Julian in West Bank

I'm sitting at my grandfather's house in a small village in the west of Germany. Everything is green, cool and calm. The last month has been quite the opposite. I took a few major trips; first was the West Bank, then Amman Jordan, Istanbul and finally Tbilisi.

The most fun of these was Tbilisi where I got to visit a dear friend, spend some time in the Mountains and drink a lot of wine. While all of these were great, one of these changed my picture of the world. It took me about a week to come down from the intensity of my time in the West Bank.

You're probably wondering what corrupted me to go into Palestine during a time of War. First, the War is in a different part of the country. Next, I have a good friend who runs a foundation that helps give kids in the West Bank access to sport.

Growing up I heard this quote again and again. My Dad was actually standing behind Mandela when he said it. It's been drilled in my head enough times to make me believe it. Well that and all of the data, but we're not here to discuss data

We got to play basketball with some of the coolest kids I've met in a long time. Once we stopped playing, they evolved from normal kids to these little adults who had seen some shit.

They're confronted with some of the worst conditions on the planet their entire lives. From birth; they are considered second class citizens, whose culture is being robbed and live in poverty. But as soon as we started playing, it felt like every other gym. Kids diving on the floor, some of them laughing in the background, a bit of shit talk. Given the circumstances surrounding them, the people were doing their best. But as soon as you asked them about Hope, there was none. They all just kind of moved on from the conversation.

We went to Bethlehem to go see the Wall (illegal by any international law), which divides Israel and Palestine. It made the Mandela quote ring more true than ever before. The Wall is about 25 feet high, with razor wire and guard towers.

If you get lost and are lucky enough you'll see a little beacon of hope next to this monstrosity. You'll drive by a refugee camp, and see soccer field. Little kids darting around chasing balls, playing the same games that the fancy kids play. It's all the same. You can imagine sitting in Bel Air, at New York Athletic Club, Kensington, at Hong Kong Football Club or Tel Aviv and hearing the same sounds. Only different back drop.

The world is the same, everywhere. We let these invisible lines of class, nationality and wealth determine how we deal with people.

I know it's a drum that gets banged on enough, but we're more similar than different. It seems like we just allow big organisations to fuel our prehistoric desire for competition and enemies. That kind of sucks. The biggest lesson for me was that people are brilliant and kind. It's hard to remember, but is worth internalising, more than anything else.

Thanks for reading. Much love

Julian

p.s. I got really into sending post cards. I'm traveling quite a bit this year and would love to send you one. Respond to this email with your address and I'll make sure to get one to you!

Also if you’re interested in learning more about my friends foundation and the amazing work they do, check it out here