For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism? | Aziz Abu Sarah

Translator: Ingrid Lezar Reviewer: Altus van Tonder

I'm a tourism entrepreneur and a peacebuilder,

Ek's ’n toerisme-entrepreneur en 'n vredebouer,

but this is not how I started.

maar dis nie hoe ek begin het nie.

When I was seven years old, I remember watching television

Ek onthou hoe, toe ek sewe was, ek TV gekyk het,

and seeing people throwing rocks,

gesien het hoe mense klippe gooi en gedink het:

and thinking, this must be a fun thing to do.

"Dís mos pret."

So I got out to the street and threw rocks,

Ek gaan toe uit straat toe en gooi klippe,

not realizing I was supposed to throw rocks at Israeli cars.

sonder om te besef dat ek eintlik Israeliese karre moes bestook.

Instead, I ended up stoning my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)

Ek stenig toe ons bure se karre. (Gelag)

They were not enthusiastic about my patriotism.

Hulle was nie opgewonde oor my patriotisme nie.

This is my picture with my brother.

Dis ’n foto saam met my broer.

This is me, the little one, and I know what you're thinking:

Ek is die kleintjie en ek weet wat julle dink:

"You used to look cute, what the heck happened to you?"

"Jy was so oulik, wat op aarde het skeefgeloop?"

But my brother, who is older than me,

Maar my ouer broer

was arrested when he was 18,

is op 18 gearresteer

taken to prison on charges of throwing stones.

en op aanklag van klipgooi opgesluit.

He was beaten up when he refused to confess that he threw stones,

Hy is aangerand toe hy weier om te bieg dat hy klippe gegooi het

and as a result, had internal injuries

en het gevolglik interne beserings opgedoen

that caused his death soon after he was released from prison.

wat sy dood veroorsaak het, kort na sy vrylating.

I was angry, I was bitter,

Ek was kwaad, verbitter;

and all I wanted was revenge.

ek wou wraak neem.

But that changed when I was 18.

Maar dit het verander toe ek 18 was.

I decided that I needed Hebrew to get a job,

Ek't besluit dat ek Hebreeus nodig het om ’n werk te vind,

and going to study Hebrew in that classroom

en in my Hebreeuse klas was dit die eerste keer

was the first time I ever met Jews who were not soldiers.

wat ek Jode ontmoet het wat nie soldate was nie.

And we connected over really small things, like the fact that I love country music,

Ons kon oor klein dinge aansluiting by mekaar vind,

soos my voorliefde vir countrymusiek, nogal raar vir Palestyne.

which is really strange for Palestinians.

But it was then that I realized also that we have a wall of anger,

Maar ek het toe ook besef dat ’n muur van kwaad,

of hatred and of ignorance that separates us.

van haat en onkunde, ons skei.

I decided that it doesn't matter what happens to me.

Ek't besluit dat dit nie saak maak wát met my gebeur nie;

What really matters is how I deal with it.

dis hóé ek dit hanteer.

And therefore, I decided to dedicate my life

Dus het ek besluit om my lewe daaraan te wy

to bringing down the walls that separate people.

om mure wat mense skei, af te breek.

I do so through many ways.

Ek doen dit op baie maniere:

Tourism is one of them, but also media and education,

toerisme, maar ook media en opvoeding.

and you might be wondering, really, can tourism change things?

Julle wonder dalk: kan toerisme rêrig dinge verander?

Can it bring down walls? Yes.

Kan dit mure laat val? Ja.

Tourism is the best sustainable way to bring down those walls

Dis die beste volhoubare manier om daai mure af te breek,

and to create a sustainable way of connecting with each other

om ’n volhoubare soort omgang met mekaar te ontwikkel

and creating friendships.

en om vriendskappe te skep.

