Listen to the audio:
I’m now in the Manger Square, this symbolic heart of Bethlehem, but it feels muted. Shops that would normally be bursting with icons and olive wood carvings and embroidered cloth are half-closed.
This church has watched over this land for more than 1,500 years through empires, occupations, wars, and now a long grinding fragmentation of a people.
I’m standing here. It’s hard not to feel this quiet defiance.
The city of Bethlehem carries the same weight. The city, that even in its quietest seasons holds a fast memory… holds fast to memory of faith, and the stubborn hope that something better is still possible.
In the midst of Bethlehem’s heavy silence, we are here to meet someone whose voice cuts through the stillness with a sense of purpose. We are here to meet with Shahinda Nassar.
She’s one of the people whose presence you feel before even she speaks, a dynamic determined woman at Bethlehem University. She works to create opportunities for young people, especially for women, and steers initiatives that anchor the community in education, as well as in hope, as she says. She’s not just reacting to the pressures of life under occupation. She’s building something, shaping minds and opening doors, reminding students that their dreams are still worth chasing here in the Holy Land.
Read “Landscape of Loss” in the June issue of ONE Magazine for more information on what is happening in Bethlehem and the quandary in which residents such as Mrs. Nassar find themselves.