مشروع المتطوعين من فلسطين

الاصدقاء الاعزاء

نود في جمعية صداقة كامدن أبوديس أن نبلغكم بأن الجمعية حصلت على مشروع جديد لايفاد متطوع من ابوديس للعمل في كامدن لندن وعليه فاننا نرجو ممن تتوفر فيهم الشروط في الاعلان المرفق التوجه الى دار الصداقة

Volunteer place in London

CADFA EVS project to London

CADFA are happy to announce that we have secured funding in the first instance for one volunteer to work in London for three months in autumn 2012. This is part of the European Union EVS Scheme.The work will be to help CADFA’s work in a variety of ways – with general office work, talks, sales and support for link work with Palestine in schools, community centres etc. The volunteer will stay with a family in London. Food, transport costs and a small allowance will be provided.

We are looking for a volunteer aged under thirty who has

· a good understanding of the work of CADFA in Palestine and in London

· good English

· Clear ideas about what he/ she wants to learn from this experience

· Good ideas about ways to use this experience when he/ she returns to Palestine.

Applications in the form of a letter about yourself to: Abdulwahab Sabbah, Dar Assadaqa, Abu Dis.

Closing date is 30^th April 2012.

تحية للجميع

نود في البداية ان نتقدم بالشكر للمتطوعين من المجموعة الثانية الذين سيغادرون يوم السبت القادم بعد ان قضوا فترة ثلاث شهور في العمل معنا في مؤسسات ومدارس ابوديس وفي دار الصداقة
كذلك اود ان أبلغ كل اصدقائنا بان المجموعة الثالثة من المتطوعين ستكون في ابوديس يوم الاحد 1 نيسان نرحب بهم ونتمنى لهم اقامة مفيدة وممتعه في ابوديس، سيحضر معهم مجموعة من المتضامنين من اصدقائنا في كامدن حيث سيكون هناك جولة في ارجاء الوطن لمدة اسبوع وسيشاركون في مؤتمر التوأمة السابع الذي سيعقد في مدنية جنين.
نرحب بمشاركة الجميع

Dar Assadaqa – 20/03/2012

Yesterday at Dar Assadaqa I had a class with 20 young men about the environment in

Palestine. On the timetable for Dar Assadaqa there is a slot for the environment. But I

think in the case of Abu Dis the best way to use this time is to establish an environment

club that actually works pro-actively to make Abu Dis a better place to live. Over the

course of an hour, we developed a plan to improve the environment in and around Abu

Dis.

The first step was to build on what was discussed by the previous group of EVS

volunteers. Getting a list of names of people who come to Dar Assadaqa who would be

interested in being part of the environment club. Secondly, we decided that something

should be done about the all the rubbish in the streets and that we could arrange a time

to clean the main street in Abu Dis or university street to start with. We also agreed it

would be good to buy some seeds from the shop in Azariya/ Bethany and plant trees

such as pine and olive trees. No-one really knew where we could plant these trees but it certainly left us with food for thought.

The other important tenet of improving the environment, not just in Abu

Dis but in Palestine generally, was green education. We came up with the idea to teach

about the environment in schools because it hardly ever gets taught about in schools.

Everyone concurred that the most of effective way of persuading people to change their

attitudes was to begin with young people. There was a good idea by one of the lads to

ask someone from Al Quds university who studies the environment to give a talk at

schools in Abu Dis. Finally, we suggested we should write to the Ministry of Agriculture

in Ramallah to ask for some sort of project support.

The land is very important to people in Palestine, Palestinians take great pride farming

their land and growing their olive trees. The occupation is the main cause of

environmental degradation, as a result of the Israelis using Palestinian areas as a

rubbish dump, and a place where waste sewage from settlements collects. Water

appropriation from wells and aquifers on Palestinian land by the authorities is also a

huge problem. And of course there are no services such as rubbish collection.

However, I think by changing many peoples’ attitude toward the environment in Abu

Dis could make it a more beautiful place. In addition, we all shared the view that

protection and greater respect for the environment is an effective form of

resistance to the occupation that will have a positive impact on the lives of all

Palestinians.

from CADFA volunteer March 2012

Dar Assadaqa – 20/03/2012

Yesterday at Dar Assadaqa I had a class with 20 young men about the environment in

Palestine. On the timetable for Dar Assadaqa there is a slot for the environment. But I

think in the case of Abu Dis the best way to use this time is to establish an environment

club that actually works pro-actively to make Abu Dis a better place to live. Over the

course of an hour, we developed a plan to improve the environment in and around Abu

Dis.

The first step was to build on what was discussed by the previous group of EVS

volunteers. Getting a list of names of people who come to Dar Assadaqa who would be

interested in being part of the environment club. Secondly, we decided that something

should be done about the all the rubbish in the streets and that we could arrange a time

to clean the main street in Abu Dis or university street to start with. We also agreed it

would be good to buy some seeds from the shop in Azariya/ Bethany and plant trees

such as pine and olive trees. No-one really knew where we could plant these trees but it certainly left us with food for thought.

The other important tenet of improving the environment, not just in Abu

Dis but in Palestine generally, was green education. We came up with the idea to teach

about the environment in schools because it hardly ever gets taught about in schools.

Everyone concurred that the most of effective way of persuading people to change their

attitudes was to begin with young people. There was a good idea by one of the lads to

ask someone from Al Quds university who studies the environment to give a talk at

schools in Abu Dis. Finally, we suggested we should write to the Ministry of Agriculture

in Ramallah to ask for some sort of project support.

The land is very important to people in Palestine, Palestinians take great pride farming

their land and growing their olive trees. The occupation is the main cause of

environmental degradation, as a result of the Israelis using Palestinian areas as a

rubbish dump, and a place where waste sewage from settlements collects. Water

appropriation from wells and aquifers on Palestinian land by the authorities is also a

huge problem. And of course there are no services such as rubbish collection.

However, I think by changing many peoples’ attitude toward the environment in Abu

Dis could make it a more beautiful place. In addition, we all shared the view that

protection and greater respect for the environment is an effective form of

resistance to the occupation that will have a positive impact on the lives of all

Palestinians.

Learning traditional dabkeh beats at the music center in Abu Dis

Tour of the music center in Abu Dis

Yesterday in Dar Assadaqa some of us went to the music center opposite the central mosque in

Abu Dis. The building was renovated with money from Kuwait and musical instruments were donated by France.

- 10/03/2012 Dar Assadaqa Saturday

Today many of the kids were at school because they had an extra day off a week or so

ago. However a healthy and manageable number turned up. A couple of us (the

volunteers) made Mothers Day cards using coloured card, paper and felt tip pens. We

also helped some of the older boys to improve their reading English skills by asking

them to read aloud to us and then correcting their mistakes. I feel exhausted after

spending most of the morning playing football with the boys (or ‘shabab’ in Arabic!). It

was hard to make sure everyone was included because some people are goal

hoggers! You can’t blame them though, all of the boys playing either supports Real

Madrid or Barcelona. So naturally they see themselves as their favourite strikers,

either Messi or Christiano, Ronaldo depending on your politics!

In the afternoon we played chess and did some English conversation with a couple of

the older boys. Most of the young ones went home so the 3 that were left played

games on the computer.

The weather was also nice and hot. Palestinian weather is truly unpredictable. Only

last week there was snowfall in Abu Dis and the snow even settled in Jerusalem!

New volunteers - in April!