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Home for a day: Palestinian diaspora reconnects with motherland

A project run by Ziad Bakri in Palestine aims to reconnect Palestinians in the diaspora with their family's history by visiting the homes their relatives left in 1948.
Nevien Shehadeh, 19, a Palestinian American, adjusts the head scarf of her mother Wisal before they depart their home to take part in prayers and celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr in Staten Island, New York, U.S., June 25, 2017.  REUTERS/Gabriela Bhaskar - RC1790D7CA10
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Maher Shamma, who was born in Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus and grew up in the United States, has held onto a map of his family house in Acre, a historical port city in northern Israel, that his uncle drew in 1948. To Shamma, the map is a symbol of his roots and his homeland.

It was this map that enabled Shamma, 57, to visit his family’s home this summer, with the help of a project called We Were and We Are Still. Tarek Bakri, a 31-year-old researcher from Jerusalem, has reconnected dozens of Palestinians abroad with their towns and villages of origin and with their family homes.

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