The Youth Development Department – YDD was founded to work with a development perspective, and to work as a professional and technical umbrella for the youth sector in Jerusalem, with and through the existing youth bodies in Jerusalem, basing its activities locally, regionally and internationally.
Local Community:
The Schniller School provided services and help for orphans and less fortunate children until 1948. The Schniller School was built on a huge area and most of this land now is not being used. The School has a Guest House, a Camping Site, a Gymnastic Hall, outdoor fields, a church. The school is located right next to a Palestinian refugee camp. With all those mentioned facilities, still the School is considered to be poor, because most of these facilities were built through donations, donations that do not provide maintenance and running costs.
Project Description:
One of the main areas of YDD, as a regional goal, is the will to give more to the less privileged and orphan students, and the Schniller School can be the best location for such a work. The Schniller school was first established in Jerusalem on 1860 and provided services and help for orphans and less fortunate children until 1948. In 1959 the Theodor Schniller school started building its permanent location in Amman, where in 1966, King Hussein opened its premises. The Theodor Schniller School is helping children in need who suffer from family problems. The school is taking care of children and providing them with hosting, clothes, meals and many other facilities as improving their hobbies and sport.
Volunteers will have different voluntary tasks to be done during the 2 weeks working camp such as cleaning the School site; painting the School walls; landscaping and planting; gardening and cultivation of seedlings; helping in building indoor or outdoor climbing wall or rock (this is a dream for some of the School's staff to provide for the children).
In 2007 and 2008 The Beauty of Desert workcamps have been started to build a garden in order to facilitate the space for the children of the school, this year we are willing to go on and continue what has been done in the previous workcamps as a follow up.
Accommodation:
The participants will be hosted inside the guest house related to the school.
Cultural Programme:
The afternoons and evenings are mostly occupied by lectures, parties, documentary films and field visits. Cultural activities will be directed towards learning about the Jordanian history and culture. Furthermore, cultural trips will be organized during the workcamp to the different historical and important places in Jordan such as Petra, Aqaba and Wadi Rum, Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea.
« I appreciate that constructive criticism may be more useful to you than praise but I honestly have no gripes that I could possibly mention. I can only thank you for the experience that I really enjoyed and will undoubtedly follow-up in the coming year. »