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Summer games offer fun for Gaza's children
3 October 2008
This summer, one of DFID’s key partners in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories (OPTs) held its second Summer Games in Gaza.
A quarter of a million children in 324 locations took part in the UNRWA
festivities. To the people it serves, UNRWA - the UN Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East - can make the difference not only between hope
and desperation, but sometimes between life and death.
The Summer Games are the largest youth recreational initiative to have taken
place in Gaza to date. Children learnt to swim in the sea, competed in a variety
of sports, did drama, and visited the newly opened Museum of Archaeology, where
they found out about the ancient history of where they live. Each child also
received a pair of training shoes, a t-shirt and a daily snack.
A chance of normality
Nearly
half the population of Gaza is under 15. Normally, these children have
little or nothing to do during the long summer holidays. The Summer Games offer
a chance to have fun, learn practical skills, and release the pressures that can
build up in young people living in restricted conditions.
One Summer Games location is Beit Hanoun – a town more often associated with frequent violence and Israeli incursions. Like the rest of the Gaza Strip, Beit Hanoun faces severe economic hardship, continued Israeli restrictions on supplies and intermittent factional violence. This has resulted in immense psychological stress amongst the local population. The UNRWA Summer Games offer a chance of some normality for the town's children.
As Lubna Ghali, a camp organiser based in the town, says:
"Our Summer Games bring joy, happiness and hope into the lives of Beit Hanoun's children. Those from marginalised and underprivileged areas are in most need of care and attention…We ensure that problems related to stress can have an outlet through these exceptional programmes."
Don't forget the girls
UNRWA
also makes an extra effort to ensure that girls participate. While visiting the
Summer Games, Caroline Harris from DFID’s Palestinian Team met 10-year-old Anna.
Every summer Anna spends most of the holidays at home helping her mother around the house. Not getting much of an opportunity to play with friends, things can get boring.
However, the Games enabled Anna to take part in activities for two to three weeks of the summer with other girls from her area.
"I am having so much fun," said Anna. "I have made friends, painted and learned to swim… I had never been in the sea before."
When asked about her hopes for the future, Anna said:
"I hope to study at university outside of Gaza. I love my family but I get scared sometimes when there is fighting, and I want to see the world."
Opportunities easily take for granted
Ghadeer Amawi,13,
told a similar story:
"Here I do something… I swim, draw and build sand castles… I feel sad when it is time to go home. At home, I don’t do anything but help my mother. I feel bored all day. But here, I feel there isn’t enough time in the day to practice everything!"
Noting the success of this year’s Summer Games, John Ging, UNRWA’s Director of Operations in Gaza, said:
"It is so important to provide children with the opportunity that children in other countries often take for granted. The potential for a better future will only be achieved if Gaza’s younger generation is provided with the semblance of a normal life – creative learning experiences, room for self-expression, and opportunities to develop their skills."
UNRWA staff have shown considerable determination and courage in making the Summer Games such a success. Last year's launch happened only days after the violent takeover of Gaza by Hamas, and UNRWA staff faced physical dangers to ensure that the Summer Games started on time.
Resistance by Islamist groups has also been a challenge. Last year, when an UNRWA guard and three children were shot by those who opposed the Games, UNRWA relied on community support to ensure that they continued. This year, UNRWA has undertaken extraordinary efforts to persuade the Israeli authorities to relax their restrictions on imports into Gaza and allow in materials necessary for the Games.
John Barnes joins in festivities
On the final day of the 2008 Summer Games, former Liverpool and England footballer John Barnes and son Jamie joined 11,000 children as they piled into the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City for the closing festivities.
Barnes played in a short football match with two teams of Gazan children and danced the traditional Palestinian Dabke with a group of boys.
UNRWA remains one of DFID’s most important partners in the Middle East, providing basic services (health, education and social services) and essential humanitarian aid to Gaza’s 1 million registered refugees and an estimated 4.6 million Palestinian refugees across the region. In 2007, DFID committed £100 million to UNRWA over five years, a funding arrangement that allows for better planning by the agency.
