Busy Saturday

Hi CADFA Friends,

Last Saturday was a very busy day. At first we went to a church to have a stall at their Christmas market. To be honest there were not so many people, but the people who were there visited our stall and showed interest. I enjoyed the nice and calm atmosphere.

This was just the first part of our Saturday. The second part was an activity at a busy place near Mornigtan Cresent tube station. We put up our wall, gave out some leaflets and wanted to get signatures for our petition. Our goal was to get as many signatures as possible. Sometimes it was really nice to talk with people, because they showed you their interest. This motivated me. But there are also people who are dismissive. They give you the feeling that you are doing something bad, but its important to know that most of these people are just interested in their own lives. All in all it was so cold outside, that at the end we were really happy to finish, but it was really worth it, because we got a lot of signatures, told  a lot of people about CADFA and had some really nice chats.

Dunja 

Time runs

Hi everyone,


Time goes so quickly. Now I am here for more than a month and I am really getting used to it. I have learned so much about CADFA and how their links work, have met a lot of interesting people and slowly I  am getting  to know about this huge city.

On Thursday we had the UN Children's Day celebration. There was a talk from Sir Vincent Fean about his time as a Consul General in Jerusalem. For me it was very interesting, because he opened a new view for me and gave me an idea of what his position was about. Coincidentally, the 20th November is his birthday like mine. Nandita was so nice to get a cake for us and everyone sang Happy Birthday. I was touched.

Dunja  

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Hi CADFA friends!

25 years ago, 20 of November 1989 governments worlwide promised all children the same rights  in UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The convention everybody knows with the name CRC and change the understanding of childen's rights, because they start to be seen legally as members of society .

These rights describe what a child needs to survive, grow, and live up to their potential in the world. They apply equally to every child, no matter who they are or where they come from. The Convention of the Rights of the Child is the most complete statement of children’s rights ever produced and is the most widely-ratified international human rights treaty in history. UK signed it in 1990, and it came into UK law in 1992.

Article 6.
1. States Parties recognize that every child has the ineherent right to life.
2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.

CADFA wants celebrate this important day with a big event, because we think the CRC is an internacional document to fight for the rights of the child and protect them around the world.

Emilio Sanchez.

 

Exhibition Saturday

Last Saturday, 15th November 2014, the EVS Volunteers in London went to demonstrate in front of the  Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street (Westminster)
In this famous street there were different groups supporting Palestine, demonstrating about the situation there.

Emilio and Dunja, tried to get  signatures  for a  CADFA petition and talked with people about our charity and our next event on 20th November (UN Children's Day) Some of them were members and had met CADFA before, because they are involved in different organisations or movements in London to support Palestine.

Now, you can see a photo report which they made about this day.

  

Learning fast with CADFA

Hello Cadfa friends!

The time is going so fast. I can remember when I started in October! and now I can go to the universities, schools, community centres and I am not lost on the way. I think Cadfa offers the opportunity to meet other projects, charities or social organisations here in London and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to get to know about them.

When we were at SOAS I felt really well. We are creating links with them because we want to make some activities in the university when the Palestinian people are here, work on blogs, etc. We also want to involve new people from the universities to do projects and activities with us to promote Human Rights in London.
On the next day, I was at Maria Fidelis School and it was really cool, because we started a new 'Lunch Club' with some people who are studying there. They are really interested in doing activities about the situation in Palestine and being involved in our school's exchange in the future. I think I will have a really good time with them during this year.
On Friday, I visited the Calthorpe Project with Dunja my co-worker and it was really nice to see the work which they are doing at the community centre. They have a garden project  and they plant and eat these plants! It was really interesting! I could taste a flower called 'nasturtium'  and also I was really surprised when I met the girls who are involved in the project because a lot of them were speaking in Spainsh and it was like  being at home.

Thinking about all these things that I did just in a month, I am really happy about my time here, because I think I will learn a lot of things, I will meet a lot of people and I will have more skills to be involve in a beautiful London life.

Emilio Sanchez.

Student Twinning Links

To make a book with people in the other part of the world (Palestine) its the best example to twinning links. Students started in 2011 taking pictures about the differences to freedom in London and Palestine although they were living far apart from each other. They had decided to be in contact for a long time sending pictures, talking, and discussing about editing a book in London. And they started a very important project.

