The camp was organized by EJE and was held from August 2 to 7 at Talitha Kumi, Beit Jala. Sixty children came from five refugee camps in the West Bank for fun and experience new activities for a week.

This summer camp was divided into several activities and workshops.

First, a group of scout came especially from France to train Palestinian amimator how to organize games based on an imaginary world. The activities had lasted for three days. In this case the games was around the tale of Jbeena, a Palestinian folk tale. The first day, the children had to help Jbeena to go play with his family, with six different games (puzzles, going to 10, balloon scout beret …). The second day they took on a big treasure hunt to find a treasure, and the last day they had to find a customs-smuggler who helped Jbeena to flee the family who oppressed her! It was the first time that children and Palestinian animators have had the opportunity to participate in such activity for a period of three days. To ensure its success, the Palestinian animators received specific training that wwas highly appreciated and beneficial.

There were many other activities, including Forum Theatre, led by three French experts. The Forum Theatre is to stage real-life situations experienced by different people to find a solution to this conflict. The scene is played and the audience participates in an attempt to find how to solve the problem stated. For example, children played in front of the audience the scene of a father who was trying to bribe a teacher so that his son could pass to the next grade!

Finally, two other workshops were also conducted by French aninamators, that the children loved. The first aimed at teaching them how to dance the flamenco, and in the second they learned how to make origami (paper animals).

Show romanization

This summer camp was a moment of great joy for children, and dedicated collaboration between French volunteers and Palestinian animators, who worked together very hard to care for their children and offer them a particularly varied and interesting program. Even if the communication was not always easy because of the language barrier, all went well and everyone was very pleased with the enrichment provided by this collaboration!

Refugee youth from the Hebron area will debut four short films for a public audience Thursday, July 29 at 6:30 p.m. in Al Aroub camp. The films to be shown focus on issues affecting the lives of Palestinian youth, such as displacement, disabilities, and the restriction of movement. One film by Gazan youth will also be shown.

The screening is the culmination of a three-week workshop led by the participatory media project, Voices Beyond Walls in partnership with the organization The Children, Play and Education (EJE). Twenty youth from Al Aroub completed the program under the guidance of five trainers from the camp’s Child Play and Activity Center and a team of international volunteers. Voices Beyond Walls also ran a concurrent workshop with youth in Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza.

Youth participants began the workshops by learning still photography through a two-day community mapping activity. In small groups they then progressed through the basics of story development, film techniques, and finally editing. The youth said that they enjoyed learning to create films and act, as well as the challenges of working collaboratively.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A Palestinian team composed of three girls and boys from EJE centers participated to the Fraternity Cup, organized by the Voice of the Child (VDE), with the assistance of Diambars Mani Football Forever and Laureus France. The cup was held in France from 18 to 28 April 2010. Children from 12 countries participated

Here is the account from the Director from Al Qabt Jaber center who was accompanying the team and the enthusiastic words from the children.

The children and the director called this trip the “trip of the first time”. For them, it was like a dream becoming true, a dream full of joy and hope.

All the children were so excited to go to france to play and to discover a whole new world. For many Palestinian children, they have no opportunity to travel. Going even from one place to another in the West Bank is a challenge, so going abroad seems a trip to another planet!

The fraternity cup was certainly a great chance not to be missed!

Even if they were all missing their families and homes, the Palestinian children were so happy and curious to meet children from different countries and background.  But they also learn in the team to better know each other and became very good friends. They all come from different refugee camps (Al Qabat Jaber, Shufat, Deir Ammar, Jalazone, and Al aroub) and they barely have a chance to meet. They started to build the team during the special training in January.  Then the second big step was to leave to Jordan together. For most of them,  it was the first time they even crossed a border!  In Jordan, they had more time than initially planned because they had to wait that the airlines ran again after the problems due to the vulcano ashes. The team took that opportunity to visit some historical places but they were all worried that the vulcano will cancel their plans. But finally they could go and the first time they entered a plane, they just could not believe it.

The team continued their journey to France, where they all had a wonderful time, as the following interviews show.

