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Mister & Miss University International 2006 visit Israel/Palestine
for service |
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 Mister & Miss
University International 2006 went to Israel/Palestine for their
service project from the 4th ~ 11th of January 2007. The titleholders
of the 2006 pageant, Mr. Niraj Baral of Nepal and Miss Sunwoo
Kim of Korea, and 12 students from ¡°Faithlink¡±, a group of inter
religious students from Europe, were hosted by Service For Peace
in the Middle East to participate in various service project activities
and visit prominent religious and political sites of Israel and
Palestine to understand the struggle and needs of the youth in
this area of the world. We also came with a purpose to find out
what we can do to help the peace initiatives in the Middle East.
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We gathered at the
Austrian Hospice, a hotel that is located in the central part of
Old City in Jerusalem. It is located on the street Via Derossa,
which is known for Jesus¡¯ last walk to the cross to Golgate¡¯s plain
2000 years ago. Until the arrival of the other students from Europe,
Mister & Miss University were on a short tour of the Jerusalem
with Mr. Jacob Jacobs, an official from the Ministry of Culture.
Photo:
Stone of the anointing believed to be the place where Jesus' body
was prepared for the burial |
On
the 5th, a group of 16 students and coordinators toured museums,
historical sights and various churches and religious monuments
to understand the history of Jerusalem and how it has lead to
the current situation in the Middle East. Triggered by World War
2 and its surrounding state, the Middle East became a highly intense
war zone from 1948 when Israel established its original state
of independence. Since then, the most recent war was taken place
last year with Lebanon, this area of the globe has been know for
its continuous struggle between people of different religious
backgrounds and different races for a relatively small area of
land, but considered so sacred to many that live in the Middle
East.
Photo: The
group receives a tour of a church built inside a cave in the 3rd
Century
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| Photo:
Titleholders of 2006 give the MMU plaque to Mr. Jacob
Jacobs of the Ministry of Culture |
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After
taking a great tour of the world¡¯s famous city of Jerusalem, the
group moved to Bethlehem which is a Palestinian area that is surrounded
by gates and fences that divides the Israelis and Palestinians.
Mister & Miss University International 2006 first visited the
1500 year old ballista that is known to be built on the land where
Jesus was born. The group then toured downtown Bethlehem, and we
surprisingly encountered a Christmas Parade of Greek Orthodox. This
unique city celebrates 3 Christmases every year due to various Christian
communities that reside around Bethlehem. After the parade, we met
with the Mayor of Bethlehem at city hall who gave us his warm greetings
and the vice mayor who spoke to us about his heart when he lost
his child in a shooting by an Israeli soldier. He also told us that
there are many parents from both Israel and Palestine met together
to reconsolidate the pain and grief and also to help both sides
stop the killing.
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In
Bethlehem, the group also visited refugee camps of Palestinians,
sang some songs at an orphanage, and also plated trees at a local
Palestinian home and donated paint for painting their house. Although,
it was a relatively small task that was given to us, and very
little that we were able to contribute, the family welcomed us
with a great smile and gave us wonderful tea with local mints,
giving us much hope for the people there and the desire to visit
again in the future.
Photo:Sunwoo and Niraj builds a paper
mache model with elementary students of Adayahu and Elyakim schools
in Beit Shemesh
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The
group then moved to the city of Beit Shemesh which is located between
the Israel¡¯s capital city Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, to do a service
project at a local elementary school. We were then separated in
pairs to home stay at the local Israeli family for next few nights
while conducting a service project during the day. Painting, shoveling
and planting herbs were not easy tasks, but all the participants
were very excited and highly energetic to accomplish them with some
help from the little elementary school students of the local school
during their break time between classes. Our Mr. and Miss University
were very popular among the kids and were asked to sign some autographs
as well.
Photo: Sunwoo
and Niraj with host family
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On
the last day of our trip, we were able to meet the vice mayor
of Jerusalem, the mayor of Beit Shemesh, and a former parliament
member to discuss about peace initiatives in the Middle East and
as Mister and Miss. University, how they can help in these processes.
Our trip ended with a wonderful dinner with all participants from
the service project and host families gathered at a local restaurant.
It was a heart warming experience where many of the students were
calling host parents "Papa, Mama" and brought much laughter
to all of us. It was a great reminder that with great effort,
it is possible to achieve One World Family.
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