new people and learn from them,” Nehaya told TYO before she left. “I think I will meet many people who will be very helpful as I start to implement my project.” Nehaya is also very committed to acquiring new skills as a result of this program, particularly skills in finance, research and marketing.

The WEL Certificate Program, implemented by AUC and The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania was designed specifically for young, underserved women from the Middle East. This program is part of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women project, a global initiative that will provide 10,000 women with business and management education.

Maan News: Cherie Blair supports women’s project in West Bank

Ma’an – Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and wife of the former UK prime minister, and Hani Al-Masri, a Palestinian-American businessman and founder of Tomorrow’s Youth Organization, on Friday launched a project that promotes economic empowerment for women in at-risk communities in the West Bank.

Read the entire article here.