Gaza day 3

After an evening of laying low, I felt much better this morning, so our hosts took us on a tour of the Islamic University of Gaza, located not too far away, here in Gaza City.

This is the main administrative building of the university, hit by a rocket in last year's war.

We met with the leaders of a business incubator housed in the university. 

Because Gaza sits on the crossroads of trade between Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, it has traditionally been a prosperous, multi-cultural city, much like Beirut. Of course, it has since fallen on hard times. But, that tradition led to a respect for education and entrepreneurship, so the incubator is very popular. They get nearly 1,000 applications each year, but can only host 20 to 30. So, the application process is rigorous. These gentlemen were charged with hearing the pitches, 36 each day, 10 minutes each!

The pitch panel

Afterwards, we exited through the rocketed administration building (still functional, albeit a bit smaller), and into the women's area for relaxing between classes. I (and our hosts) were the only men amongst 1,000+ women and a sea of head scarfs. 

Then it was back to the office and the start of another busy day working with the SkyGeeks startups. But, a highlight was taking tea on the roof of the building, with its beautiful view of the harbor.

The view from the roof.

In the evening, we went out for dinner at a local "fish restaurant." First you choose your fish,

then the owner cooks it up for you.

I thought the cigarette was a nice touch.