Hurry Up And Wait
by Karen Burke | Friday, July 10th, 2009

Sorry I haven’t posted yet. This trip has been amazingly busy and yet slow at the same time. i’ve also had a few issues trying to get internet.

so the minute I got off the plane and to the hotel I had about three meetings and didn’t get to go to bed until later. I’ve met a lot of interesting people on this trip. A lot of Palestinians with amazing stories about 48.

What I’ve noticed, along with Bryan is that people are talking more about 48 and not just 67. 67 is an event that exacerbated the problems. People don’t want to ignore 48 anymore. Let’s talk about the beginning of the conflict and what would be a solution that would provide real justice for palestinians.

Also we have gotten a lot of support from everyone we meet here in Egypt. Everyone who sees our shirts wants to know how to help. I overheard a conversation where someone met a cab driver wanted to take someone around their neighborhood so they could collect a pound or two from each person to donate to Viva Palestina.

Amazing!

we were up at 4 in the morning writing press releases tuesday/wednesday morning, and we ordered room service. the guy who brought it to us saw our shirts asked what we were doing and was utterly shocked. He sounded like he was going to cry. he asked how he could help.

The press conference was great. It was at the Journalists Syndicate. About 15 different papers/ stations were there. There was a contingent of about 50 of us. We had some spirited chants and George Galloway was brilliant as per usual. A few other folks from our group spoke about why they were here on the trip and one woman Widad told her story. I want to do an interview with her if the others haven’t already and share her experience. She is an amazing woman. A refugee from 48. I hope to be speaking with her in Houston when we get back.

when we got to alexandria, we bought towels from a little shop and the kid who sold them to us said we were amazing and also looked like he was going to cry. he said we were amazing.

Everyone has been super great.

We are waiting now to get the convoy together. Negotiations take time here. Right when we start moving we get delayed again. At least the weather is beautiful and the people are friendly.

Today we spend in Alexandria just hanging around. It is the holy day so all government offices are shut down. we couldn’t do much so we went to the beach and cooked a delicious meal from nothing in the apartment we sharing. There are 8 of us here.

hopefully later I’ll be able to put some of these things together more coherently and I’ll definitely try to post more.

We also had some time to jump into the ocean.

I’ll hopefully get to post some pictures soon. and i’ll write a more coherent post later.

Tags: Karen Burke, Palesine, Press Conference, Viva Palestina

9:11 pm. Viva Palestina.