I’m scheduled to give a talk about my trip to the Holy Lands next week, so I need to prepare for it. But I’m struggling with it, to be honest. Perhaps there’s a fear that I won’t do the wonderful people I met justice, that I won’t present the political situation correctly, that it will somehow become smaller to me by condensing my experiences into a Powerpoint presentation.
To start: who are the audience? A mixed group of Mansfield folk, some old, some young (the talk follows immediately on from ‘Pizza and Praise’ attended mostly by young families), some with professional jobs, some who have never traveled further than Skeggie. They are interested because they know me, or know of me through Church. They probably want to learn a little of the land and people’s lives, and find out what I learnt about the human condition that they can take away with them. I need to make it fun and interactive for their sakes.
Maps will have to feature – I love maps, I used to stare at our giant World Atlas for hours as a kid. Food will also be an important aspect, and perhaps the photographs will be minimal. I want to avoid ‘death by Powerpoint’. I hope people will come away with a better appreciation of what it means to be Arab and Palestinian, and how we can share our lives and spirituality with the Palestinian church in Nazareth.
sophiehebden 