Day EightyFour

Shatila Day

and after meeting with Sara

for a dear chat

I run 

to catch a bus

to meet

the girls teaching

and the girls receiving

the fitness class.

At Shatila.

I walk in the building

with the most non-reserved feeling;

the feeling I always get when arriving

at Bukra Ilna.

That feeling that 

is bigger than me

and makes me feel bigger than any fear.

It's the feeling of love.

Time after time

I've mentioned this

and time after time

it overcomes my

whole being.

To communicate without words

and to purely see what is

and not what is created.

I walk in and Kinana

with the other teachers, are preparing Easter muppets

and they pause to show me.

Kaloua is there too;

she looks at me with the proud, admiring love look

she's been looking at me recently.

I'm happy to see her 

and it's a very cosy scene to have walked into.

I proceed to the fitness room.

I walk in the middle of Alex and Hanna's warm up

'Look who's here!'

Alex exclaims with a shining bright smile.

My heart is full of it,

and it's all expanded to all directions.

Ilaf approaches me and we hug.

I look at Mallory from a distance and we laugh out love

consciously sharing this moment

as the only thing that ever mattered.

I jog to the back of the class

and join the class.

The energy is high

and all appreciation is with it

for the special moments we share amongst us;

the so called privileged white girls from the West

joining their eagerness and enthusiasm

to share fitness guidance and moral support 

to underprivileged girls from the East

in a setting which is not ideal for either

but one where magic happens.

We exercise,

do the handstands

on the walls

and sweat it out.

The amazing class finishes.

And then.

We announce to them that we're leaving soon.

As soon as next week.

And their dreams are crashed once more

just a little bit

less than last time.

Mallory will be around,

and though the weight is heavy to carry

the girls' passion to continue the classes

seem to lighten the tone.