Nada is a Palestinian-American author, teacher and mother. She was six years old when her mother kidnapped her from Kuwait, at the time when Iraq invaded Kuwait. They went to the United States where her uncle lived in Rhode Island. She did not yet realize that it was not a holiday but they were going to stay.

Her debut book All Water Has a Perfect Memory is a memoir that takes readers from the author’s ancestral origins- the coast of Yaffa, Palestine, to her birthplace of Kuwait, eventually landing on the shores of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.

The narrative confronts generations of silence and, ultimately, revelation with an imaginative blend of folklore and history that explores the relationship between our bodies, ancestors, and the Earth. The work explores the way the author is intertwined with her maternal line while reuniting with her father after a 30-year separation.

Voices once hidden in the waters of our bodies are amplified and released to forever alter the landscape, breaking cycles and seeding an audacious hope interconnected to lands past and present.

https://jadedibispress.com/product/all-water-has-perfect-memory-by-nada-samih-rotondo/

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Recently the kids and I watched the film 'A house in Jerusalem' by filmmaker Muayad Elayyan who happens to be a far cousin and friend of my husband Tariq. Although he told me that he had a small role as an extra in this film, which he's had in all Muayad's films, I did NOT recognize him. Turns out the policeman in the scene when Rebecca wanders off from the summer school activity in Jerusalem and ends up with the Palestinian puppeteer, is MY husband!! We only realized at the end of the film when we saw his name in the end credits, that we had missed out on recognizing him. It was a hilarious moment when we played it again and then figured out the policeman was Tariq!

Muayad visits Singer Cafe regularly so it wasn't hard to catch him for a podcast interview. After his earlier films: 'The reports on Sarah and Saleem' and 'Love Theft and Other Entanglements' this film 'A House in Jerusalem' is the latest. It came out in January 2023 and it is still being shown at film festivals around the world.

In this film a British Jewish girl named Rebecca comes with her father to Jerusalem after her mother has died in a tragic car accident. Her grandfather has a house in West Jerusalem where they can live. They are both overwhelmed with the trauma of losing the mother, but the father is trying to make things work in their new environment. Rebecca explores the garden, finds an old well, manages to open it and finds a traditional rag doll in the well. This leads her to connect with the ghost of the young Palestinian girl Rasha. What follows is the story of what happened to this girl Rasha during the 1948 Nakba when the family was forcibly displaced from their home.

In the podcast interview with Muayad we touch on many aspects of the film and on Muayad's personal family history. His both grandparents were displaced from their homes. The theme of intergenerational trauma both on an individual level as well as on the collective level are very present in the film.

Muayad could never have imagined that his film would come out just months before the 7th of October and before the ethnic cleansing campaign in the Gaza strip. "There are many parallels to what happened in 1948 and what is happening in Gaza."

If you want to follow up with news of screenings of the film then this is the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ahouseinjerusalem

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On a Friday evening in September I attended a beautiful concert of the Amwaj children's choir in Bethlehem. I had tears rolling down my eyes. Not only did the choir sound so beautiful, but also did I realize what Palestinian children in the Westbank are suffering through. And how their peers in Gaza are losing everything, their houses, their beloved ones, their schools, their chances, their future, their hope...

I decided to interview Michele Cantoni, an Italian musician (violinist) who established the Amwaj choir with his wife Mathilde Vittu, the Choir Director.

The Amwaj choir has two branches, one in Hebron and one in Bethlehem. Children who want to be part of the choir have to commit to all the rehearsals and the performances. There is no fee, the choir is for free, available to all children who want to make the commitment.

The repertoire consists of songs in many different languages. They have performed in different parts of Palestine as well as in France, Belgium and Italy.

This year they adapt the choice of the songs to the current reality with themes like solidarity and freedom.

In this episode you can hear some soundbites that I recorded during the concert and of course the interview I did with Michele a few days later.

If you want to read more about the Amwaj choir or if you want to contact Michele and Mathilde please go to : https://amwajchoir.org

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