If you have ideas or want to work on one of these projects, please email  mika@balatacamp.net
Please also forward this information to others who might be interested. A formatted version is available online at www.minio.co.uk/balata/projects.rtf


Overall Aims:
* Breaking the social and physical isolation of Balata refugee camp.
* Enabling Balata residents to speak for themselves to the outside world, without relying on others to speak for them.
* Raising consciousness about the situation in Palestine and Balata Camp in particular, specifically amongst those complicit in the suffering of Palestinians (US & UK citizens)
* Expressing support for Palestinian resistance to injustice
* Expressing recognition for Palestinian suffering


1) Children’s art
2) Youth theatre
3) Political Prisoner Hussam Khader
4) Bringing foreign resistance films to Balata (Arabic speakers needed!)
5) balatacamp.net
6) Digital Photography
7) Volunteers going to Balata
8) Balata Film Production Collective
9) Supporting the young artist Ahmed Walweel
10) Twinning Schools
11) Twinning mosques
12) Twinning youth groups


1) Children’s art
Art is recognized as a means to deal with trauma by various organizations in the camp. At the same time, children’s art is a very powerful means of communication about the prevalent violence and oppression.

One organization in particular, the Shebab Center, is run completely by female and male volunteers (generally between the ages of 18-25). They have an open space for children to use their facilities everyday. Their activities include group art lessons/projects, traditional dancing and music, writing sessions and English classes. They also have created proposals for summer and winter camps. However, this organization receives no funding or support from outside sources.

Financial donations are and will be needed for particular projects. The summer is critical time for children’s organizations, as children are out of school and in need of activities.

Several child art groups in the US are interested in exchanging art with groups in the camp, and developing joint exhibitions. This could be supplemented by supporting the Balata organizations with art supplies. Art supplies are always needed, especially those not readily available locally. This organization also needs international volunteers to help with art projects, language classes and sharing of skills.



2) Youth theatre

There is a small group of young stars in Balata that have gone completely unrecognized. The Warsha Center is another volunteer-run organization for children, focusing on political drama and art and traditional music. This organization also receives no support from outside sources.

A recent proposal by this organization involves working with blind and deaf children to include them in regular theatre. This is a new initiative to Palestine with an urgent need. Since the beginning of the Intifada, the number of children with disabilities has risen exponentially. Disabled children are often seen as outcasts, no longer fully integrated into society.
Assistance is needed to find donor organizations to support this proposal. Alternatively, grassroots organizing for funds is a possibility. Email  info@balatacamp.net for more information or for a copy of the proposal.

Volunteers are always needed to come work with the organization. They are particularly interested to meet other theatre groups and to perform outside of Palestine.



3) Political Prisoner Hussam Khader
Hussam Khader is a political prisoner and a member of the Palestinian Parliament. He was arrested over a year ago and has since been held in solitary confinement on trumped up charges. For more information, the Committee to Defend Hussam Khader and all Palestinian Political Prisoners has a website www.hussamkhader.com and a mailing list.
Yet as a parliamentarian, refugee and human rights activist, Khader deserves considerably more attention and support than he has received. Amnesty International have refused to adopt him, as he recognizes the right to armed resistance within the Occupied Territories.
Needs:
* Support groups abroad to adopt his cause
* Volunteers to work in the office of the Committee to Defend Hussam Khader



4) Bringing resistance films to Balata
Palestinians are well-acquainted with Hollywood action movies. This project intends instead to show films documenting both the violent oppression of the US and UK throughout the world, and the many struggles being waged for self-determination, justice and freedom. Hopefully, this will help Palestinians make connections with other peoples in the oppression and resistance.
Once we have added Arabic subtitles to the films, they will be shown in Balata, on local television and throughout Palestine. Planned films include 4th World War ( http://www.bignoisefilms.com/home.htm), Zapatista, Sarafina and Battle of Algiers.

