We were all very excited today as we travelled on the metro to the center of Paris, as we were on our way to meet with the Palestinian Embassy. We sat with (enter name?!) who is the Palestinian ambassador and he spoke to us about his reasons for coming to France, the struggle facing Palestinians and what we can all be doing as young people to fight for a fairer world. He was passionate and enthusiastic with the notion that we have not only a responsibility to share our messages of change with the world, but also that we are the ones with the power to make real change in society. As other members of the embassy came in to give us Arabic coffee, (as anyone who has been to Palestine will know, it is impossible to enter into somebodies home or office without being welcomed with the delicious, cardamom caffeine hit!) he shared methods on how to communicate your struggle with others, and fix problems wholeheartedly. After a chance to ask questions and take photos, we left the embassy and travelled along the metro to Saint-Michel. After arriving at Notre Dame and witnessing the famous friendly pigeons perch all over Abed we queued up to enter into the historical Church. I explained to anyone who wasn’t familiar with Notre Dame to be silent and respectful as we walked around the building, as it may just be a church to us, but it is an incredibly sacred, holy place for many people inside. Regardless of your particular faith, there is something very beautiful about visiting places that hold such significance to other members of society. It gives you the opportunity to see sights of importance and in a small way, allows you to share in their experiences by seeing spaces that make up a great portion of their lives. It was a similar feeling to walking around inside Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Although I myself, am neither Muslim nor Christian, I am so appreciative of the opportunity to be invited into these exceptionally sacred buildings and feel the strength of the communities inside.
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