For Mustapha, from Jalazone camp: “ When I reach France, I was so so happy. I could not believe that I am in another country so far. I learned many things, for example different sports such as golf! I developed my skills in football. I learned from the French people how to be disciplined, especially with time, and how to be respect, listen carefully and respect what the others tell us. I met a lot of new friends from different countries. I even learned some words in English and French! I loved a lot the football games! But what I loved the most was to visit all these great places, such the Sacre coeur, the seine river,,,,and  with the Eiffel tower, I felt I was flying so high,  I could see everything.”

Yousef from Deir Ammar camp continues: “You cannot imagine how I was feeling. I was so excited, so happy, I was missing my parents but I just wanted to stay longer. What I liked more is that I managed to score some goals.  I also loved the nature in France. It was so green!  I just liked everything I did. What I learned from this experience is discipline, taking care of the environment and how we should keep it clean…all over the world. I also learned new technics in football. I liked playing; I loved the games, and even the hotels where we were staying.”

Sundos from Al Aqat Jaber concludes: “It was a dream for me to go to France. I was so excited to visit the places, and to meet all the people. I had a lot of fun through drawing, playing football, meeting other people from all over the world. I learned a lot of things, such as how to deal with others in a respectable way and being really disciplined. I missed my family and my country but I wanted to stay in France!”

All the children would like to participate in other events and visit France once again.

They also hope that other children from Palestine will have the same opportunity and that each year a Palestinian team will participate in such a competition.

On March 29th, The Health & Environmental Education Program (THEEP)started at the play and activity child centre in Al Arub Refugee Camp. This program targeted 12 children ages seven to ten. For four weeks, the group participates in Education and Activities Workshops two times a week. The program was coordinated by an international volunteer, who was helped by a Palestinian animator from Al Arub Centre.

Oral health and nutrition are a great concern here in the West Bank, and especially in the camps. In those places, all the children, from a very young age, have terrible oral problems. They also suffer from anemia and calcium deficiency. This dramatic situation is linked to a very high sugar consummation and poor oral health. THEEP was developed to address the need for health and environmental education classes and the need for an activities program for children. This program provides children a safe environment that allows them to express their creative energies while learning how to improve their health and environment. Through Education and Activities Workshops, this program promotes positive, healthy behavior choices related to: oral health, nutrition, environmental awareness, and re-using recyclable materials. These topics are taught through the interactive methods of arts, crafts and games. Through this project, the children will be empowered to preventively take control of their own health in an environment that is out of their control. This program promotes the concept that, despite the many things in children’s lives that they cannot change, they can take choices they make regarding healthy behaviors and their environment.

Each workshop covered issues relating to one or more of the health and environment topics: Nutrition & Oral Health, Environmental Awareness and Recycling. While each week has a theme, the basic health and environment concepts of oral health, nutrition and recycling are reviewed and reinforced at each workshop.

At the end of the fourth week, to celebrate the end of the program, the children went on to a field Trip to Arub Farm, a farm nearby. There, they received a tour of the farm (we were guided by one of its employers), and enjoyed a picnic. We made a contest to see who would bring the healthier snack, and it was almost impossible to decide: almost all the children had brought fruits, vegetables and other nutritious rich food for the picnic!

The evaluations done at the beginning and at the end of the program show that it had a big positive impact in the children’s health behaviors. They started eating more fruits and vegetables, and less store bought food; 80% of the children incorporated teeth brushing in their daily habits (at the beginning of the project, only 25% of the children used to brush their teeth); and half of the group stopped throwing garbage on the streets.

THEEP was a pilot project and we hope its success will encourage Arub Centre, and centres in other refugee camps, to integrate health projects in their program.

The “Re-imagining Project” is a program of digital video, photography and storytelling workshops that supports Palestinian children and youth in expressing their cultural identity, personal narratives, and creative visions through participatory digital media.

This project is a collaboration among Voices Beyond Walls, Les Enfants, Le Jeu et l’Education (EJE), UNRWA and participating community centers in Al Aroub and Jabaliya refugee camps.

The program consists of the following key activities in summer 2010:

I.    Conducting two 3-day Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions in Ramallah and Gaza City between June 28 to June 30, 2010. It will be conducted with 20-30 Palestinian volunteers from local youth centers, to provide participatory youth media training and prepare them to serve as potential workshop facilitators.

II.   Conducting at least two 3-week digital storytelling workshops between July 4th to July 25th, 2010 with around 18-24 children (both boys and girls aged 10-14), in collaboration with community centers in Al Aroub camp in the West Bank and Jabaliya camp in Gaza. Many joint activities will be conducted among children in both workshops via video conferencing and online sharing.

