Beside our Karama projects, we have started to run several indoor and outdoor activities in the UN schools for boys and girls in Deheishe. At least once a week we offer the students handicraft, art and sport classes.
Mosaic Project in the UN school for girls
On October 24. 2009, Karama's local and international volunteers began a mosaic project at the United Nations Girls' School. The motivation for the project was to provide the students with a new activity to enliven their optional Saturday school day that would culminate in a finished piece of artwork to which all of them had contributed.
On Saturday morning, each grade came to work on the mosaic during their recess break. All of the girls, from the fourth to the ninth grade, seemed intrigued by the project. Many of them were avidly gluing the tiles down to fill in the letters and carefully choosing how to orient them, while others preferred breaking the tile into appropriately sized pieces. By the end of the first day, the letters were mostly completed, if not entirely legible.
Throughout the next two days, Karama's local volunteers, led by Ghassan Abu-Ajamia and assisted by several international volunteers, filled in the remaining background tiles and neatened up the words. By the end of the day on the 27th, the mosaic had been cut into pieces and reassembled on the wall that surrounds the girls' school. The following day the grouting was added and the project was complete. From now on it will remain on the wall of the school, welcoming both visitors and the students who created it.
UN school for boys
The following report is written by our Canadian volunteer Jonathan and gives an account of the experience he had with the boys.
On Oct. 3. 2009, we went to the UN school for boys. We walked down the road and upon entering the gate we were greeted by smiling faces and excited eyes. We decided to pull out the big 20 meter rope for a game of tug-of-war. The second we started unraveling the rope excitement broke loose as the boys immediately started pulling it at each end. After about 5 minutes of begging and pleading we were able to stop the tugging and set up teams for the next 20 minutes of play. Next we played Octopus in , which I, your writer, wisely decided to be the one who has to catch everyone. The boys were fast but I caught a few each time only to see that they decided to join the rest of the runners even after they were caught. Their energy and agility disallowed them from following the rules that dictated them to freeze until they were freed by another teammate. After about 15 minutes of exhaustion and 3 or 4 times explaining the rules we decided to play a few other games which were slightly more successful. Then came football; the one activity in which they were most aquainted. We were excited to receive some tea which my host father here, who is also the psychiatric councelor for the school, brought to us. I think his professional experience told him we needed it. Then came the classes in which the UN teachers allowed us to sit in and participate. I think we were more of a distraction but the teacher in my class was quite controlled and perservered in keeping the lesson going. We did some basic sentences and some mathematics. The mathematics seemed particularily enjoyable for the boy next to me who seemed to marvel at the tools for reasoning the solutions. Afterwards, we started football again and on my breaks I danced and sang with some of the boys. All and all it was an amazing experience for me and this Saturday I'll be sure to eat well and get a good night's sleep on Friday so I may keep up with the enthusiasm and dynamism of these great kids
