The «Tomorrow Is a New Day» training camp

The Basma Association for Culture and Arts, in partnership with Pal-Think for Strategic Studies and FXB, opens its training camp “Tomorrow is a new day”, within the activities of the project “Restoring hope to the youth and children of Gaza”, which aims to provide free spaces for Gazan youth for release and psychological recreation — especially as the project comes as an emergency response after the latest aggression on the Gaza Strip in May 2021.

Rania al-Shurayhi, the camp coordinator, after welcoming the attending trainees, affirmed that the quality and distinction of this camp lie in its targeting of youth in the first degree — they being the pillar of society and the category bearing the most of the psychological pressures resulting from the political and economic circumstances the Strip passes through: wars, unemployment, division, and the rest. They are in true, pressing need of such activities, which contribute to recharging their positive energy and their communal readiness. This camp, which targeted youth most of whom work as facilitators of psychological-support sessions with children, formed a true outlet for their psychological release, as it formed an opportunity to prepare them bodily and psychologically for voluntary work — to lead any communal initiatives and works of a kind to contribute to creating positive change in future.

It is recalled that the camp's events continue for five days, interspersed with recreational activities and applications and simulations of the concepts of voluntary work and the leading of communal initiatives; applications of play as a means of psychosocial support in times of crises and emergencies will likewise be touched on, and a workshop on making dolls to be used in the puppet theatre targeting children in the areas affected by the aggression and the shelter centres; and finally the camp will conclude with the carrying out of a recreational day gathering the participants from all the partner institutions — and this in turn strengthens youth's role in leading communal work and rebuilding it.