The Journey for Justice is an annual programme organised and hosted by the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the YWCA of Palestine and East Jerusalem YMCA (JAI-PAL). Activities like home stays with Palestinian host families, passing through checkpoints and roadblocks together, and visiting universities, participants are able to accompany and connect with Palestinian youth, and to develop a better understanding of their experiences and their dreams.

“I helped coordinate a World YWCA parallel event during the 7th UN Human Rights Council session in March. The event was a roundtable discussion on the impact of occupation on Palestinian women and girls. I found the discussion extremely powerful. It left me yearning for a deeper understanding of the realities of young Palestinian women and for a clearer idea of the role young people around the world can play in advocating for the rights of their Palestinian peers," says Baumung who will participate in the Journey for Justice for two weeks.

The experience will be far removed from her life in Kauai, Hawaii where the Middle East crisis makes page three or four of the media. “I feel that it's often difficult to even begin to fathom what life is like for the people who live every day in the midst of the conflict. It's also difficult to become impassioned enough to take positive action without first connecting with those whose rights have been violated, without internalising their struggles and suffering,’ says Baumung. ‘If we can begin to build knowledge, understanding, and connection between people and cultures, we can build support for effective advocacy initiatives and this is exactly what the Journey for Justice programme aims to do and why I want to take part.”

The programme also includes meetings with different political and religious leaders, refugees, Israeli groups and settlers, and Palestinian farmers. “I hope share meals and stories, laughter and tears, fears and dreams with my hosts and with my fellow participants. I hope to relate and connect with them and to build memories of sights, smells, sensations, and emotions I can carry with me throughout my life, and that I can conjure whenever I speak, write, or teach about Palestine in the future. In this way, I hope to emerge from the programme a better advocate,“ says Baumung.

The Journey for Justice programme seeks to build coalitions of committed young people to set up joint advocacy plans for peace with justice in the Middle East and Baumung is excited about the opportunities this initiative presents. “Young people can contribute to the peacemaking process in the Middle East by actively seeking the truth. By not just accepting what is told to them by governments or media or family or peers. But by asking questions, searching for answers, challenging perceptions, and finding elements of their selves in other people then young people can find collective truth. The quest for truth can upset us and anger us but truth is power and can pave the way for sustainable peace with justice.”

Related Links

YWCA of Palestine website