Projects    

Haifa, 2001

Brotherhood Summer Camp

ACFA has held summer camp programs every summer from 1996 onward. These programs aim at bringing together Palestinian youths from the southern regions of the country, including the Gaza Strip and the Naqap, and from the northern regions, including the Galilee. During the program, these youths experience the lifestyles of their neighbors from the opposite side of the country, participating in folk activities and hands-on activities. These youths welcome one another in their homes to learn from one another, and engage in competitions both of the body and the mind.

In 2001, the summer camp program was held from 3 July to 10 July. Participants included twenty-four youths from the Naqab, representing the following villages: K'Sefi, Shkeeb al-Salaam, al-Ahsem; and twenty-four youths came from Bartaa village in the north.

The program of the summer camping is summarized by the following activities:

• The youths from the south visited the northern village of Bartaa and joined the youths from that village in playing various games to get to know one another better. Meanwhile, the hosting parents from Bartaa prepared a collective meal and various recreational activities, including folk songs and folk dances to perform together.
  
  
• The Summer Camp participants then visited villages and towns throughout the country, in the north, center and south, e.g. Aara Valley and Mos Mos, and Mowawia and Ain al-Sahli and Kufr Karra and Bartaa and Umm al-Kataf and Makar and Akka and Haifa and Jaffa and also some villages in Naqab in the south of the country. Most of the participants saw these villages for the first time as a result of the experience.
  
  

  Khanyonis-Galilee, 2000

• In some of these place, such as Makar, Umm al-Kataf, Haifa and Jaffa, the participants enjoyed activities with the local youths. For example, a football game was arranged in Makar between the Summer Camp participants and the youths from the village.
  
  
• In Jaffa, the youths of Jaffa Educational Center welcomed the participants of the summer camp to the Center and to their town, and introduced them to the history of Jaffa. While in Jaffa, the participants also visited Hassan Bech Mosque.
  
  
• In the town of al-Bourg, the participants visited the center square of town, where there are several churches located.
  
  
• In Umm al-Kataf some teachers and local families arranged recreational activities and community meals for all to enjoy and invited them to visit the Fatima Folk Museum in their village.
  
  
• During the days of the summer camp, the participants engaged in several hands-on craft projects. Also, the participants enjoyed a two hour tour of the Mediterranean, sailing the sea near Akka.
  
  
• Three out of the ten days were spent in Haifa. In Haifa, the ACFA team participated with the camp leaders to assist in several activities with the youths, e.g. visiting the Science Museum and the Baha'i Center in Haifa, and visiting the old quarters of Wadin Misnas. During the nights in Haifa, the participants stayed at a hostel run by an al-Arwardia, an Arab Christian institution.