Interview with Asma

“I’m Asma, I’m from Palestine. I live in a camp. It is a small and crowded area. Like I’m originally from Gaza but raised in Hebron in a camp. It is a small house because you know camps are crowded places where buildings are very close to each other and sometimes you can hardly get light in your room, like sunlight.

I feel like if I live in a city I would have multiple and more chances that I, that I really lost. And even for volunteering. I would like to volunteer in many things, even in teaching students. Trying to improve the children’s English skills. But we don’t have the facilities or spaces in my camp. And this sometime really bother me, cause I would like to do a lot of things, that until now, I can’t really do.

Everyday, on my way to work I have to pass Israeli checkpoints. And sometimes I have to give them my ID and my phone number. And I have to be patient, because this happen multiple time. They ask for my ID and phone number, so I give them my phone number more than four times. This is really exhausting and boring, but you have to be patient. Because you live in a country with unstable condition.

I do understand that I live in Palestine and it’s really hard in the economic situation and educational situation. I have to work with myself more by understanding what’s going on. And try to be as much creative and maybe a strong person as I can, to do whatever I want to with the difficulties that I face.

I am feminist in a way that I believe that we should have equality between men and women and have the same job opportunities, education, salary. Palestine is very traditional country, where religion and traditions, old fashioned traditions, still have a very big role in controlling the society. So a lot of Palestinian women try to fight customs and try to be strong women and do whatever they want to. But still there are a lot of limitations, especially in what men try to do. In terms of not allowing women to do, for instance, being in a very high political position, or business. We don’t really have women in business, we only have maybe two or three business women. So it’s still a problem here in Palestine, and it is not popular, a lot of people fight it actually. A lot of people do not believe that men women are equal. Either because of wrong religious thoughts or either because they are really attached to very traditional customs or ideas.

I feel that there is a lot of people who would like to leave Palestine actually. And this is sometimes disappointing. Because especially for men, because we actually have a high rate of unemployment in Palestine. So people they only study and work in different fields than the fields they majored or studied on. So it’s really hard for them to stay in Palestine and have no future.

The air, the atmosphere, the environment of Palestine is very different than anywhere else. Like, I enjoyed Berlin, I loved Turkey, but there’s nothing like Palestine. I feel like a very special country, the air, the atmosphere, the landscapes, everything here is different than anywhere else. Even if it’s not that much developed and beautiful as the outside, I see it as the most beautiful space and country in the world.”