We had 94 Jewish and Arab children between the ages of six to twelve, with one from Jaffa and one from Nazareth .

 

Costa Mansour and Lutfia Gnime were project directors with Mary Manassa responsible for the arts.

 

Besides a team of 8 counselors, we accepted 8 summer camp graduates who miss the summer camp and desire to volunteer. No doubt some of them will be our future counselors.

It seems to us that the joy of the encounter between Jewish and Arab children is facilitated by our long experience with creating a conducive program in which we have learnt to balance between educational activities and fun. 

 

Outdoor trips are a great responsibility. In the heat of summer the well being of the children, as well as their ability to integrate what they are exposed to, occupies the full attention of the counselors.The outdoor trips included religious, historic and archaeological sites in Jaffa, in the Latroun area, the caves of Beit Govrin, the monastery of Beit Gamal.

 

 

Fostering love and respect for Nature we visited a working agricultural farm and had an exciting jeep ride in rough terrain, which evoked great enthusiasm. 

 

Creative activities are central in our summer camp. Mary Manassa who has been with us for many years is by now an art therapist. Art in the summer camp is basically created from natural or discarded materials. For example, this year, in their trip to the agricultural farm, the children were permitted to gather wheat stalks from which they weaved baskets.

 

 

   

 

 

 

At the end of their performance, the older participants read out what they had written about their hope for the world. To see Arab and Jewish children standing together in all seriousness and read out their dreams for the world was itself a dream come true.