colouring pens for projects at the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem

Everyone loves Sharpies! 

I decided to spend the money donated by my fellow worker at the book packing warehouse on Sharpies, and to trust that somehow I'd figure out who to give them to.

On Tuesday, our delegation had a meeting at the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem.  We met people at the Lajee Centre who had grown up in the camp and now organize activities such as summer camps and workshops.

The Camp hosts refugees displaced from surrounding villages during the 'Nakba' (catastrophe), so they have been there since 1948.  Just across the street was a poster, marking the spot where a 13 year old boy had been shot by a sniper just 3 weeks earlier, outside the UN building.

Families living in the camp are waiting to return to their respective villages, they have been waiting now for 67 years. They use the symbol of a key to express the right to return to their villages, and keys can be seen painted on many walls around the camp.  Conditions are cramped, and the supply of basic services such as water and electricity is unreliable.  We saw bullet holes in water tanks. Schools and clinics are provided by the UN, but funds for refugees are also need to support the current refugee crisis in Europe, so there is less aid available for people in places such as the Aida Refugee Camp.

I hope the Sharpies will be useful.

There were many powerful images on the walls around the camp and the message was clear, they are living in knowledge that one day this injustice will be resolved and they will return to their homelands. The names of these 27 villages to which the refugees will one day return are marked on walls in the camp, and the people wait.  








My impression was that people living in the camp express themselves through writing and drawing,  I thought this one of a tiger was particularly striking, 'HERE ONLY TIGER CAN SURVIVE'.