A view from Palestine

On Monday night, the local chapter of the American Association of University Women hosted the first of three cultural events at the Clarion Public Library. The event helped the 18 visitors gain a perspective on a country few Clarion residents have firsthand knowledge of: Palestine, in the Middle East. 

Hamza Rabi, a 16-year-old exchange student from Nablus in the West Bank, Palestine, gave visitors some background about his country. He said that geographically, 23 Palestines would fit inside Iowa, but Iowa has only about half the population—3 million to Palestine’s 6 million.

In some ways, Rabi’s time in Clarion has been similar to his life in Nablus. His school day in Nablus starts at 8 and ends at 3:30. His class has about 50 students, not much smaller than a class at C-G-D. His father is an engineer and his mother is a dentist. He has a younger sister. Schools in his area offer sports, though it’s almost exclusively soccer. He’s enjoying taking art classes at C-G-D, and thinks he might want to go into design.

But the political situation in his country is, of course, very different from America.

Rabi is staying with the Ahrendsen family, who have traveled to Palestine with members of their church. “If there was peace in this area, for Jordan and Syria and many other areas… it would be easier to have peace,” Becky Ahrendsen said.

For the full story, see the January 26 edition of the Monitor.