Nablus

After our daily warm up activity the campers got on the bus with Muawad our driver and we headed to Balata refugee camp in Nablus.  We arrived on site and met with Mahmoud Sobuh at the Yaffa Cultural Center; a local community center which aims to rehabilitate and give opportunities to the locals of the camp: Mahmoud gave us a detailed insight on what life in a camp is like. The campers were told about the different struggles the residents of Balata camp face, from lack of adequate housing and infrastructure to the psychological effects of living in a restricted and precarious community.  They were then shown a series of short films about the camp made by members of the community.
 We then took a short tour around the camp where the campers experienced what daily mobility is like for residents of Balata. They walked around the extremely narrow streets due to over population and were exposed to the strains of daily life in the camp. This was followed by a group reflection session of what we had seen so far.   

We continued our visit of Nablus in the old city with our tour guides Mohammad and Mustafa who explained the role of Nablus as a hub of the resistance during the intifada and it’s rich history as one of the oldest cities in the world.  They were able to see the Al-Sumara public baths, the Hussein Abdelhadi Palace, Al Khamash soap factory as well as the SPICE SHOP where they saw the final product of the renowned Nabulsi soap factory. The campers ended the day with the famous Nablus knaffeh, a sweet cheesy delight after a hot day and finally they were able to relax a bit in an old local coffee place before we got back on the bus and headed to Ramallah