Short-term (2 to 4 weeks) "renovation work" projects in Palestine

Youth Development Department and Arab Catholic Scouts.

The Youth Development Department – YDD was founded to work with a development prospective, and to work as a professional and technical umbrella for the youth sector in Jerusalem, with a through the existing youth bodies in Jerusalem beside it's activities locally, regionally and internationally.

The Arab Catholic Scouts in Jerusalem was founded in 1928 as a part of the Scout Movement that began in 1907 with Sir Robert Baden-Powell.

The Group has a full membership status in the Palestinian Scout Movement and the Catholic Federation of Scouts in the World.

The mission of the Arab Catholic Scouts - Jerusalem is to contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law, to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society.

This is achieved by...

1. Involving the scout members throughout their formative years in a non-formal educational process.
2. Using a specific method that makes each individual the principal agent of his or her development as a self-reliant, supportive, responsible and committed person.
3. Assisting the scout members to establish a value system based upon spiritual, social and personal principles as expressed in the Promise and Law.

The main objective of the Arab Catholic scouts is reaching the youth in Jerusalem (The old City and its suburbs) by supporting them in their physical, mental and spiritual development, so that they may play constructive roles in the Palestinian society.

Basically the Arab Catholic Scouts in Jerusalem works towards achieving three main aims...

- One is growth in moral strength and character. We may define this as what the boy/girl is himself/herself; his/her personal qualities, his/her values, his/her outlook.

- A second is participating citizenship (the boy's/girl's relationship to others). He/she comes to learn obligations to other people, to the society he/she lives in and hopefully in the near future to the government.

- A third aim of Boy/Girl Scouting is development of physical, mental, and emotional fitness. Fitness includes the body (well-tuned and healthy), the mind (able to think and solve problems), and the emotions (self-control, courage, and self-respect).

To achieve these aims, the Arab Catholic scouts employs as other scouts in the world "the Scout method", a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, hiking and sports.

Organization activities

The scout's activities are in essences based on the mission of the scout group as well as its objectives. The activities range from...

1. Training the scout boys and girls on the essentials of the scouting skills and activities.
2. Training of the musical band that includes the pipes group.
3. Offering fitness sessions for women living in the old city.
4. A Gym and weight lifting for youth of the old city.
5. An internet café.
6. Providing a place for families to spend their leisure time, by providing a billiard table…Ping-Pong …etc.
7. Participating in the different religious and national occasion

Arab Catholic Scouts Association is an old partner of YDD and has cooperated with us in several activities. They have hosted several activities and events and short Term Volunteers through YDD in the past 3 years. The volunteers are expected to work in painting and renovation work inside the association.

One of the main aims of Workcamps is to expose the internationals to Palestinian culture, folklore, heritage and politics, with a focus on the Israeli occupation, illegal violations and continuous attempts to bury Palestinian culture and right to exist in their own country. We believe that working side by side, and living the daily reality of the Palestinian people will give the real picture of the situation on the ground.

Our cultural program consists of meetings with local community leaders, lectures by politicians, feminists and economists, field visits to local associations working in community development and finally documentary films that shows the real meaning of a military occupation.

Old City of Jerusalem – Palestine

In the centre. Volunteers will cook their own food, an excellent way of introducing something from your culture!

200 Euros to be paid upon arrival

IPYL - The International Palestinian Youth League and Hebron Rehabilitation Committee.

This workcamp, is the continuation of last year camp that is connected to the scheme (World Heritage Volunteers - Old city of Hebron) seeks in the first place to protect and renovate old Palestinian homes by bringing participants and volunteers from all over the world to work together with their peers from the city of Hebron and students from the Spanish Renovation School (training center supervised by the HRC), during two weeks. Situation in Hebron city is a complex one because of the sustained Israeli military occupation, and the Israeli continuous attempts to claim this thousands years old city as part of the Israeli heritage. The fact that Hebron is the only place where there are illegal Israeli settlements within the city itself, adds to the difficult situation, and lately the Israeli government wanted to add the Ibrahim Mosque as one of the Israeli heritages in Palestine. IPYL is joining the efforts of the Palestinian Authority and different local organizations to organize this work camp for the second time in this part of the city.

