The Nomads
The Nomads. Who are they? Well, long story short it is the name of the amateur (Or to be politically correct let’s call it “Recreational”) football team I have assembled with friends and friends of friends to join a local league. I had the pleasure of choosing this name for it since I am the so-called “team captain”. I’ve only been given that captain title due to the fact that to the organizers I am the contact person whenever anything happens or when there are any updates to be shared. Thankfully none of my teammates have misbehaved so far.
Deciding on the name did not take me long, I think it was a matter of seconds, but it was a name/description of me that I have had in the back of my mind for some time now, for almost a year to be precise. As some of you might know my family moved out of town (Moved to Amman from Dubai) last summer, when they were in the middle of that emotional process I asked my mother what ‘Home’ was to me and my sisters. I’ll come back to what her answer was in a bit.
My actual home, where we were born and brought up is the UAE. Our parents and most of our uncles were born and where we are originally from is a village in the West Bank called Burqa, which is A quiet village in the hills on the outskirts of Nablus province in Palestine. It is right next to Jenin in case you are wondering. I’ve only been to Palestine once in the early 1990’s as a kid, and I don’t remember much of it really. Myself, my parents and my sisters are officially Jordanian citizens, and we have been going to Amman once a year or more for the past 13 or so years and I’ve become quite familiar with it since I’ve had the pleasure of going back more often than they did (Averaged 2 visits a year since 2007).
Alright so I am officially Jordanian, born and raised I the UAE and with strong family and emotional ties to Palestine. Going back to my question, she believes that home is where one was brought up, studied and had most of his or her memories in, which is the UAE in my case (And my sisters). With my family being in Amman that makes me feel that our house there is the ‘most homely’, where it is probably the most comfortable and welcoming place to me in the world. What I would like to be my home one day is Palestine, preferably Nablus or Jerusalem. Far-fetched if you look at the current state of affairs in the West Bank and Palestine in general, but a couple of years ago nobody could have foreseen the uprisings that took the Arab leaders by surprise and already managed to overthrow a couple of people.
Staying away from political issues, I feel that I am a self-proclaimed nomad. Living on my own in the city that I was brought up and spent my whole life in, feeling ‘home’ in the country of my citizenship and wishing for a comeback to a country where my parents and grandparents were born. One day I hope I will be able to look back after living in each ‘homeland’ and call all 3 of them legit homes. Somehow
A nomad
