Playgrounds for the Palestinian Children

As playgrounds are rare in Palestine, we have initiated a program of playground building for Gaza, West Bank and south Lebanon in villages and refugee camps, close to schools or inside nurseries. Throughout the years, we managed with the collaboration of Playground Builders in Vancouver to establish more than 20 playgrounds where children can play safely.

Pre-School Education for Gaza Children

This project aimed to improve scholar performance of kids aged between 4 to 6 in northern Gaza by modernizing and readapting 10 kindergartens and establishing healthy behaviors among children, parents and teachers. Specifically, this project aimed to:

• provide a safe, stimulating and healthy space where girls and boys can play and learn.
• To improve parents trust in the infrastructures and staff of the ten targeted kindergartens
• Children, parents and teachers adopts healthy behaviors which will reduce contamination and infection risks in the modernized and readapted kindergartens

More than 750 girls and 750 boys were benefited directly from this project in northern Gaza, at a cost of $95,000.

Building of a Cultural Village in the Gaza Strip

This project aimed to revitalize and teach values and cultural practices of the Palestinian heritage to vulnerable population close to Beit Lahya (Izbat Hanoun, Jaabalia, Bedouin Village and Izbat Beit Hanoun Tours) by building a cultural village. It includes a Women Centre, a library, a craft room, a ball and singingroom, an administrative center, a cafeteria, a playground and a park. This project was financed by UNDP and UNICEF. Medical Aid for Palestine helps this project by installing a playground and park at a cost of $20 000.

The Silwan Athletic Club

The Silwan Athletic Club is a community club serving the needs of the neighborhood of Silwan, East Jerusalem. This club was established in 1965 as an athletic one, but has rapidly transformed to meet the needs of an endangered community. We aim to actively contribute to the development of our community in Silwan and in Jerusalem. We do this through putting emphasis on supporting our youth and women, and helping them to achieve their full potential. We also aim to address the needs and desires of the community as a whole, especially in the areas of sports and the preservation and development of cultural knowledge and identity. Specific projects that we organize are soccer leagues for various age groups, boy scouts and girl scouts clubs, after-school educational courses, cultural events and festivals, summer camps for children, and much more.

Emergency Assistance for Gaza and Hebron

In December 1992, MAP and Development and Peace made an urgent appeal for assistance to the Canadian International development Agency-International Humanitarian Assistance Division (CIDA-IHA), The request was in response to appeals from health care facilities in the Gaza Strip and the Hebron area who were suffering dramatic shortages in medical material and supplies. These shortages were due to an increase in the frequency and intensity of conflicts and the inevitable increase in casualties, combined with the imposition of prolonged curfews. The project was approved in March 1993, The assistance transcends factionalism and ideological or political outlooks in order to concentrate on those agencies that provide the most effective and critical health services in Gaza and Hebron. Approximately 60% of the funds went to Gaza; the remaining 40% went to Hebron.