There were maybe 25 teens all lead by one young talented musician Mica. He is from America but is fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic. He went to Yale university and said his life long dream was to start a choir at the Y in Jerusalem to bring Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, Christian, etc teens together without any tension. They sang 3 songs for us- one in English, and 2 in Arabic and Hebrew dialects. They were incredible singers and they all harmonized together. The music in Israel is much different than what is it in America.
We were able to openly ask questions to the teens (almost all of them were fluent in English). I raised my hand and asked what a day in the life of a teen in Jerusalem is like. The answers I got in response were astounding. A girl answered mr by saying that she wakes up for school in the morning and thinks about which route she would take to school so that she could dress accordingly. She said if she passed a village/settlement with extreme religious people then she would have to wear pants or a long skirt to keep from getting called a prostitute or getting spit on. Another girl said she is sometimes afraid of getting on the bus because she knew that there could be a chance that it could be bombed by terrorists attacks.
My mouth literally hung wide open because these were people who are my age. I never had the thought of my bus blowing up or getting spit on because of wearing shorts. And these are fears that they have everyday. As an American I take simple things, like wearing whatever I want, for advantage. I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my head around the position that youths in Jerusalem are put in on a daily basis.
Written by: Katie Taylor
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