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.
