We were so busy that we did not get things on the blog in time - this will now happen.
In the meantime, here is the project summary....
CADFA Winter Olympics was one of
a series of exchanges organised by Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association with
Dar Assadaqa, Abu Dis in order to support student twinning initiatives by
creating an opportunity for university students from Britain and Palestine to
meet, learn about each other’s lives and take part in joint activity. This cultural exchange focused on sports.
In January 2014, eight Palestinian
university students from the West Bank (half men, half women) and a leader
travelled to the UK for ten days during which they shared activities including
sports training and friendly sports contests
with students from UK. The plan was to
bring a bigger group, half of them from Gaza, and the first day or two of the
exchange was taken up with anticipation, hope and disappointment because,
although equipped with visas and ready to come, they were unable to travel
through the border at Rafah into Egypt or get to the UK for this project.
Before the exchange the students
in Palestine and in Britain will plan a special day of activities focusing on
university students’ lives in their own country. They prepared pictures and
presentations, food, joint activity and entertainment to show the other group
as part of a residential programme. Our project blog shows the Gaza group in
preparation – and also gives evidence that we were worried about the change
in the political climate since the project application was put in. At that
point, it would have been possible for the Gazan students to travel. We
mounted a campaign to try to get them to travel but unfortunately this was
not possible.
At the beginning of the exchange
visit, the group stayed together in an outdoor centre in the Peak District.
This allowed time to run the 'British
Day' and 'Palestinian Day' that the groups had previously organised. There were
outdoor activities and sports as well as indoor discussions and activities. Students
looked at the products of previous CADFA student exchanges – the book made by ‘Look at Our Lives’ (2011)
and the website made by 'Ma’an: Students Together’ (2013).
On the third day, students travelled in small groups to different northern universities, where they met more students, took part in sporting activities and were able to make a comparison of university life in both countries. Before they left the Peak District, they reviewed what they had learned and prepared for the main part of the project.
They then travelled to London
where they met students from a number of universities that had been involved
in our previous visits. They visited different
campuses and learned about students’ lives and had the opportunity to take part in different sports together. They visited London’s tourist
attractions with other students and did a tour of the Emirates Stadium. . On the day before last there
was a day in a local sports centre dedicated to sport – this was the final
event of our ‘CADFA Winter Olympics’.
The final project day included a
student twinning workshop at University College London, a football event and
a celebration of the project including food, presentations and thanks to
everyone involved.
Following
the event, participants have been asked to organise a feedback events at
their own universities and to contribute photos/ video and reports of these
to the project blog. This is in order to build and strengthen twinning links
between student unions in Palestine and Britain and to gather ideas for
future projects.
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