7 worthwhile minutes
A Muslim Palestinian originally from Gaza, Ms. Besisso, 44, currently lives in Ramallah. Her parents came from well-known families who became refugees after the 48-49 war. Her grandfather often remarked that he felt sorry his grandchildren were raised poor while he had land, home and a business before the war. She is an only child and, as such, it was her parents’ dream that she marry and have a family; so she married at 17 and raised 6 children. They range from 26 to 8 years old.
She believes it is important to work hard to improve herself and her society. Ms. Besisso has worked for several international and local organizations including: American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), Save the Children USA, Defense for Children International, the Jerusalem Media Communication Center, and others. After earning diplomas from Al Azhar University and Kann’an Educational Development Institute in Gaza, she is working on a B.A. in Social Work from Al Quds Open University. She also earned a technical training certificate in Field Research and Project Coordination from the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.
Ms. Besisso has spoken to audiences in the U.S. and Europe through Peace x Peace and Joining Hands Against Hunger (a Presbyterian Church initiative). She currently works as Freelance Community Trainer and advocacy activist where her main task is to organize, carry out, train, and evaluate nonviolence training and other advocacy projects. She is also the founder of Women for Justice.
unfortunately, this is the horrible fact that we must be forced to accept ! being a palestinian especially from Gaza means that you need to forget the hope from meeting our families abroad “Every meeting decision needs a great miracle to transform from a dream to a real!! ” . we need to have the right to visit our families abroad . For example : i haven’t seen my grandma, uncles & aunts from about more than 20 yrs !! it is really a disaster !
I hope you can see your grandmothers soon, Nahedd. What you’re describing is a real human tragedy.
Thank you very much Nora , i hope so! i can say that we will never give up ! we believe that we have this humanitarian right like any other family in the world, all we just need is to have a serious attention to our situation and a real support ! Thank you Nora for all the support and the effort 🙂
Thank you Nora for all the work! Hekmat, wow, this is such a powerful story of yours. I have known and experienced similar experience but not that dramatic. I remember living during university in Ramallah and having to deal with the special Gaza status after our permits expired! It becomes like a dream to come back home.. but also very torn because it is either one or the other. Thank you Hekmat!
Najla
What’s left to come is even more powerful, if you can believe it.
I can….thanks again for all the work.