To make this project happen, we need to translate the scripts into Arabic and add the subtitles to the films.
***Thus, we need Arabic speakers who can translate from English (and email scripts into Arabic back to us).***



5) balatacamp.net
We have the domain name balatacamp.net and webspace. This will be developed into a community website for the camp. While balatacamp.net will be partially set up by people outside, it will be locally-run and administrated. The site will include:
* a local news service and provider, with news updated as it changes by people from Balata. Hopefully, this will rival the AP, AFP and Reuters monopoly.
* a library of real-time digital photos of military invasions and life in the camp. Local photographers will be able to show their work and keep portfolios. These photographs will be made available for various websites, eg electronicintifada.net
* a library of drawings and cartoons by artists from Balata
* an archive of the Balata exhibition
* pictures and biographies of those killed in the camp
* the domain will also be used to run email-based news service

Needs:
* Training sessions to provide skills in developing websites. (HTML, CSS etc)
* Digital Cameras
* Training sessions in taking good photographs



6) Digital Photography
(note: this project overlaps with the last one)
Bringing more digital cameras into the camp will enable increased documentation of human rights abuses, increase awareness abroad of the situation on the ground, and make more photographs available to those taking action on the Palestine issue around the world.
Real-time photographs of invasions will be uploaded to balatacamp.net and made available to other news providers and various websites, such as electronicintifada.net. Once photographs have been collected, they will be printed in large format and designed as exhibitions on various topics.

Needs:
* Digital Cameras
* Training sessions in taking good photographs



7) Volunteers going to Balata
Very few foreigners come to Balata Refugee Camp, far fewer than visit Bethlehem or Ramallah. Apart from volunteering to work on one of the other projects, there are various committees in the camp that would welcome volunteers, including the Disabilities Committee, the Shebab Centre, the Youth Theatre Group, The Yafa Centre, the Prisoners Committee etc
Skills that would be useful include: English, other languages, kids art, drama, computer skills, camera and film, working with people with special needs (eg speech therapist, art therapist, psychologist).



8) Balata Film Production Collective
The aim is to create a sustainable film production collective in the Balata Refugee Camp. This will provide the community with the means to create their own media, to tell stories in their own words and images.

Currently, the only footage of the camp seen abroad is within generally antagonistic news broadcasts. Palestinians on the ground do not have the opportunity to present their versions of events to the world. Young adults in Balata have much time, energy and creativity, but little means of communicating their stories. Stories of oppression and struggle; laughter in tragedy; steadfastness, humiliation and defiance.
The Balata film production collective will film, edit and produce movies in Arabic and English. Films produced will include shorts uploaded to the internet and full-length movies distributed on DVD and VHS. Interesting footage will be made available on a server for other filmmakers across the world.

Further information on this project will be sent out soon in another email.



9) Supporting the young artist Ahmed Walweel
The talented 17-year-old artist mentioned in the last email would love to have his art published in some format, including pro-Palestinian magazines, journals etc. Please see www.balatacamp.net for a particularly beautiful drawing.
If you have ideas or can help with having this piece and others published, please email  info@balatacamp.net



10) Twinning Schools
There are three schools in Balata Camp, each run by UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency). All are over-crowded, and the single boys’ school runs on a double-shift schedule.
Teachers within the UN schools are very interested in establishing links, penpal or twinning projects with schools or classes elsewhere. English is a compulsory subject from the first year of school. Ideas include exchanging information/photographs/stories about respective lives and situations.



11) Twinning mosques
There are two well-attended mosques in Balata Refugee Camp. These are both regular targets of Israeli military aggression. Doors are blown in, computers stolen and teargas fired at worshippers through the windows.
Mosques elsewhere might be interested in establishing links with those in Balata, to express support, share information, take action, and make delegation visits.



12) Twinning youth groups
There are three main groups in Balata that run youth activities. Establishing connections with youth groups elsewhere, especially in marginalized communities, could be very productive.