A Safe Place for Kids in Deheishe Refugee Camp

Hey Karama Donors!

Do you feel the heat too? Here in Palestine we are at the peak of a nice hot summer, with temperatures easily reaching 35 degrees Celsius in July. This resulted in a lot of refreshments for the children during activities and some flexibility in the summer program to make sure the kids were well protected during the trips. But heat or no heat, Karama’s programs have been running smoothly with the help of our supportive team and the very committed participation of the children from Deheishe Camp.

This newsflash we are eager to show you some pictures from the activities that were organized in Karama in the past weeks. Before, during and after Ramadan, several summer camps have been organized that took sometimes 50 children, sometimes even up to 80 children several days of fun and engagement on trips and activities in the Karama center. Healthy meals were served every day to keep the hungry children healthy and active. All camps created teams, in which the children were stimulated to practice team play, care for team mates and leadership. A Karama Summer Camp cannot continue without the needed attention for development of skills and values; every year the kids are challenged and encouraged to show compassion and cooperation and in every camp group discussion are a part of every day.

Solidarity and care for the community has also been shown by the Karama Team in many ways in the past summer. When water shortages became a real threat for several families, Karama made the well available for families to collect water from. The well was built with the help of international donors when Karama did upgrade the back playground; an investment bringing already great returns for the whole community! And while university and college students are preparing for the start of the new semester, Karama is always trying to connect promising students in need with willing supporters from the community or from abroad. There are still very skilled students waiting for support in order to be able to subscribe into the new semester, so if one of our readers is interested in this please contact us for more information.

Karama hopes to continue the summer activities for the full month of August, with some schools starting end of August again, others beginning of September. Can we count on your support in this endeavor? We are happy to receive your solidarity and support!

The pictures will show you some of the trips and play time in the past month.

See you in the next newsletter!

PS: don't forget to hit reply if you want to know more about supporting students from the camp.. When there is a lot of interest we consider opening a seperate Global Giving page so we can get you in touch with those promising youth. Let us know if you are interested! 

Dear readers, 

Welcome to our April Update and thanks a lot for keeping track of our work! We will leave you with a quick update this month about what is going on in- and outside Karama.

As you all know, Karama's motto is all about being a safe place for the women and children of the camp. With the arrival of spring, the children use this safe place for being active outdoors and exploring new outside games like chalk drawing. Also new women activities have taken off recently, where women share new skills among each other. Successful cooking classes, handcraft workshops and a trip have already taken place - with great pleasure of the women! They enjoy their mornings together which are often useful, entertaining and great bonding moments in the community.

But why would Deheishe actually need a safe place one might ask? The last months have shown again how much life in the camp is under threat. The frequency of night raids by the occupation army are on an all-time high, with as often as to 3 times per week the soldiers coming inside the camp to spread fear and destruction. The attacks on women and children take shocking forms. Earlier this spring, a mother was kidnapped and after one month of separation from her children in jail, she was placed under house arrest. This has put her 3 children through a nightmare, while her 12-year old son has also been summoned for questioning; treated harshly under the military system. A military system that does not acknowledge his status of a minor and where 6 out of 10 children will be subject to coercive interrogation (10 out of 10 are questioned without presence of an adult) and more than 4 out of 10 will be forced to sign papers in Hebrew; a language they don’t speak! He is no exception with his young age to come in contact with the military system. Another 12 year old boy of the camp has received an arrest warrant and refuses to sleep at home ever since. A well understood move, as violence is commonly used during arrest raids and what happens afterwards unknown. His family home has already been raided during the night several times in the last week with his older brothers arrested and beaten. While even homes are no guaranteed safe place in the camp, we will try our best to keep Karama!

Under these circumstances, the local team is doing a great job with keeping new activities going and we are excited to welcome new international volunteers soon (if the occupation let’s them through). If you know somebody who has experience in working with children or teaching and who would love to join our team in Palestine, they are always welcome to send us an email or fill in the application form directly on our website!

Our best wishes from the whole team!