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.
