Remembering the Catastrophe

We often want to ignore the tragedies of our past. They move us to sadness or moruning and the usual human reaction is to brush such things under the carpet. However the Palestinian Catastrophe or Nakba, is something the people here remember each year with admirable conviction. It is the history which adds legitimacy to their existence and rights to their land.  Its commemoration is vital in educating the next generation of Palestinains about their roots and culture.

At the Friendship house, we organised a day of events including singing, dabkeh and poetry recitials as well as a small art exhibition showing vivid images of those who were ethnically cleansed from their home soil. It was an unusual but inspiring event because from this tragedy, the Palestinians found hope and optimisim.

Dar Assadaqa: Nakba Day

دار الصداقة : يوم النكبة

Date: Saturday 19 May 2012

التاسع عشر من شهر ايار 2012

Time: 12:00pm

الساعة االثانية عشرعرض افلام  

تدعوكم دار الصداقة وجمعية صداقة كامدن ابوديس للمشاركة في فعاليات يوم  النكبة وذلك يوم السبت الموافق 19\5\2012 حيث هناك العديد من الفعاليات لاحياء ذكرى النكبة

تبدا الفعاليات الساعة الرابعة عصرا

Dar Assadaqa is marking Nakba Day on Saturday 19 May 2012 with a variety of performances and activities. There will be many performances by the children including:

v Music      موسيقى

v Poetryقصائد

v Films افلام

v Dabke دبكة

v Dramaدراما

Come along and mark Nakba Day and support the children in their performances. There will be light drinks and snacks. We hope to see everyone! All are welcome!

شاركونا فعاليتنا وادعموا اطفالنا في نشاطاتهم

نتمنى ان نراكم جميعا

اهلا وسهلا

Breathing new life into the Community Centre

Throughout out time hear at Dar Assadaqa, we have placed a lot of focus on organising the commmunity centre to make things easier and more efficient. This benefits, not only to us volunteers, but the kids and young people we work with. Today, we commenced the long process of the 'aesthetic workout'- making Mrs DA look beautiful!

The weather was both a blessing and a curse. We worked with the kids to garden, de-weeding as much as we could, painting the walls white for an artist in the future to paint what will hopefully me a sensational mural, and also painting the tyres and patio. We are also in the process of installing a motor for our well to be used to provide the plants with a much needed drink.

There are big plans for the this place, the most exciting being a marquee which will protect the people and plants from the sometimes unforgiving sun.

Palestinian resourcefullness is very useful in these times and ambition is what drives us. It is the beginning of a long process but it will inevitably look beautiful. Keep posted for further pictures!

Kids' visits to London

We're happy to confirm that we'll be running a young people's visit to London in late July. The visit will have a drama focus. More details will follow in the near future.

In relation to the football visit, we have a lot of the funding but we are looking for the rest... any help appreciated. We have therefore postponed the visit - it won't happen in late July but later in the year, if we can find the money. More on that too!

In the meantime, best of luck to all of you at Dar Assadaqa and hope you have a good summer.

With best wishes from Camden Abu Dis in London..

They were all really poets, but they just didn't know it

Today at the community centre, I tried to teach the kids poetry performance skills. With the help of some friends from Al-Quds university who are into their 'Def Poetry', I selected a piece from Ibrahim Nasrallah- poet, professor, painter and photographer. The poem beautifully spoke of desires for freedom, stemming from the disenfranchisement of the occupation.

At first, given that it was not in Arabic, many of the young lads' bravado got the better of them and they were unwilling to recite the poetry- at least without any feeling. I quickly thought of a way that they could create their own poetry by using Acrostics to write their name and describe themselves with the letters. My favourites- D for Dogs (there are many dog fans in Abu Dis) and L for love (and many cassanovas too it seems).

By the end of the class, the young boys had created their own poems and were reciting them in front of their peers. All deserve a well earned pat on the back!

Homework Club launched

As part of one of our projects, we have set up a 'Homework Club' which aims to help students from the different schools and University with any work relating to English. But It also provides help with students who may have to fill in scholarship forms in English, covering letters or help with conversational skills if they may have a job interview etc.

The are posted in the university and schools in Abu-Dis

What is unique about the initiative is that all the help is on a one-to-one basis and because of this, we can work with students to identify their mistakes, explain why they are not right and correct them together. So far we have attracted a few students but with publicity going up in all the schools, hopefully the service will become even more popular!