Ahlan wa sahlan!

The first three weeks in Palestine have been both amazing and overwhelming. After hearing countless opinions from people at home about what they perceive Palestine to be like, I can honestly say that you never truly know until you have experienced it for yourself. It is a beautiful and complex place and I feel privileged to be living and working in Jerusalem.

I am the first International Service volunteer to be working at the Youth Development Department; an organisation that works with community based organisations and youth institutions in Jerusalem to develop the capacity and skills of young Palestinians. Focusing on the most marginalised sectors of Palestinian society, YDD is particularly concerned with safeguarding the future of young Palestinians, offering support and guidance to them and their families, helping them gain the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in the future.

For the first three weeks at my placement I have been familiarising myself with the different programmes and projects that YDD are currently involved in. The work they do is really inspiring and I am excited to work with the team to help them in any way I can.

As well as updating their brochure, I have also attended a talk held by Save the Children who are working alongside YDD and other local organisations on a project called ‘Promoting Healthy Youth Development.’ The project aims to raise awareness of the dangers of substance abuse and offers support to youths and their parents.  The project is designed to encourage youths to become more involved in their local community by attending extra-curricular sports and life skills activities.

As part of the ‘Promoting Healthy Youth Development’ project, YDD organised for forty five boys from a local school in Al Ezariyeh (Bethany) to go on a hike in Wadi Moqleq, Jericho. I attended with YDD staff and took photographs for them.  It was great to see the type of activities they provide to young Jerusalemites and the scenery was beautiful.

I am very much looking forward to attending and photographing more activities and I plan to write a blog for YDD going into more depth about the projects and programmes they are working on, raising awareness for the amazing work that they do.