On Tuesday, my Arabic tutor took me to see a recent film about the Lebanese civil war called, "Where to Now" I didn't know much (re: anything) about the war in Lebanon from 1975-1990 but I learned from the film and reading afterward, it was a lot of fighting between Christians and Muslims. The movie is about an isolated village that is on the cusp of fighting, but kept from violence by the women of the town who will do anything to keep the men from finding out about the religious war and politics in the rest of the country. The film is not perfect, the women humorously use sex and drugs to distract the men who are ignorant and violent, obviously some not so valuable stereotypes being perpetuated here. But overall, I thought it was a beautiful film that did well to communicate the important fact that women are disproportionately affected by conflict. In the end, the women of the village all convert to the opposite religion. The Christian women don the Hijab and a young Muslim man wakes up to his mother sprinkling holy water on him from a statue of the Virgin Mary. "If you are going to fight the enemy, you will have to start with me." A powerful image of what happens when we put ourselves in the shoes of the other.
At one particularly sad point in the movie, my tutor and I were both audibly crying and sniffling. This was probably the most powerful part of the film for me. Here I was, a Christian sitting next to a Muslim woman, having the same response to seeing violence and death just in a movie theatre. This whole year is about a cultural exchange, but no exchange was needed for us both to feel sadness about a mother burying her son. No exchange was needed to share in laughter about women joking about their habits, their bodies, and the men in their lives. I love learning the differences of Arabic culture, but I also love seeing how we are so much the same. This is what the movie was about, why do we fight when we are all people? when we are all mothers, and children, and sons, and neighbors? What cross or Quran is worth killing for? What deity would ask for this?
On a lighter but similar note, I had even more Jordanian female interaction (which is one of the end goals of my existance here). My banker, who you perhaps remember from a blogpost of mine, finally invited me out to a cafe!! I met her and two of her friends and our language exchange was a fast track to friendship. Despite their "poor" English, which is actually quite good, we had plenty to talk about for multiple hours and had a lovely time drinking tea and eating brownie ice cream sundaes (another cultural universal). My female friends are one of my most valuable treasures in life and I felt so lucky to be invited to spend time with these obviously loving and loyal young women.
In my final note on women, we are hoping to start teaching in yet another house of refugees, this one, mostly women! There is a small Somali refugee population in Jordan, and through our work with the Sudanese, they discovered us and came also to ask for English lessons. I am really optimistic and hopeful about all of these projects, and enjoy conversations with the director of the program daydreaming how to expand them and make them sustainable. Once again, let me know if you want to start a school...
At one particularly sad point in the movie, my tutor and I were both audibly crying and sniffling. This was probably the most powerful part of the film for me. Here I was, a Christian sitting next to a Muslim woman, having the same response to seeing violence and death just in a movie theatre. This whole year is about a cultural exchange, but no exchange was needed for us both to feel sadness about a mother burying her son. No exchange was needed to share in laughter about women joking about their habits, their bodies, and the men in their lives. I love learning the differences of Arabic culture, but I also love seeing how we are so much the same. This is what the movie was about, why do we fight when we are all people? when we are all mothers, and children, and sons, and neighbors? What cross or Quran is worth killing for? What deity would ask for this?
On a lighter but similar note, I had even more Jordanian female interaction (which is one of the end goals of my existance here). My banker, who you perhaps remember from a blogpost of mine, finally invited me out to a cafe!! I met her and two of her friends and our language exchange was a fast track to friendship. Despite their "poor" English, which is actually quite good, we had plenty to talk about for multiple hours and had a lovely time drinking tea and eating brownie ice cream sundaes (another cultural universal). My female friends are one of my most valuable treasures in life and I felt so lucky to be invited to spend time with these obviously loving and loyal young women.
In my final note on women, we are hoping to start teaching in yet another house of refugees, this one, mostly women! There is a small Somali refugee population in Jordan, and through our work with the Sudanese, they discovered us and came also to ask for English lessons. I am really optimistic and hopeful about all of these projects, and enjoy conversations with the director of the program daydreaming how to expand them and make them sustainable. Once again, let me know if you want to start a school...
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