Project summary from the student exchange in January 2014

CADFA Winter Olympics was one of a series of exchanges organised by Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association with Dar Assadaqa, Abu Dis.  In January 2014, Palestinian university students travelled to the UK for ten days of activities with students from the UK. The plan was to bring sixteen students (eight from Gaza and eight from the West Bank) to work with sixteen students from the UK – half of the group being women and half of them men. The aim was 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.

Before the exchange the students in Palestine and in Britain each planned 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. The Gaza group also prepared, as we all expected them to travel. As the political climate made it look less easy, we mounted a campaign to try to get them to travel but unfortunately this was not possible.

The beginning part of the visit was dominated by the difficulty and in the end sadly the impossibility of the Gazan group leaving Gaza and joining the exchange. The first day or two of the exchange was taken up with anticipation of the Gazans’ visit, hope, and in the end, 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. We were able to include an extra participant of Palestinian origin who had just moved to Britain and an extra leader to help the Palestinian group.

At the beginning of the exchange visit, the group stayed together in an outdoor centre in the Peak District.  The first two days were 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 and discussed student twinning. 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 do a first comparison of the 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 visited London’s tourist attractions and the Emirates Stadium. Each day they had the  opportunity to play sport together, with a different sport on each day and in each place. The final events of our ‘CADFA Winter Olympics’ were a day in a local sports centre dedicated to sport and a football tournament on the last day, which also included a student twinning workshop (open to others) at University College London and a celebration of the project including food, presentations and thanks to everyone involved.

Students made plans to organise feedback events at their own universities. Pictures and video of the project were gathered at the events and put on a blog.  The activities of this visit and new links made will strengthen the connections between student unions in Palestine and Britain and contribute to the next visit (funded by Erasmus+) in early 2015.