By Mary Ann King and Mary Beth Spooner

We are thinking that the influence of our Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been felt in Ibillin, where we are today. Schools here are experiencing drastic budget cuts. In spite of this the students of Mar Elias schools are getting a good education and scoring highly on their ACT/SAT type tests We spent 45 minutes with 10th grade English students. They peppered us with questions, and we assured them that we did not know Justin Bieber personally.

Mary Ann with Mar Elias students

Another bus ride took us to Nazareth. We visited with a winner of the Martin Luther King Award, Nabila Espanioly, who is the director of a local nonprofit which assists women and children. We enjoyed lunch with another new food and a talk by Habib Karam, a friend of Pilgrims of Ibillin who lived in California and decided to return to Galilee. The owner of the cafe also told us about creating this traditional meeting place in the old city.

Liwan Cultural Cafe

Our afternoon continued with visits to churches and historic sites. The Basilica of the Annunciation and St. Joseph’s were moving examples of important events in Biblical history. We also viewed excavation sites of homes in caves, one supporting a church which was built over it.

After a late return, we determined that we won’t have to take our evening walk. (Oh, wait, we don’t do that anyway.) After 8 days together it is apparent that we have melded (perhaps that should be melted) as a group. All in all, this journey has been a remarkable experience. We have come to learn that the US media does not cover everything in Israel or Palestine.