In the beginning...

NOTE: I feel that my blog has gone too far into the political realm which was never my intention. As part of my effort to bring things back to my story of a Palestinian living in exile I give you this post and hope you will understand my sadness (and sometimes anger) over having to leave my ancestral home because of faulty politics, please consider this a new beginning.

Call me Abu-Issa. I was born in Jerusalem, Palestine in the mid-60's (vagueness for my protection). This is a picture of the hospital I was born into the world from. The Augusta Victoria Hospital which is on the Mount of Olives just East of the Old City. I like this picture because it shows the hospital in the winter with a light dusting of snow something which I have grown very accustomed to here in my new home, Montreal, Canada.

The Augusta Victoria Hospital was formally a German hospice.  Named after
the wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who visited Jerusalem in 1898 and
built the hospital for German Pilgrims. You can see the Judea Desert in the
background of this photo, behind the photographer would be a breathtaking
view of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem's visual centerpiece. Since 1950
the Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) has been a project of the Lutheran World
Federation. It's main task has been to provide services for Palestinian
Refugees in cooperation with UNRWA, the United Nations agency that has
been responsible for the refugee-programs in the region since 1948. Today,
the hospital continues to develop services for the Palestinian community,
mostly on a charitable basis.

The sad truth is that I have never been back to this hospital, ever, not even
for the birth of my younger brother (there was an Israeli curfew in effect at
the time, which will be another story for another post). The work they  do
there is invaluable to the people of Palestine. (And please note that when
I say "the people of Palestine" I mean ALL the people of Palestine:
Muslims, Christians and Jews). You can support their work by contacting
them here:

Augusta Victoria Hospital
P.O. Box 19178
Jerusalem 91191