III.  Conducting baseline surveys, ongoing monitoring, and follow-up evaluations with all participants in the training and workshops in collaboration with EJE, UNRWA and the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP).

IV.  Screenings and exhibitions of the youth media work in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza, as well as international festivals and venues abroad in 2010-2011.

We have an exciting international and local team of filmmakers, artists, photographers, researchers, educators and community youth activists involved this year. The project is sponsored in part by the Genevieve McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation and the MIT Center for Future Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Stay tuned for regular updates on our blog and website:

http://voicesbeyondwalls.blogspot.com/

We started the “Re-imagining” project with a great pilot workshop of aerial mapping in Al Aroub Camp, led by MIT expert Jeff Warren. Jeff is a researcher at the MIT Media Lab conducting photo mapping work using low-altitude kites and balloons. He’s done this mapping work with communities in slums near Peru, fisherman during the oil spill near the coast of Louisiana, and many other areas. More about his work on: http://www.grassrootsmapping.org.

Jeff did the pilot on the roof of Al Aroub Play and Animation center, together with Voices Beyond Walls team, trainers from the center who will work with us on the Re-Imagining project, and some children. Everybody was amazed on how high the kite could fly, bringing up a simple digital camera, which was continuously taking pictures. The results were striking. We do hope to use these technics during the actual workshops. As Jeff explained, costs can be reduced by making kites or balloons from recycling materials, making it accessible for communities.

For the second consecutive year EJE organizes an educational summer camp in the West Bank.

This camp will host around one hundred Palestinian refugee children aged 10 to 12 who are registered in the Play and activity centers supported by EJE.

The educational summer camp will be held from 1 to Aug. 7 at the pedagogical farm of Al Aroub (between Hebron and Bethlehem). Different types of activities will be organized throughout the week . For the Palestinian children is an unique opportunity to try something new. For instance, for the first time, great outdoor games will be organized with the help of a group of Scouts coming from France. But there will be also locally-produced wooden games, artwork activities, science games, rules games, and magic ….. a very exciting program that should delight the children!

Throughout this festive week every child can learn simple but essential values for community life such as the group’s respect, tolerance, sharing of ideas … This camp is an opportunity for these Palestinian children to escape during one week from their daily life routine, have great fun and learn new things.

The educational team is composed of two directors from EJE and a group of Palestinian and French animators and volunteers. 8 Palestinian animators will come from the various centers in the West Bank supported by EJE (Der Amar Aqbat Jabr Al Arub …). It will be also a tremendous experience from them during which they can improve their skills as animators.

For the second consecutive year EJE is proud to present the 2010 wooden games project organized with the support of the French association “Secours Catholique”. This project will allow 12 Palestinian animators and volunteers to be trained by EJE Team for three days in the manufacture of wooden games. Then they will be able to transmit their knowledge to the Palestinian children through a six-day training during which 25 children from different refugees camps will build games by themselves.

The games will be subsequently used in play and activity centers and partners of EJE during the August summer camp: the “Summer Fun Games”.

Among the games who will be created, we will find games coming from all over the world such as “Hyene” a Sudanese strategy game, “Yote” an African thinking game, but also “Le  Pique-Nique” which is a pedagogical French game to learn about duty and rights…

We believe that the participating children will benefit a lot from this workshop.

Children will bring the games they built to their Play and activity centers. This principle will allow children to discover that they can be useful for their community and enhances their self-esteem. Games are also creators of social bound between the generations. They can be borrowed by families so they can also initiate new dialogue at home.

In comparison with 2009 training, the 2010 workshop innovates in many aspects. The games are all new. Also the participating animators will train parents to use these games. Finally, children of the workshop will teach to the other children in their center how to play these different games. As such, EJE hopes strengthening the involvement of parents in the life of the centers, but also teaching children to share their experiences, build solidarity between them and be actors in their own social and cultural development.

These workshops are an open window to the world because, besides the creation of Palestinian traditional games, they will manufacture games from different countries of the world. This project is also a symbol of international coordination because 4 employees of EJE were trained in France last year by the Association “Peuple et Culture” in the manufacture of wooden games. They were then able to train 18 Palestinian animators in the building of wooden games. French volunteers will also participate to the workshop. We would like also to thank the “Secours Catholique Francais” for its support for this project.