The "Twining links Project" creates a lot of material, such as books, leaflets, blogs, websites, and campaigns.

The groups in Palestine and the groups in London create different campaigns about student life in Palestine under occupation. For example a street campaign and petitions (Adam & Johar) This and visits from Palestinian students help to raise awareness of the situation in Palestine, this is the best way to reach people who are unaware. The main universities involved are Al Quds University, in Palestine, SOAS, UCL and Middlesex in London.

Student life in the Al Quds University is very different from student life in London. The Seperation Wall around West Bank seperates Jerusalem from the campus of the Al Quds University, so many students have a long and difficult journey to their University. Also tear gas is common in their student life and this causes disruption of their education. This is one of the reasons why student links have been established.

Dunja &  Emilio

EVS Training week

I really loved the EVS Training week. It was from  28th October to 31st October. In these 4 days I met a lot of other EVS volunteers from all over the world. Before I arrived in Derby, I thought I would just meet volunteers from Europe, but I was surprised, because there was also a girl from Egypt and two guys from Palestine. I found out, that the EVS project is not only between  EU countries, it's just important that one EU country is involved in the exchange. So this is why there were also people from Egypt and Palestine.

These 4 days were very long and intensive, in a positive way. We had programmes from the morning till the evening and spoke about our responsibilities as an EVS volunteer, British culture and many other topics. At every free minute most of the volunteers took the chance to exchange ideas, thoughts and experiences. For me this was very helpful, I am more motivated and now I feel more prepared for the next month.

On Thursday our group of about 40 people separated into  a lot of small groups of 4 or 5 people. Every group was given a country from the UK, for example Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales.  We were given Scotland and my group discussed which part of Scotland we wanted to present to the other volunteers, so we get an understanding of the UK and get more motivated to travel around. We didn't agree on the part of Scotland we wanted to choose, so we decided to talk about the Highlands and Edinburgh. I was so fascinated with the Highlands. There are so many things to do and I wish to go there one day. 

In the evenings, after the dinner, the volunteers would get together and get to know each other better. We talked, shared stories, laughed and had a lot of fun together. So I can say I got to know really nice people and made good friends. Hopefully, there will be another EVS Training week and we see each other a second time.

Dunja

The first day of a long journey

On Tuesday, my last morning in Germany, I was very lucky. Most flights were canceled, but not mine.  I arrived in London, finally! It was so cold, but I was really looking forward to the welcome-meeting in the evening. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. What kind of people will I meet? What kind of food will we eat?  At the end of the evening I had the answers. It was an Arabic restaurant and the food was very very very good. I had "Kafta". And the people were great! They asked me a lot of questions and I really wanted to get to know them. I felt very welcome.

I met Emilio, my co-worker for the next 10 month and Zak a good friend of CADFA. With both of them I did a London-Tour on Wednesday. Our first destination was a hill in Greenwich Park, which was very far away, but it was worth it. The view was wonderful! Then we popped into the Maritime Museum. In London all museums are free!!! I never will be bored. It 's my first time in London, so I had to see Big Ben. We took the bus to Westminster walked around and had some fish and chips. I think they are the best things, you can do in London on your first day!!!

My little Cadfa adventure

Palestine Wall

Hi to everybody! I am so happy to be here today, but I am a bit nervous too because for me, to write in English and explain the reasons why I am here in London, it is really difficult.
I am Spanish, I am 25 years old and I am a European Volunteer. My name is Emilio Sanchez, and I will be here with CADFA in London for 10 months.

I am here for many different reasons. First, because I want to help with Palestinian problems, working to support Palestinian society and Cadfa is doing good projects in Abu Dis, with students, women,  youth, etc. On the other hand, I am really interested to be here for my professional development in international affairs  and in particular to create projects with other countries and communities. CADFA gives me the opportunity to learn about the structure of a charitiy in United Kingdom in this area. And finally,I hope to  improve my English because this is very important in the 21st century.

I hope to enjoy my time with Cadfa in London with all my volunteer friends. There will be different visits from Palestine and I hope to learn a lot of  this culture, and their lives in Palestine, their lifestyle, etc.
 Today I finish my first week in Cadfa and I am really happy to have met a lot of people and I want to say 'Thank you very much' because the welcome week has been really beautiful.

