Stories from Jerusalem / Al Quds

Don't you feel sometimes that you want to leave everything behind for a while, all the worldly possessions, responsibilities, technology and drama!? Maybe you should try spend some time in the desert! The Jerusalem desert was already popular for hermits since the 3rd century AD. It is estimated that around 10.000 monks lived in the desert in caves and monasteries. Some of these still exist and are inhabited until today. This episode takes you back in time and into the wilderness on a journey to find inner peace in the Jerusalem desert.

If you are enjoying listening to the podcast, please support me to continue.
Buy me a coffee (or a falafel) for 3 dollar on www.ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine
Tourism is down and I have no other income currently.

Thank you so much, it is really helpful and appreciated! I would also love to hear from you, send me a message on facebook, instagram or by e-mail. Become part of the Palestine community!!

More information, photos, links on www.storiesfrompalestine.info

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

The reason why I really like Ayed's art work, is that I KNOW there is a STORY behind each painting, installation or sculpture. The story is usually two fold. It teaches you something about the Palestinian society and the times we live in, but it is also a window to Ayed's soul. Even for Ayed himself his art work helps him to discover who he really is and who he wants to be within the context of the Palestinian society and the reality of life under military occupation.

Ayed grew up in Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. We talk about how this shaped him as a person and as an artist. For this interview we spent some time in his studio, we walked to nearby Singer Cafe to see the exhibition he worked on during Covid-19 quarantine and we finished our talk in the concert room of Al Jisser bar where he has a very interesting installation at the moment. Join us for this audio ART WALK through Beit Sahour.

You can find Ayed on Instagram: @ayedarafah

If you are enjoying listening to the podcast, please support me to continue.
Buy me a coffee (or a falafel) for 3 dollar on www.ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine
Tourism is down and I have no other income currently.

Thank you so much, it is really helpful and appreciated!

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

If you love any of these you should definitely listen to this episode: stories, history, geology, heritage and of course Palestine! I am going to reveal an obsession I developed while living in Palestine. It is a feature that was not common to me, coming from the Netherlands. It has shaped this country and its people to the point where when you know what it is, you will not stop thinking about its importance! I am not giving it away... just listen!

If you are enjoying listening to the podcast, please support me to continue.
Buy me a coffee (or a falafel) for 3 dollar on www.ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine
Tourism is down and I have no other income currently.

Thank you so much, it is really helpful and appreciated!

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

This is Stories from Palestine podcast, a podcast recorded IN Palestine and ABOUT Palestine. My name is Kristel and I am your host. 

I have been coming to Palestine since 2006 and in 2013 I moved from the Netherlands to get married and start a family with my Palestinian husband. We live in Beit Safafa between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We run Singer Cafe and al Jisser bar in Beit Sahour and I teach zumba classes in Bethlehem. We live on one side of the Israeli segregation wall and we work and have our social life on the other side. We cross checkpoints every day. We are able to travel around most of historical Palestine except for Gaza, because we have the Jerusalem ID. This means we do not have Israeli citizenship nor the Palestinian passport. We are residents only and we could loose that residency if we did not live in Jerusalem anymore.

In the Netherlands I studied history and tour guiding and I used to work as a teacher and as a tour guide. 

Since several years I teach a course called 'ethics of tour guiding' at the Bethlehem Bible College, about all the important practical aspects of the tour guiding profession. And last summer I graduated myself from the tour guiding program.

Due to the Covid pandemic tourism in Palestine came to a complete halt and that's why I started Stories from Palestine podcast in August 2020. 

Every week you can listen to a new story related to the history, cultural heritage, flora and fauna, art, music, traditions and the current day reality in Palestine. Some episodes are recorded by myself but most of them are interviews and often recorded on location or during an excursion. So listening to these episodes is like a virtual audio tour that takes you all the way to Palestine from wherever you are. 

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please support me to continue.
Buy me a coffee (or a falafel sandwich) for only 3 dollar on the Kofi-platform. 
It is highly appreciated!!

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, sign up for the newsletter, read more about traveling to Palestine and if you can, please support the podcast on Ko-fi. All the links can be found here: https://linktr.ee/storiesfrompalestine

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

Seven years ago I moved from the Netherlands to live with my Palestinian husband in East Jerusalem. My life here is full of stories. I love sharing the unexpected side of Palestine. As a tour guide I talk about history, heritage, flora and fauna, as Kristel, I have my personal experiences to share.

In this episode Vivien Sansour talks about the importance of heirloom seeds and the cultural heritage that is connected to the traditional crops. Musician Zaid Hilal was inspired by the story of the Abu Samra heirloom wheat and he composed a song.

"Oh Abu Samra, handsome dark one, we miss the time when my grandmother used to bake delicious bread of you".

You can hear the full version of this song on Soundcloud if you look for Zaid Hilal.
Zaid also produced the music for this podcast.
To learn more about the work of the Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library you can find them through El Beir, Arts and Seeds on facebook and instagram and google for articles.

If you are enjoying listening to the podcast, please support me to continue.
Buy me a coffee (or a falafel) for 3 dollar on www.ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine
Tourism is down and I have no other income currently.

Thank you so much, it is really helpful and appreciated! I would also love to hear from you, send me a message on facebook, instagram or by e-mail. Become part of the Palestine community!!

More information, photos, links on www.storiesfrompalestine.info

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine