This week was the last week of sessions at Abu Dis Girls.
Unfortunately the strikes have started again! Teachers have not received their salaries from last month. As you might have noticed, strikes are common here because the Palestinian Authority (PA) are constantly late in paying wages. Following Palestine's upgrade to UN non-member observer state, Israel have carried out their threat of withholding money from the PA.
As there was a full day of strikes on Monday, I sadly did not have the final session with the grade 9 students I have been working with. They were a lovely, chatty bunch and I wish them all the best for the future!
The session with grade 11 continued as normal, however, I did not have a full class this time! I had a small group of students who told me they spent their day yesterday relaxing, as well as studying for exams they had earlier today. I continued the session on London with grade 11, following the delay due to the funeral last week. They were shocked to hear about the number of cold-related deaths that take place in winter because people are homeless or cannot afford to heat their houses. They believe that the government should take greater responsibility for this. They were also surprised to hear about the problems with the police, such as the issue of discrimination when using stop-and-searches.
After speaking to the headmistress, I hope the group I had will be able to continue sessions with the next set of volunteers, group 6.
I enjoyed my time here and want to thank the teachers and the support staff for being so accommodating!
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