It's the last day at LS U school,we have finished !!We had such a great meal together. The girls enjoyed their time and we had a new person join us, Corinne. She is an Irish teacher who teaches at (LSU) school. I feel so happy that I could do something for my country, having 10 people in one Palestinian club is really useful and it's going to be much easier for the next volunteers to continue our job ( Lucile and I ).The  thing I have most enjoyed in (CADFA) is going to the schools. Bye Bye LSU school.

Cambridge Event

on saturday the 21th we did an event in cambridge and it was the last day for lucile withe us in cadfa, it was nice we hade good 2 houers befor we start the event many thing happend maney people gave talks lawoson who was volunteer in palestine me and shahad from palestine her and luile (the frenchey) for sure cadfa stall , palestinan food we made, we talked about the life under the ocupation it was amazing to see new people to talk to new people

Thinking about what we've learned

Sadly it's Lucile's last Friday volunteer meeting as she has to go back to France at the end of her four months here.  We'll miss her.

So now we are talking about what we've learned in our time in CADFA.  Lots of things....

 English language

 Way of life in London

 About Palestine

Confidence in speaking in front of a lot of people

I did many things I didn’t imagine I would do – everything is different

 Communications with people, improved

I made new friends

Being part of a project, seeing the idea growing, imagining it, starting to implement it,

Preparing presentations

Lots of communications, links

 Ways to deal with students

Here I am starting from zero, it's been a massive experience in all ways

I don’t know everything, and in this new place I have to get used to people, it takes time

 It’s hard to live with a family, it can be noisy

 Being more organised at home specially sharing

 I learned from Cadfa to move on, keep going, if it doesn’t work, try something else.

You have to go in little steps

 I learned about myself, did different things

I am a perfectionist so it’s sometimes hard to start things. I learned that you have to start to do it to develop the idea.

On Saturday the 7th of June was CADFA Volunteer's  Day,  some of  Cadfa volunteers came to the event and enjoyed their time there.
The volunteers spoke about their experience with CADFA whether it was in London or in Palestine and it was a good chance to encourage people to get involved to CADFA.

We created a game at LSU school to show the British students the difficultly of movement in Palestine, and what Palestinians people face everyday to travel from Hebron to Nablus 
it was very useful and interesting , 
!! The girls said ''it's not fair !'' How could this people live in this situation.

Yesterday I went to west Wimbledon for Palestine Solidarity Campaign event .  I talked about growing up under the occupation. The people enjoyed the talk and asked many questions about the situation in Palestine. I brought with me  the CADFA  stall and Palestinian refreshments such as hummus,olives and Palestinian bread.
I talked about my town Deir Sammit, and how my people are suffering, I tried to explain for the people as much as I could  about my life under the occupation !
And I  was looking  to build a twinning links between my village ( Dier Saummet) and London. 

Everyone loves London,not only me ;)

There's nowhere else like London. Nothing at all, anywhere.Vivienne Westwood

London is my beloved city,

I am so happy  being here , I enjoy my time and this is a great opportunity for me, I hope that it  will not be the last visit :) 

We went to Kingsgate Community Centre  on  Thursday in order to talk about CADFA and to look for volunteers. Annika and I, talked to women's organisations there, and told them about CADFA and if they would like to be in touch with us,and to do some events with us.They welcomed a lot .

Back to Knighton

After a year since I visited Knighton in Wales last summer with a lot of Palestinian  kids I went there. It was so nice to see my friends that I met there  last summer and a lot of them had visited Palestine before and they visited me in Azzoun. I had a long busy two weeks there with stalls, presentations, talks in two schools, doing some work in the woods  building a storage house for fire wood,a lot of cooking Palestinian food (Maqluba), talking to MP MR Roger William  talking to the church  group in Knighton, a lot of busy work , and talking to another group at Llanidloes about the Nakbah in Palestine. It was nice and I liked it , and  because I am  from  a small village so the life there was the same life I am  used  to  back in Azzoun, a farmer's  life. 

Now I will  let you see the photos that I took while  I was  there.