In 2009 was ek ’n medestigter van Mejdi Tours,

In 2009, I cofounded Mejdi Tours,

a social enterprise that aims to connect people,

’n sosiale onderneming wat mense wil verbind,

with two Jewish friends, by the way,

saam met twee Joodse vriende, terloops.

and what we'll do, the model we did,

Ons model,

for example, in Jerusalem, we would have two tour guides,

byvoorbeeld in Jerusalem, is om twee toergidse te hê,

one Israeli and one Palestinian, guiding the trips together,

een Israeli en een Palestyn, wat die toere saam lei

telling history and narrative and archaeology and conflict

en geskiedenis, verhale, argeologie en konflik

from totally different perspectives.

uit verskillende perspektiewe vertel.

I remember running a trip together with a friend named Kobi --

Ek't ’n toer saam met my vriend Kobi gelei --

Jewish congregation from Chicago, the trip was in Jerusalem --

vir ’n Joodse gemeente uit Chicago, in Jerusalem --

and we took them to a refugee camp, a Palestinian refugee camp,

en ons vat hulle toe na ’n Palestynse vlugtelingkamp toe

and there we had this amazing food.

en eet daar hierdie uitsonderlike kos.

By the way, this is my mother. She's cool.

Dis my ma, terloops. Sy's cool.

And that's the Palestinian food called maqluba.

En dié Palestynse dis is "maqluba."

It means "upside-down."

Dit beteken "onderstebo."

You cook it with rice and chicken, and you flip it upside-down.

Mens kook dit met rys en hoender en draai dit onderstebo.

It's the best meal ever.

Dis die beste maaltyd ooit.

And we'll eat together.

Ons eet toe saam.

Then we had a joint band, Israeli and Palestinian musicians,

Met ’n gesamentlike orkes, Israeli en Palestynse musikante,

and we did some belly-dancing.

was daar bietjie buikdansery.

If you don't know any, I'll teach you later.

Ek wys julle later meer, nè?

But when we left, both sides,

Toe ons moes gaan

they were crying because they did not want to leave.

was beide kante aan't huil, want hulle wou nie gaan nie.

Three years later, those relationships still exist.

Drie jaar later bly die verhoudings voortbestaan.

Imagine with me if the one billion people

Stel julle voor, die een miljard mense

who travel internationally every year travel like this,

wat jaarliks internasionaal reis, reis só,

not being taken in the bus from one side to another,

nié aangery in ’n bus, van een kant na die ander,

from one hotel to another,

van een hotel na die volgende,

taking pictures from the windows of their buses of people and cultures,

terwyl hulle deur busvensters foto's neem van mense en kulture nie;

but actually connecting with people.

nee, hulle het daadwerklike kontak met mense.

You know, I remember having a Muslim group from the U.K.

Ek het ’n Moslemgroep uit die VK gehad

going to the house of an Orthodox Jewish family,

wat ’n Ortodokse Joodse familie se huis besoek het

and having their first Friday night dinners, that Sabbath dinner,

en by die Vrydag se Sabatsaandete

and eating together hamin, which is a Jewish food, a stew,

eet hulle toe saam hamin, ’n Joodse bredie,

just having the connection of realizing, after a while,

en ná 'n ruk ontdek hulle die verbinding:

that a hundred years ago, their families came out

’n honderd jaar gelede het hulle families

of the same place in Northern Africa.

uit dieselfde plek uit Noord-Afrika gekom.

This is not a photo profile for your Facebook.

Dis nie ’n profielfoto vir jou Facebook nie.

This is not disaster tourism.

Dis nie ramptoerisme nie.

This is the future of travel,

Dis die toekoms van reis

en ek nooi julle uit om saam met my julle reiswyse te verander.

and I invite you to join me to do that, to change your travel.

We're doing it all over the world now,

Ons doen dit al oraloor,

from Ireland to Iran to Turkey,

van Ierland tot Iran en Turkye,

and we see ourselves going everywhere to change the world.

en ons vooruitsig is om oral te gaan om die wêreld te verander.

Thank you.

Dankie.

(Applause)

(Applous)