FIRST DAY AT ABU DIS BOYS SCHOOL

Today small groups from grade 7,8 & 9 at Abu Dis Boys School met with the CADFA volunteers for the first time. The boys were excited about the opportunity to be involved in the twinning project and to learn about life in the UK from children their own age. Some of them had been involved in CADFA projects before and most had been to Dar Assadaqa (Friendship House) to have fun, make friends and practice their English.

The boys had many questions they wanted to ask the students at Hamstead …

·      What are your names?
·       How old are you?
·       Where is the school and what does it look like?
·       What are your teachers like?
·       Where is your favourite place in London?
·       How many brothers and sisters do you have?
·       What is the weather like in London?
·       What subjects do you study?
·       What football team do you support?

All the boys had interesting stories to tell about their school and life in Palestine. Abu-Dis boys school has 600 boys coming to the school every day and the classes have up to 40 students. The boys love playing football and basketball. Some of them support Barcelona and some support Real Madrid!

They also wanted to say that the Israeli occupation is very disruptive to their studies. Sometimes the school has to be closed because tear gas is thrown into the school. Can you imagine that! They also say that some of their friends have been taken by soldiers, which means their friends cannot learn at school. They cannot enter their capital city, Jerusalem, because of the occupation wall, which makes them feel sad.

Next week is Eid, a Muslim holiday, which means the boys get next week off school, so next time they will tell Hamstead about their holiday. The boys look forward to meeting the students at Hamstead and understanding more about their lives! 

FIRST SCHOOL SKYPE MEETING BETWEEN LONDON AND ABU-DIS

Today children from Abu-Dis Boys School met with children from Hampstead School, Camden for the first time using Skype. Although the meeting was short, it was a great opportunity for the children to introduce themselves and meet their twinning partners from London and Palestine. As it was the first ever CADFA School Skype meeting there were a few technical problems, which will be fixed for next time. The kids had many questions and stories to ask and tell each other, but did not have enough time today, however they were excited and enthusiastic to speak more next time. The children in Dar Assadaqa left a video message for the kids in London full of good wishes for future meetings. Everyone at Dar Assadaqa is looking forward to building on this opportunity and to share more projects in the near future. 

Hello all at Hampstead School and Abu Dis Boys' School,

TAREK - This is a picture of our new volunteer from Palestine in his first days in London.

Welcome to the new school year! 

The Hampstead-Abu Dis Schools friendship link can begin with our first meeting this academic year on Wednesday the 2nd of October at 1.30pm UK time (3.30pm Palestinian time).

Is there any chance of some students from each school speaking to each other via Skype at this time?

Khalil

This is one of the Abu Dis Boys School students who came to Britain on a CADFA visit in August: Khalil.

We had a prize for the best diary of the visit: Khalil and one other boy (not from Abu Dis) won the prize.

Here is the blog of that visit: 2013commonground.blogspot.co.uk

Update on the kids' visit from Palestine

Update on the kids' visit from Palestine

Following the Israelis’ holding the head teacher from Abu Dis Boys' School at the border to Jordan, our 16 Palestinian visitors including 12 children did not manage to get to their flight on Sunday. They had been planning to join us for five days in Devon followed by a week in London.

It’s hard to describe how disappointing this is. The very best we cando now is to bring the whole group to Britain NEXT SUNDAY. This means that the days in Devon cannot happen, this time, and the programme will need to be reorganised completely.

We are taking up the case of Mazen Salahaldin, the Headteacher who has not been allowed to travel. We would be grateful if you would help by asking your MP about it and by getting press attention for this if you can.

Amer

Hampstead School

information about Palestine 

Hampstead tree