EJE participated to the project  “Creating a safe environment for the children in their schools and society” aiming at improving the children’ awareness of their rights.  This project is supported by Save the Children UK and conducted by Tameer association and EJE, in partnership with UNRWA and the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

The project was conducted in various districts of the West bank- from Hebron to Qalqilia, Salfit to Ramallah, reaching put many children and remote areas such as South of Hebron, villages round Nablus and Qalqilia.  In total 17 workshops were organized, reaching around 550 children aged from 9 to 16 years old. Most of the workshops were conducted in schools while others were held in local communities centers.

The objective of the workshops was to measure how much the children are aware of their rights. What is the meaning of the right of expression? The right to life?  The right to education?

These children have been working on these issues for almost three years with Tameer association, but these workshops brought them a step further by helping the children to better understand their rights through playing.

The duration of the sessions was of four hours which were filled up by different activities such as playing, drama and discussion.  The games that were selected by EJE experts had a direct link to human rights. For instance, the game “ANTI VIRUS”  aims at giving rid of the virus and was used to discuss the right to health and how it is important to take care of the body. Another game “QUORIDORS”, is a game in where the players used checkpoints to prevent others to move. It then triggered a fruitful discussion on freedom of movement. Answers differ according to the situation that the children face in their daily life. The children also  realized that occupation is not the only problem. For instance the girls  in Amra village, located south of Hebron,realized that one of the obstacles that they faced in terms of freedom of movement are the lack of infrastructures.  In another place, in Mash’a, a village close to Qalqalia , the children pointed out that freedom of movement is impeded by the Wall, and the lack of transportation to the main cities. In another game, “PENTAGO”, players  use the same pieces but choose the color they want. It was a perfect starting point to talk  about prejudice and discrimination, and how people should not be judged by the colors of the skins and that we should accept others and respect their rights.

By playing, the children also implement one of their basic right- the right to play. They also learn to respect each other and that rights come also with duties.

All the children were delighted with the games, and wanted to play more. They also requested more workshops, especially the girls. The drama exercises, in which children could take different roles,  were also very much appreciated. By taking on different roles and situation,  children could better understand their rights in practice.

Results were encouraging. It proves that playing can be used as a creative way to help children to develop themselves in many areas, including their rights.

Here is the latest fresh news of the Franco-Palestinian school Le Petit Prince, including the story of a three-days journey of discovery in the Hebron region, organized by the Association for Cultural Exchange Hebron-France. The trips aimed at opening children to their surroundings and deepen their knowledge of the traditions in Palestine.

Hello dear internet readers,

During recent weeks we have experienced lots of new adventures that we would like to share with you.
As you know, in early April, we celebrated Easter. For the occasion, we made masks of rabbits and small baskets to put our precious chocolates! We colored eggs by dipping them in liquid color: it was really funny! Once we finished , we were finally ready for our egg hunt in a beautiful park in Beit Jala, a town near Bethlehem. The elder children helped the little ones. The temptation not to eat all the chocolate was great but we managed to resist. Once the chocolates were found, we counted them in order to share … Our crop was really good! After all these efforts, we were so hungry and we therefore took advantage of this nice environment for a picnic! It was so nice to be able to eat sitting on the grass! Once our stomachs were full, we went to play. We look forward to repeat egg hunting!

Another great adventure was our three-days trip to Hebron area which had the following program:

Day 1: visit the traditional wool carpet factory in the village of Samu ‘, south of the region. We also visited an archaeological site that includes a 4th century synagogue converted into a mosque in the 10th.

2nd day: Hebron and its famous crafts. visit of factory for the famous keffiyehs, the symbolic Palestinian scarf. Although keffiyehs spread everywhere in the world and have become veritable fashion objects, there is only one factory left in Palestine, and we feel very happy to visit it. The machines were huge and made a lot of noise but we were welcomed very warmly!
Then we headed to an archaeological site and finally visited the Ras al-Joura glassware and pottery factory . We were very impressed by the glassblowers. We were able to paint ourselves a nice cup each: it was really good!

