Diarmaid :)

Diarmaid

This time I am  not going to write a blog about the schools or about our events and activities.
This time I am writing this blog about a special person works in CADFA .
Diarmaid ,who is  Diarmaid ?
He is the manager for CADFA office and CADFA's solicitor .
Humble person ,gentleman and kind person he is here always to help us with anything we need .
not also with our work as a  volunteers also with our life and the difficulties that anyone could face when you arrive to a new city.
Although he's busy all the time with a serious work, hes always there for us.
supporting us with everything we need and taking care of us.
Despite he get annoyed by the volunteers sometimes at the office while we talking to each others and working because the office is small, He keep saying with a smile hold on guys- his famous sentences-or be quit for a 10 m, He is ready to answer any of our questions about the work .
I wish to him all the best and all the success in his life , he deserve the best.

Nadeen

Letter to Camden New Journal

Dear Mr Gordon,

I am writing to you to inform you about a sponsored fast me and four other Camden teenagers (Ryan, Oonagh, Saoirse and Lucy) took part in on Saturday 4th July. We are part of the CADFA (Camden Abu-Dis Friendship Association) organisation promoting Human Rights in Palestine and building friendship links between British and Palestinian people. I am part of the youth links team between Abu Dis and Camden and I have been involved in visits where Palestinian children have come to London. We decided as a team that a form of raising money for the charity could be taking part in a day of Ramadan. As all of us had never fasted before, we found the experience a lot harder than we expected. It was a hot day and as we couldn't drink anything including water we found the experience very challenging. At the end of the day we all met up in a restaurant in Kentish town with other CADFA members and volunteers, including those who celebrate Ramadan every year, to break our fast.

After taking part in the sponsored fast we now have a lot of respect for those who fast for the entire month and we have a greater understanding of the importance of Ramadan for Muslims. We look forward to hearing from you. 

Yours sincerely, 

Sorcha Fletcher 

A flower for Gaza

To remember all she killed children in the last bombing in Gaza, we asked people in the streets to pick on name of the list with more then 500 children, who died in the last year and write it on a paper and draw a flower next to it. All this flowers were posted on a big paper, so at the end we created one big piece all together. Sometimes I was really surprised how many people were standing around our little table.

 

New Volunteer- David

Hi all,

My name is David. I am a student from Kings College London and former events officer of the student society KCL Action Palestine (KCLAP). Having worked previously with Cadfa, through my involvment with KCLAP, I am very excited to be joining this amazing team of Cadfa volunteers. Cadfa is a brilliant charity, which helps to raise awareness here in the UK of the humanitarian situation in Palestine by fostering interchange between the British and Palestinian community. I myself have participated in Cadfa student exchanges and have found them to be wonderful opportunities to get a broader picture of the occupation by talking to Palestinians themselves and hearing first hand experiences.

My main focus during my time at Cadfa will be to encourage more students to get involved with Cadfa and participate in the student exchanges. Naturally the more people who are aware of the humanitarian situation in Palestine, the stronger the voice for upholding Palestinian rights is. 

I can't wait to be speaking to as many new faces as possible and spreading the word about all the great things Cadfa has to offer.

David Robinson 

Emilio left

Emilio left us one week ago .
We have been working together since April, Emilio is a very active person,  had done so many things and  worked with us for so long
I truly miss him now, We used to work together in the office every day.
 Before working at CADFA Emilio didn't know  about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
He gained knowledge and information's about the conflict, the culture, the food and the society also. He met Palestinians and he was a leader at the youth visit from Palestine and the women's visit.
He told me that he really enjoyed his time here at CADFA working in the schools and the universities


Nadeen

Ramadan in London

Ramadan in London with CADFA

The holy month came and we started fasting in London. As a volunteer in CADFA I work as usual ,I teach Arabic every Friday, I write blogs and organize events in order to spread CADFA out and to support CADFA.
Ramadan here is different in London and we don't live the Ramadan Atmosphere not like back home.
There is no Athan -when they called to pray at the mosque -so we break our fast here according to the clock. Also in London the sun never sets, we start fasting at 2:40 am and we break our fast at 9:25 pm It's new good experience to spend Ramadan outside the country .
So we don't really feel like its Ramadan here unless that if we break our fast together.Otherwise we wouldn't enjoy it if we break our fast alone.
The good thing is that I started learning how to cook alone.
 It is nice to spend Ramadan nights with the friends, sometimes  me and Dunja  break our fast together, we cook together and we have our Suhor together, We went to the mosque to pray Taraweh to enjoy Ramadan in London.
 We also went to Ramadan tent at SOAS. It was good, we broke our fast according to Athan and we prayed Maghrib together then we started eating.

It is really nice and amazing to practice Ramadan together with friends.
London is a beautiful amazing city so it doesn't matter where you are during any special occasion, it matters with whom you are and how to plan you your day.

Nadeen

Emilo is leaving us :(

Emilio our EVS volunteer from Spain will leave us soon. From October 21st we have been working together. We  have spent sunny, warm days and cold, dark days together. I am really happy for him, because he  has found a new job.  Yesterday I invited him and the others for Iftaar. We had a lovely evening together and Thursday Annika will invite us for Iftaar and finally on Saturday we will have a CADFA Iftaar for Emilio. Some of the youth group are planing a sponsored fast for this day to raise some money for CADFA. I am sure we will have some lovely nights. Definitely I will miss you Emilio!