{"id":253,"date":"2011-04-18T13:59:08","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T13:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/?p=253"},"modified":"2011-04-18T13:59:08","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T13:59:08","slug":"no-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/2011\/04\/no-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"No Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BY NICOLE SCHILIT<\/p>\n

Maya Paley\u2019s cell phone rings frequently but when she answers the call the person on the other line will immediately hang up.\u00a0 Instead of getting annoyed Maya calls the person right back.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s usually only the refugees who will hang up,\u201d she says.\u00a0 The refugees are African asylum seekers, the majority of whom, for people have come from Sudan and Eritrea.\u00a0 They live in Israel after an arduous journey through Sudan and Egypt to cosmopolitan Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Maya has suffered an increasing volume of anonymous callers as she meets more refugees through her work at ASSAF (Hebrew acronym for \u201cOrganization for Aiding Refugees\u201d), an Israeli non-profit organization that runs programs to support and protect African refugees. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cMost of them can only buy limited phone cards for their phones.\u00a0 They hang up so I will call them back because it is cheaper for them that way.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The refugees need help or advice, to someone who just wants to say hi or make plans to hang out soon.<\/p>\n

Maya was born and raised in Los Angeles to an Israeli mother of Iraqi descent, and an American father.\u00a0 Her skin is dark olive like her mother\u2019s and she has black curly hair that juts out of her head, creating what looks like a halo of curls. It\u2019s easy to spot her \u2018fro in a crowd.\u00a0 She often gets mistaken for being Hispanic.\u00a0 More distinct than even Maya\u2019s hair though is her voice, which rises several decibels above the general volume level in a room when she gets excited.<\/p>\n

At college in Berkeley, California Maya was the president of the Pro-Israel group, Israel Action Committee, on her college campus.\u00a0 During her last year at Berkeley in 2006 Maya organized a dialogue program for Arab and Jewish students to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.\u00a0 The experience changed her feelings toward Israel. Maya explained, \u00a0\u201cMany of the Arab students did not want to engage in the program, and even protested it. Many Jewish students did not participate either and expressed to me that there was nothing to talk about. This caused me to lose hope in the entire peace process, as I felt that if a bunch of students in the United States can\u2019t even agree to have a conversation about the issues, how can we expect political leaders to do so?\u201d<\/p>\n

Maya said she gave up on Israel at that point.\u00a0 \u201cI did not have any desire to come to the country for four years, which is a lot for a person who used to come here once a year or so growing up.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 It was not until 2010 that Maya decided to return to Israel, this time to live in Tel Aviv and work at ASSAF for ten months with the underprivileged and according to Maya, misunderstood, African refugee community in Israel. \u00a0\u201cIf I can come here and do work I believe in, advocating and supporting a marginalized group and being a part of the country in a way that may influence policy change, maybe I will feel differently,\u201d She said.<\/p>\n

Since moving to Israel Maya has made friends, can walk or take the bus anywhere, and lives only a few minutes away from the beach.\u00a0 Despite the nice quality of life it has been difficult for Maya to enjoy every moment knowing that many of the people she works with are still suffering from racial discrimination, hunger, and poverty in the country that has been such a part of her identity throughout her entire life.<\/p>\n

Many of the frustrations Maya has faced since moving to Israel have to do with resolving where she fits in a country that she has many mixed feelings about.\u00a0 \u201cSometimes I feel like I am personally living on the fringes of Israeli society, along with the refugees I work with and that only those who knew me before can truly understand why I am doing what I\u2019m doing here and why I care so much,\u201d said Maya.\u00a0 Maya has encountered many Israelis who say the work she does for refugees undermines Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut on dates men I\u2019ve only just met have argued with me about the refugees, claiming that they are only here for money and that they do not belong in Israel.\u201d Maya says that when these men have made general and false statements about the refugees that she feels it is her duty to respond and to explain who the refugees are. \u201cConsequently, the conversation becomes very heavy and serious and usually ends with an awkward goodbye.\u201d\u00a0 Maya has not been on many second dates.<\/p>\n

She does not hesitate about having nothing to hide. \u201cI\u2019m proud of the work I\u2019m doing here. It is often the case that the person I\u2019m meeting will want to argue with me right away, like they\u2019ve been waiting to argue with someone about this for a long time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 She gives one recent example: a newly introduced friend asked what she did for a living before even learning her name \u201cHe instantly started yelling at me that he is against the refugees, that it bothers him to see them, and that he doesn\u2019t care about them and they don\u2019t belong here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 This person told Maya he knew more than she did and that she was wrong about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that at any point, even if a cab driver picks me up and sees me standing with someone from Sudan or Eritrea, I may have to deal with an uncomfortable conversation in which I\u2019m told that they don\u2019t belong here in Israel and that we should deport them.\u201d\u00a0 But Maya has remained devoted to the cause that has finally given her an opportunity to return to Israel and do work she believes in.\u00a0 \u201cI find it impossible to ignore these types of comments and to not respond.\u201d Even when Maya tries to explain to Israelis that people\u2019s lives are in severe danger if they are deported, she says they would rather ignore that.\u00a0 One of the most common lies she hears is \u201cWe have too many problems in Israel to deal with the Sudanese as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite, and perhaps also in part due to the isolation Maya has experienced since coming to Israel, she have become very close with many of the Eritreans and Sudanese people she has interviewed or worked with.\u00a0 The refugees are as much her friends as the Israelis and internationals she has been able to meet in the last several months.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t see my work as something that ends when I finish an interview with someone.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s a reflection of Maya\u2019s personality and sincere investment in building relationships with people that allows her to gain the trust of the refugees who tell her their stories.\u00a0\u00a0 This often means opening up about things that are not easy or fun to talk about.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult for Maya to think about leaving Israel soon. \u00a0\u00a0She has created a new connection to the country, but is still conflicted because she feels closer to the refugees than she does to many Israelis she met.\u00a0 \u201cI have enjoyed getting to know many of the refugees on a personal level. I enjoy having a beer on the beach or in Nave Shaanan with friends or visiting a friend for a tea or a dinner in their home. I think I will be very sad to leave Israel because of the deep friendships I have made here with many of the refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maya hasn\u2019t made up her mind yet about where she will go next. \u00a0\u00a0When her tenure at ASSAF ends she plans to go home to Los Angeles to spend time with her family, but she doesn\u2019t know where she\u2019ll go from there; San Francisco, New York, or possibly back to Israel.\u00a0 While Maya is not sure if she can continue living in a country where she feels alienated from so many people, it is not easy for her to walk away from the refugees she is friends with and who depend on her.