West Bank: Connecting two worlds: The story of an unlikely friendship

A small girl named Shatha sits waiting in her West Bank classroom, counting the minutes. Soon, her teacher enters the room with an envelope in hand. In it is a letter from the girl’s friend. Shatha reads words of adventure and enjoys the photos, postcards and trinkets that are also included. Her prized letter had come from Melinda, the daughter of her World Vision sponsors from the United States. Theirs was a friendship that would continue to grow for more than a decade.

As Shatha recalls her younger years, memories of the special relationship she had with Melinda always come to mind.

“There was a friendship there. Just like how you would talk to your friend, that’s how I talked to my sponsor,” recalls Shatha.

She was raised in Ramallah and had a happy childhood – despite that for much of the time her father was a political prisoner. Because of his incarceration, Shatha spent most of her formative years cared for by just her mother, who worked as a teacher. Her father was finally released when Shatha was in the tenth grade. 

Shatha was one of the only children in her class who exchanged letters with her sponsor – sometimes three or four a month. “I remember once Melinda’s father went on a trip to Cuba, and in the middle of class, I got this huge box. In it was a box with oriental drawings on it that was really pretty. There was also stationery made from coffee leaves. When you put the paper to your nose and sniffed, it would smell just like coffee.”

Melinda’s parents became World Vision child sponsors because they wanted their daughter to learn about other cultures and religions. “When I was young, my family lived in a Christian neighbourhood, and I went to a Christian school,” says Shatha. “My parents taught me to accept other religions. My father is not conservative and gave us the option to choose what we want from religion, in a way that we liked. I feel that God has helped me a lot, and he is a big part of my life. I feel like I have explored that relationship myself, and that it was never forced on me.”

Throughout their childhood, Shatha and Melinda remained friends, sharing their stories of schoolgirl adventures, their hopes, their dreams, but also sadness and sorrow. Still living under a military occupation, Shatha recalls an incident during the second intifada (or uprising) by Palestinians for national liberation, justice and an end to Israeli occupation. 

“I remember there was a lot of news going out,” says Shatha. “Melinda’s parents sent a letter to my parents saying that we support you, and we are against any policy that supports violence. We are with peace. That was comforting.” 

For Melinda, who lived in Washington, D.C., it wasn’t always easy to understand Shatha’s reality. “As children, we wrote about our daily lives: our likes, our families, our holidays and vacations. I enjoyed learning about another culture and having a new friend. However, as we got older, her letters would occasionally reflect the political turmoil and violence she witnessed. I recall a letter where she said how scared she was when a bomb went off in her neighbourhood one night. Another letter included a poem about the blood that had been spilled, and she ended it by saying, ‘I wish you never see what I see.’ That made a huge impression on me, but growing up in the peaceful suburbs of Washington, D.C., I found it hard to relate. It wasn’t really until September 11, 2001, that I had any idea of what she might experience on a daily basis. My home and my family were under attack, and for the first time I understood Shatha’s fear. Both times, Shatha reached out her support, and that really mattered to me because I knew she understood what I was going through.” 

Shatha is now married, and she and her husband have a son, Taym. She still lives in Ramallah and works as an architect with the Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation. When she talks about her work, it is evident that architecture is Shatha’s passion. 

“To me, architecture is a combination of art and science, and it has a lot of community outreach.” 

Shatha is involved in community outreach, awareness-raising, and renovations of older buildings. She also works with children, teaching them about architecture. Shatha helps host activities, festivals and drawing contests for children to teach them about the beauty and heritage of their homeland.

Now in their mid-20s, Shatha and Melinda have never lost touch. “Exchanging letters with Shatha has been one of the most interesting and moving experiences of my life,” says Melinda. “She is a good friend, and I am so lucky to have had a chance to get to know her.” Both women have kept every single letter that they exchanged over the years. They hope to meet in person one day. 

“Being a sponsored child has helped form the direction of my life, in that you get to know other people, other cultures,” says Shatha. “You learn not to judge a whole nation on the basis of politics. It helped me form my opinions, and helped me become the person I am today by helping me change my judgements of people in the world.”