October 28, 2002

Dinner with Yasser

[Bethlehem, West Bank] Yasser was back from a European tour of his Palestinian photo exhibition, so we got together for a falafel this evening. It gave us a chance to sit down and discuss a lot of things that we witnessed in the past several months. We talked about how Palestinians are treated in the rest of the world. How Palestinian refugees universally have the dream to return to Palestine. And how sad the living conditions are for most Palestinians.

We talked about the government policy in Lebanon that prevents Palestinians from holding certain jobs. We talked about refugee camps in the Middle East. We talked about the exodus of Palestinians from their homeland. We talked about the children who have spent a year indoors under curfew.

For this, Yasser has a plan. He wants to make a few children smile, if only for a moment. He works for an agency called the Karama Organization for Women and Child Development. He's trying to round up $10 donations for toys for children. If you're interested in helping with his project, write to him at krama_org@hotmail.com.

Yasser is named for Yasser Arafat.
He told me his father was put in jail for two months for giving him that name.