New EVS volunteers arrive in London!

"Well....it's a huge city

"....more beautiful than I imagined. Last night on the train I saw the bridge and the river, I liked it...

"Today we looked round many parts, we've been outside the British Museum and the British Library...

"I saw a store called Costa which reminds me of a customer in my shop in Palestine...

I still don't believe I am in London. But I am very happy to meet Suzan and Tarek and the whole CADFA team. And this is the first time I eat Palestininian food..

[This is Palestinian food from an English cook!]

"Mujadara la nas im'adara"

"You told me that there's a huge clock - that was the British Library... We saw another one yesterday when we were on the way... I saw American banks [where?]... We went through the British Museum and a lot of the university...

[the secret here is that they got LOST!]

We had to charge up the Oyster cards...

The weather was good...

EVS Group B

This is an early picture of Group B looking really cold on Hampstead Heath :)

A Sunday Lunch time at CADFA...

On Sunday 27th of January CADFA organised a lunch. This day was organised in order to let volunteers talk about the volunteering experience. This event was open for everybody. Indeed, we had CADFA’s members but also peope who are not yet CADFA’s members. This day was an opportunity for me to talk about my voluntering experience with CADFA but also an oppotunity for Noor and Tamara who are from Palestine. At the end, the English volunteers who had come back after 3 months in Palestine spoke about the same subject.

This day allowed all of us for I think everybody share our experience and meet new people. 

One of our Palestinian volunteers writes...

Ehab was our first Palestinian volunteer to finish his term here

(Above he is getting his Youthpass certificate).

He writes...

I came to London through the EVS (European Voluntary Service)  which is one of Youth in Action projects. I stayed for three months.  During my time I worked with CADFA (Camden Abu Dis Friendship  Association) on two projects: the first one was Arabic teaching in schools and in the evening a class  for adults, and the second one was agriculture.

The first project went very well , and I had many student coming regularly in both schools and evening class , however my second project did not go as well as the first one, because of the  rainy and cold weather of London ,that did not allow us to do  outdoor planting project in the school gardens.

I used to go to a three schools a week (Acland Burghley, Hampstead and Maria Fideles )where I used to teach Arabic and  tell the students about Palestine. Also I used to take part in the after school club in London Wildlife Trust in Hackney borough where I used to help in teaching students. The work I was doing was very challenging because of the difficulty of the Arabic language and the lack of information that people have about Palestine because of the media.

During my first month I lived in Camden and for my second and third month I lived in Hackney, with Sally Haywell.

In my first day in London I was very amazed by everything, the old buildings, the buses, the trains and the technological development of the city.  At the beginning I started becoming very stressed from it because it life in it  was very fast and crowded, also the difficult of the transport  system, but with time I became used to it and I start enjoying its beauty and cultural diversity. After that I start seeing the difference between life in England and life in Palestine and how  it feels to leave free with no fear or restriction on your movement or beliefs.

It is very amazing to be able to move and travel with safely with no worries, which is a lot different from what I am used to in Palestine, therefore I made the most of it while I was still in England, I visited many cities and areas to try to see the most of England.

Most of the English people are really nice ,they are very helpful and kind ,but the sad thing is that most of them so not appreciate the freedom and the luxury and independence they are leaving in, also most of them don’t know  about what is happening in the world outside England especially the things that arecaused by their own government.                                       

New volunteers in the CADFA office, Camden

In Abu Dis before leaving

In London before the welcome meal

Volunteers training... some going to Palestine,
some just arrived in London

Ehab telling people why he is here

The really exciting news this week is the arrival of our four EVS volunteers from Palestine and France: Noor, Sabrina, Tamara and Ehab.  Look forward to working together...

My Time At CADFA

Tomorrow is my last day volunteering at CADFA. I have only been here three weeks but those weeks have been thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring.

At first, I was rather daunted as I had never before volunteered at a charity. Now, however, I am confident about volunteering and am fully aware of the situation in Palestine. CADFA gave me the opportunity to find out more.

I have been helping to raise money for the Football Visit which is happening soon, by selling Palestinian goods on a fundraising stall. Thank you to all the people who bought from us.

I hope that I can come and volunteer again at some point, but until then...

Goodbye!

CADFA staff, volunteers from London and from France +Palestine Sept 12

Special big welcome to Sabrina, Ehab, Noor and Tamara - our first EVS volunteers in London