The Big Prison - West Bank/Palestine

Mommy blogs are meant to be sweet tributes to children and opportunities to brag about the most mundane things your little ones do, while showing off their cutest pictures. It is fun and challenging to jetset around the world with children, and in doing so I hope they will be instilled with a sense of deep curiousity, independence, cultural respect and political knowledge.

A visit to the West Bank is not a trip to Disney Land. The Separation-Apartheid Wall that acts as the barrier between the West Bank, Palestine and Israel is designed to imprison over 2 million Palestinian people. Taking my 3-month-old, daughter, Serene, through-and-around checkpoints is a privilege, because she is allowed to be pushed like cattle back-n-forth behind this wall. Palestinian children and their parents are locked behind it living under occupation in an oversize prison and have little hope that their situation will change in the near future.

8.8.08 “One World, One Dream”

Two years ago, when Alex was not yet 6 months old, he made his second trip half way around the world and back. At less than three months, he’d already been to the Middle East and now double that age, he took on Singapore and China.

Beijing was literally marking the days until the 2008 Olympic Games with a large countdown clock rolling back the hours in Tian'anmen Square. On that muggy July day, there were still 754 days to go before opening ceremonies, but the Chinese government and people were preparing for the throngs of international tourists.

Like the Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, the five official mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, known as Fuwa, carry a message of friendship, peace and good wishes from China to children all over the world. Each of mascots has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow. When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing.

Alex was a star during his visit to Beijing – touring the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, shopping and climbing the Great Wall – as hundreds of Chinese people surrounded him to snap a picture of the little American baby who’d come from so far. (Check out this blog’s story from July 2007). As I took pictures of delicacies like scorpions on a stick and panda bears, Alex somehow became a mascot of goodwill too as he brought smiles and joy to so many with just a smile.

As the countdown clock shows just hours until China commences the Games of the XXIX Olympiad , the whole world is watching and waiting. But on 8.8.08, Alex will be practicing for the 2028 Olympics by jumping across the living room, shrieking in glee and waiting for his marks from his parents. You never know…maybe he’ll win the Gold for the high jump, the long jump, gymnastics or be able to dunk a basketball! He’s already got the Gold, Silver & Bronze from mom!