Visit from the Welfare Ministry

One day we had a large group visit from one of the government ministries. Haj Sami and Ribhi asked me a few times what this ministry was called in English, "the Ministry...they help the poor people." I guessed....welfare? I don't think we have a ministry of welfare in the States, or it's called something else. But I learned the other day from a sign that there is indeed a Ministry of Welfare in Palestine.

So I was awoken early in the morning by Abu Abed, who along with Haj Sami's niece and sister, took over my kitchen to make masakhan for twenty-something guests.

His two children, Magdad and Noor were running around, in and out of the guest house...

and Magdad helped served lunch...

It was delicious.

Haj Sami had a meeting with the delegates, who were mostly women. Hakam came up from Tubas with his camera and shot some footage for Palestine TV. He interviewed the leader of the delegation and Haj Sami about the situation in Al Aqaba. Then we went on a walk down to the demolished road.

After lunch, the delegates left and went back to the guest house to upload my pictures and hang out with Magdad and Noor. Noor practiced writing her name and numbers on my white board. I congratulated her, then later realized that her Arabic 3 was backwards. Dammit! Why can't I learn Arabic numbers?

I'll tell you why: The 5 looks like a 0, the 6 looks like a 7, and the zero looks like a period. Maddening.

I projected my pictures of the kindergarteners onto the wall and Magdad was like, "whoaaaa. my sister is huge."