International Palestinian Youth League (IPYL):IPYL is an organization that aims at empowering Palestinian youth through non-formal educational programs, intercultural learning, training, media literacy and youth leadership activities. Since its inception, IPYL has implemented hundreds of activities, including international voluntary Workcamps, exchanges, cross-cultural study trips, leadership seminars, think tank groups and community meetings. By undertaking these activities, IPYL has developed strong alliances with a wide network of individuals and organizations. For more information about IPYL, please visit www.ipyl.org.

The work camp seeks to revive and bring life again into the old part of the city of Hebron which has gone and still, through many instabilities and disturbances resulting from political and economical situation in the city for more than four decades. This situation lead to the evacuation of people from their homes, and the city became like a ghost town. The local committee for rehabilitation, together with the municipality of Hebron and IPYL want to collect all the efforts and the energies to bring Hebron to its normal life by bringing volunteers and tourists to visit the city and enjoy its unique structure and design that goes back to more than 5000 years ago.

The project entails the organization of a work camp in the old city of Hebron with the participation of 15 international volunteers to work with local volunteers (most of them are students at the Spanish Academy for renovation) for two weeks. The work will include...

1- Painting walls in the old city using natural materials.
2- Building together a Mosaic Panel (120 X 180 cm).
3- Assisting the HRC in organizing their international conference titled “The International Conference on the Development of Historical City Centers and Promotion of Their Economic Conditions” which will take place in the 15th anniversary for the HRC (19-21/07). Volunteers will help in translation of documents, preparing all the logistics and technical needs for the conference and be ready for any sundry tasks.

The volunteers will be divided into 3 groups, each will work on different mission and rotating from one place to another.

This project aims at joining and complementing the efforts exerted by the Palestinian Authority and different NGOs in the country to preserve the city’s cultural heritage in an extensive sense, by safeguarding the constitutive elements of its old buildings and ultimately save its entire architectural and social identity, and to contain and encircle the dangers threatening the Old City. The Palestinian Authority had already included the city in its tentative list of the World Heritage and submitted to the UNESCO to be considered in its next meeting.

By living in the old city of Hebron the volunteers will have the chance to visit the families that live in the struggling areas and next to Israeli settlers, where they will experience their real and daily life; they will also attend presentations, documentaries and conferences organized by the local associations and society. IPYL has organized more than 61 international voluntary work camps in many different topics and themes. However, this project is the second one within the framework of the World Heritage Volunteers direction.

The volunteers will be hosted in rented flats near the old part of the city. Food will be prepared by the volunteers themselves (kitchen group-daily) or provided by some sponsors if any.

final and detailed program as well as the arrival note will be sent one month before the camp starts.

Hebron (Old City)

200 Euros to be paid upon arrival

IPYL and the Municipality of Ramallah

This workcamp is taking part in cooperation with Ramallah Municipality and aims at creating an international voluntary work momentum in Ramallah as a first step towards reviving the voluntary service spirit and atmosphere in Palestine.

The camp will also include wide variety of multi cultural activities around the time of the camp. It will bring together tens of Palestinian youth from different parts of the country and internationals to work side by side in different activities and actions that will be organized by many local organizations and platforms.

The two weeks workcamp will include construction of side walks for pedestrians, building public garden, the flee market renovation and several other environmental, agricultural works in different sides of Ramallah city. The workcamp will also include wide variety of cultural activities that are taking place during the period of the workcamp. The camp will finish by the first day of the holy month of Ramadan with a celebration and farewell for all the participating volunteers, to give an opportunity for the internationals to live the spiritual rituals of this special month for Muslims in particular and the Palestinian nation in general.

Since the number of volunteers will be very large, the Municipality will arrange a site for the camp in a large school by the center of the city where men and women will stay in separated rooms.

breakfasts will be prepared by the volunteers themselves through the kitchen groups that will be established daily from local and international volunteers, while the dinners and lunches will be provided by donors or the hosting organizations.

The project will be a group of 2 two weeks camps where each group will work on a certain action.

http://www.palestinejn.org/

Ramallah City

200 Euros to be paid upon arrival