08/01/2014

Deheishe Refugee Camp

Dear friends of Karama,

All the volunteers at Karama Organization hope you started the year with great expectations and many new plans for the coming time. Unfortunately, over 5200 children in Deheishe Refugee Camp have started this year with very little prospects. Not only do they carry the presence of the Israeli occupation and the worsening financial situation of their families, but they also entered 2014 without being able to go back to school. With this letter we call upon our friends, previous volunteers and supporters to join Karama’s efforts to provide the children this basic human right of education.

The main provider of education and health services to the Palestinian refugees, the UNRWA, is in conflict with the Workers Union over employment and salary policies. This has led to a general strike of UNRWA staff since the 2^nd of December 2013, closing schools, health centres and aid distribution offices in the 19 refugee camps across the West Bank. More than 52,200 children in the West Bank are currently without formal education, spending their days outside or in the limited space available in their homes. The fact that many of them are out on the streets and without the structure provided by the schools has already led to several social and behavioural problems. But they also miss out on the chance to learn and improve important skills like reading, writing and maths.

To challenge this situation which is likely to continue for a prolonged period, Karama Organization teamed up with some of the teachers to create an alternative educational setting. Especially the youngest grades will fall behind greatly in their development if they will not attend classes for another month. Karama will therefore host the children in our community centre and teach them in the most crucial subjects like Arabic and Maths. Karama Organization has very good relations with the UNRWA schools and teachers in the camp and has experience with providing remedial classes for the students both in the schools and in our community centre. This makes Karama a very important player to fill in the gap that is now created through the dispute.

However, to be able to host the children we need to turn the available rooms into classrooms where students can sit and write properly. This means we will have to construct wooden benches to serve as tables and purchase chairs. Also we will have to compensate the teachers and social workers that will work with the children and provide some paper and colouring materials. People familiar with our work know we depend on donations from our supporters for the projects we are undertaking in society. We are trying to make the most of all the limited resources we have at our disposal, but in order to really make a difference in the camp we need to increase our capacity.

Just on the first day since we announced this project in society, over 60 children entered our community centre to participate in the classes for the first grade. With your help we would be able to receive more children and give them their most basic right; a place to learn. Neither the occupation nor the policies of the UNRWA should leave these children without education so we hope you will join our efforts to provide them this basic service!

If you have any inquires about other ways of donating or supporting our project please contact our organization through volunteers@karama.org. We invite you to reach out to our team if you have any questions and share this message among family and friends!

Thank you very much for your attention for the Palestinian situation, your support makes a real difference for the children in Deheishe.

With gratitude,

PS: you can also find our organization on Facebook http://tiny.cc/vx5c9w and at www.karama.org

Karama Palestine / DEHEISHE REFUGEE CAMP / BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK / PALESTINE  T: 00972-2275-1313 / 00972 5990-33021 I: www.karama.org E: alhaj@karama.org  / volunteers@karama.org                

Links:

• Read this letter at our website

The last weeks of school are behind us, and the summer holiday started. Some children will say ‘finally’, since they are looking forward to a break from their work and exams. Others, who are enjoying their lessons and are more reluctant towards long weeks with little do to, are less enthusiastic. For both children Karama hopes to be a place to enjoy their summer, just like Karama worked hard to offer them a place of support during their school days! Now that the schools closed, we will give you a final update of our activities during the last months and we will look forward to what is planned for the coming time!

But first of all it is our aim to thank all our donors and supporters for their continued care and attention for our center and children in Deheishe. Since we joined this website in August 2011 we have noticed your support in many ways: from liking our page or updates on Facebook to receiving donations from all over the world. This has helped us a lot to extend our network and continue our work with the children, and we are very thankful you continued to show your interest through this complete year!

In the last month we continued with our activities in our Karama center and the UN schools. Daily we received several groups of children, with whom we continued to correct and support their school work. International volunteers supported their English lessons, and other volunteers and social workers assisted in different classes. Even more importantly, we paid special attention to several children with more severe emotional problems, who were limited by this in their school work. The activities in the groups, sports and other possibilities we gave them to express themselves, helped them to get rid of negative emotions and allowed them to better concentrate at school. Although we have not yet seen the recent results from the last exams, because they will arrive later this month, we have noticed great change in the behavior of the children.

What can better conclude the project than the words of the children themselves? One 10 year old girl who joined our project for the last months said: “Karama is very different from my school, but I learn here a lot, even more than at school! And what I learned in Karama last week, helped me a lot with my quiz yesterday.” Another boy never had the concentration to join one of our creative projects, and he always ended up being present in a very negative way. Due to more intensive time with him and positive attention during other group activities, he found better ways to express his energy and emotions. Recently, he was the proudest boy in the world when he enjoyed a craft activity and made himself a beautiful crown!"

Now we will focus on the summer camps that will take place in the summer months and on the Rooftop Micro Farm project that will continue this summer. We will organize two summer camps for the children between 5 and 10 years, but also a special environmental summer camp for the teenagers between 11 and 16. We hope to share with them the value of the environment and the importance of nature, both through workshops in Deheishe as well as field trips to surrounding areas. For this reason we will close this donation page, but we immediately start our new project page for the Micro Farms!

We thank you again for your support, and we hope that we can count on you in the months as well when we hope to organize three great summer camps and also extend our Rooftop Micro Farm project.