3rd day: visit the village of al-Kaum, located west of Hebron, near Deir Samit. A person was waiting for us to show us his village and the traditional bread baked in an oven called Tabun. We started the visit by the preparation of the Frikeh a delicious highly nutritious grain made from roasted green wheat. An old lady of the village showed us how it was made and it was pretty impressive. Once the frikeh was ready, we headed towards a small hut to prepare the bread bake in a clay oven! And finally it arrived … the best tasting bread Tabun, still warm : a real treat!
We also saw cows and sheep and then we visited a cave with our flashlight, like real adventurers!
Our trip is now finished but there are much more adventures to come…we will keep you updated!

]]> http://www.ejepal.org/eje/news/les-eleves-du-petit-prince-en-excursion/feed/ 0 http://www.ejepal.org/eje/news/a-great-success-for-the-let-us-play-all-together-festival-in-jericho/ http://www.ejepal.org/eje/news/a-great-success-for-the-let-us-play-all-together-festival-in-jericho/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 13:09:44 +0000 eje http://www.ejepal.org/?p=1550

Children, Play and Education (EJE) organized in Jericho the 2nd Play festival entitled “Let us all Play together” between 13-15 April 2010 to celebrate the Palestinian Child Day and the 20th anniversary of the ratification of the international Declaration of Children’s Rights.

The festival aimed at engaging children and adults in outdoor recreational activities together with raising their awareness on the essential role of play that can serve as a pedagogical and educational tool. Playing is an important activity for all. It is a source of entertainment but also of personal development. This is why EJE entitled the festival: “Let us play all together”.

The festival was organized in cooperation with Save the Children UK, Jericho Municipality, governorate of Jericho and Jordan valley and Al-Islah Society. It had taken place for three days in the Spanish Park, which provided a beautiful outdoors environment. The planning phase involved an intensive reparatory phase during which 60 volunteers were trained, half of them being teenagers and children. One of the principles of the festival was indeed that most of the games would be presented and explained by the youth themselves.

The festival was officially opened by Mr. Kamel Hameed, governor of Jericho and Jordan Valley with the presence of Mr. Jack Neno, general coordinator of Children, Play and Education, Mr. Jamal Al-Rjoub, general director of public affairs in the governorate of Jericho and Jordan valley and around 250 visitors.

The following days were overall very popular with an attendance of more than 500 visitors a day. The visitors came from all over the West Bank, especially from the districts of Jenine, Hebron , Nablus, Beit Furik. Remote villages from the Jordan valley also participated such as Al Jiflek. Visitors included many children from governmental and UNRWA schools but also adults and even elderly people from Jericho. As the festival was held in an open area of the Spanish Park, many people and families just joined out of curiosity.

During the festival, the participants had the unique opportunity to discover many games among the 150 presented. The games were of different kinds – scientific games, wooden games and rule games. Elderly Palestinians were delighted to play again with some wooden games that belong to Palestinian heritage, and to discover other games from other cultures. The rule games section was a chance for the children to discover that not only such games could be challenging but also entertaining. The scientific games section was also very appreciated, with some persons coming three days in a row to find the solution.

A great part of this success was due to the commitment of the volunteers. They truly assumed their role with genuine dedication. They prove to themselves and others that they were indeed capable of handling very well their tasks and take their rights in their own hands. For Issa from Al Qabat Jaber camp, “the most beautiful thing was that I learned how to make commitment and how to deal with people”. Another child, Abdelhamid, added: “the best thing was when the adults, and my parents came to me to ask how to play the games”. Others also stressed the opportunity that the festival gave them to meet again some friends they made in previous EJE events. For Batul from Al Aroub refugee camp, “I was so happy to make new friends and meet again some of my friends from other centers. It was also good that we learn how to share with others and collaborate”.

Many found the experience exciting. In Palestine, it is indeed very difficult to have access to such games. As Rana, 13 years old, from Alqabt Jabr girls school, stated:“we have no games at school…I am so happy to take part in such an event where I met my friends and came across many new games.”

Adults were also very pleased because they have not played for a long time. It also provided them an opportunity to share special moments with the children. Salem, a Red Crescent volunteer, declared: “I love children…I encourage such an event that help children to have fun and develop their skills…I hope the organization will keep organizing such an event … I really feel happy when I play with children.”

EJE team feels that a lot of progress have been made since the last festival in Bethlehem. They are now already planning for the next festivals in Hebron and Ramallah.

EJE Play Festival Jericho (13-15 April 2010)

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