When I was a little girl, television was still something of a novelty.
Every week, I would walk down to a neighborhood appliance store and stand outside its display window, watching a small black-and-white television set. There was a loudspeaker mounted atop the window so we could hear the dialogue. There, I became captivated by a family sitcom called I Remember Mama.
The family lived in a modest home, and much of life seemed to revolve around the kitchen. Mama, Papa, and their children gathered around a table where stories were told, problems were solved, laughter was shared, and life's lessons quietly unfolded. To the child I was, it felt remarkably familiar. Though their Scandinavian household was far different from my own grandmother's kitchen, the similarities were unmistakable. The characters, the struggles, the celebrations, the wisdom, and the warmth all reminded me of my Baba and the world she created around her kitchen table.
There was comfort in realizing that another family, from another culture and another place, lived and loved in ways that felt so much like my own. Years later, I find myself returning to that same realization as I read NORAH: From My Grandmother's Kitchen: Palestinian Recipes and Memories by Dr. Rolla Alaydi. At first glance, the setting could not seem more different. Dr. Alaydi's memoir unfolds in a Gaza refugee camp, where her grandmother's kitchen became a sanctuary of love, resilience, memory, and learning. But as I turned the pages, I discovered something deeply familiar.
This is not simply a Palestinian story. It is a human story. It is the story of grandparents whose wisdom seems endless. It is the story of kitchens that become classrooms. It is the story of children learning about life while gathering eggs, preparing meals, listening to stories, and observing the quiet acts of care that hold families together. It is the story of love expressed through food, hospitality, sacrifice, and memory. And perhaps most importantly, it is the story of how wisdom is passed from one generation to the next.
As Rolla Alaydi shares memories of her grandmother Norah, readers may find themselves unexpectedly transported back to their own childhoods. If you are lucky enough, you may remember the smell of bread baking in an oven. The sound of dishes being prepared for a family gathering. The voice of a grandparent telling stories that seemed ordinary at the time but later revealed themselves to be life's most important lessons. You may find yourself remembering someone who shaped you. Someone whose influence continues long after they are gone. That is the gift of this book.
At a time when news headlines often reduce places like Gaza to conflict and politics, NORAH reminds us of something essential: behind every headline are families, kitchens, memories, hopes, fears, and dreams. Behind every conflict are human beings. Through Rolla's storytelling, we encounter not statistics or political narratives, but people. We encounter a grandmother whose wisdom transcends borders. We encounter a family whose experiences illuminate our shared humanity. And we discover once again that compassion begins when we recognize ourselves in the stories of others.
This is why the Charter for Compassion has chosen NORAH as our June Global Read. Together, we will explore themes of family, resilience, identity, memory, compassion, and the remarkable ways that ordinary acts of care sustain us through difficult times. Whether your grandmother lived in Palestine, Mexico, India, Ukraine, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, or the United States, I suspect you will find something familiar in these pages. Because every grandmother's kitchen is, in some way, a gathering place for humanity itself.
We invite you to join us as we read, reflect, and engage in conversation with Dr. Rolla Alaydi. Bring your memories. Bring your stories. Bring your curiosity. And perhaps bring a favorite recipe from your own grandmother's kitchen. Together, we will discover that while our cultures may differ, the values that nourish us—love, kindness, resilience, generosity, and compassion—are remarkably universal.
Help us celebrate the enduring wisdom that lives in every grandmother's kitchen by joining us for this very special Global Read with Dr. Rolla Alaydi and her book "NORAH. From My Grandmother's Kitchen: Palestinian Recipes and Memories" on Wednesday, June 17 @ 9:30 AM Pacific Time / 12:30 PM Eastern / 5:30 PM UK / 6:30 PM South Africa & Central Europe, check YOUR timezone here and REGISTER HERE.
