Projects    

Maker, 2001

Educator Exchange

Exchange visits between women educators from the north and the south, totaling 60 kindergarten teachers and librarians, took place at K'sefi, a Palestinian Bedouin village in Naqab, on 30 September 2001. This study day complemented two previous study days held in the north in May 2001. Participants had the opportunity to exchange work experiences and hear lectures pertaining to their particular field of work.

The long-term goal of this project is the development and strengthening of Palestinian identity and education among youth, children and educators in both the Gaza Strip and in '48 areas. This long-term goal achieved through the short-term goal of facilitating and organizing exchange visits and the distribution of children's publications to tens of social and educational centers in the Gaza Strip, which serve thousands of children and youths.

Maker, 2001

Since January, the Arab Children's Friends Association (ACFA), in cooperation with the Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA) in the Gaza Strip, has undertaken children's festivals, workshops for kindergarten teachers and mothers, supplying books for free to child centers and an educational exchange visits.

We promoted the creative use of literature and art in education. We addressed mothers in a workshop on the use of art and literature in the classroom. Finally, we addressed both governmental and non-governmental children's organizations during a workshop in Khan Younis on the role of literature and art in promoting the well-being of children.

In addition to these events in Gaza, we arranged an exchange project in Haifa for 2 groups , each group included representatives from Gaza strip area. The project includes hosting the members in households in the Galilee, visits to children's organizations in the Haifa area, and visits to historical sites in Akko, Dabouria, Nazareth, Haifa, Jaffa and Mount Al-Tour. The exchange allows for further contacts between Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in the Galilee.

The exchange program has developed dialogue between the Palestinians of the Galilee and Gaza, benefited teachers and educators of children, and focused educational energies on building child welfare in Gaza, a region of extreme poverty and deprivation.