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).
The Palestinian animators, building on their experience from last year’s summer camp, led many activities including workshops on nutrition and environment, and a tour around the Church of the Nativity .
Finally, the summer camp ended in style with a magnificent spectacle of Bike-theater from a French company that captivated the children.
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!
