School visits, musuems and reunions

This year I received a very special present for my birthday; being reunited with kids from Palestine that I had spent 3 wonderful months working with. After our catch ups, we began by playing some football in Swiss cottage whilst each kid was taken away for a short video interview.

The Abu Dis boys take their football very seriously

After this, we met with the rest of the groups at the Museum of London and took a walk through the ages from ancient civilizations to modern day Britain. With the kids brimming full of energy, we took them to the P2 gallery near Kings Cross to continue our work on our drama pieces for a final show at the CADFA festival this Saturday.

The next day, we were invited to our twinned school of Hampstead. Welcome by the teachers and student ambassadors, we were given a tour of the school whilst both kids chatted to one another. Perhaps the most interesting part of the day was when we sat with the London children and the kids from Abu Dis articulated the problems that they face on a daily basis. The London students were quickly shocked by the many obstacles that these kids face and, when relating it to their school experience, soon realised how something as trivial as going to school or going to sleep can end in tragedy. After this, the kids completed an exercise where they matched human rights violations with the corresponding international treaties they broke.

Hammad explains how his older brother was arrested and the experience of his house being raided by soldiers

The kids were taught about how Palestine is cut up into small areas by the wall, checkpoints and settlements

Our 'human rights' work sheet

After this, both sets of kids worked together to plant an olive tree of peace to commemorate the kids' visit.

From here, we had a lovely lunch in Hampstead Heath and moved to Acland Burghley, another of our twinned schools, to continue our hard work for our festival this weekend!