DSPR MECC Inside Look - October 2022
It is October. The days are getting shorter and cooler. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is also being launched in the Palestinian Territories to raise public awareness of the issue and to offer screening services. With a grand opening ceremony in Ramallah, the Auguste Victoria Hospital, on whose compound the Central Office is located, together with the Mariam Foundation and the Palestine Museum, kicked off this month by turning the sky pink. A digital mammography clinic at the hospital will be through Palestine all month for early detection of breast cancer with the "Your Checkup - Your Life" awareness campaign, conducting mammography examinations and check-ups.
In Gaza, we as DSPR NECC have also put this month under breast cancer awareness and launched a campaign. Our aim is to give every woman access to screening and the support she needs at DSPR NECC health clinics. Breast cancer awareness sessions are held at the clinics. Women are encouraged to examine themselves and listen to signs from their bodies. We work closely with the Ministry of Health and other NGOs in Gaza. According to a UNFPA report, the negative social perception of breast cancer and its connection with death can prevent women from getting screened, leading in turn to delayed detection. Many avoid talking to anyone about it or seeking any treatment because it can affect their marital status or they fear being abandoned by their husbands or affecting their daughters' marriage prospects. We try to counteract this negative image through our awareness-raising work in Gaza.
It was a sweltering summer in Lebanon, but the children of the Dbayeh refugee camp were too busy to notice. The summer program offered by DSPR JCC for the young people of the camp kept them all occupied. Most are members of the JCC library and are active in the many programs DSPR JCC offers during the winter which includes classes for school support, music, art, and computers in addition to numerous sports trainings. The program this summer offered many recreational activities but also provided academic classes to ensure that what the children learned in school during the winter is enriched during the summer and gets them ready for the coming year.
The theme of the recreational program this summer was recycling. The children enjoyed fun games, handicrafts, singing, and dancing while learning about recycling and how to be responsible for our planet. The children also enjoyed trips to nature reserves, water parks, and historic sites. They visited the Hillhou village situated in a pine-tree forest in the North of Lebanon, where the children didn’t miss a chance to enjoy all the games and activities offered, such as the giant swing, sliding on the -line, climbing on the skywalk, an enjoying the fresh, clean air.
Helping with the program were 16 youths of both genders from the camp who had volunteered their help for the entire program duration. This provided these young people with something positive & meaningful to do during the summer. It helped them build self-esteem and confidence as they experienced a sense of achievement and personal satisfaction in helping the youngsters in their camp.
The parents were thrilled and grateful for this summer program as it provided education and entertainment for their children and especially during these challenging times in Lebanon.
At DSPR JCC Sabra Center in Lebanon, the summer was also very active. A six-week summer program of fun activities- drawing, painting, handicrafts, and games-was carried out for our children and for the children of the community who joined. The vocational program of Hairdressing, Barbering and Beauty Skills continued throughout the summer.
The students of the "Children-on-the-Go" program worked under the guidance of their teachers to write a play about bullying which they acted in front of their teachers and classmates. Learning to make handicrafts from recycled materials such as plastic bottles, tin cans, and cardboard taught the children the concept of recycling.
At the end of the summer vacation, a picnic was carried out and greatly enjoyed by the Kindergarten children who attended the summer program and the youth of the “Children on the Go” program along with their teachers and parents. Equipped with food, fresh fruits and water, they headed to the South of Lebanon to the Damour River, an hour away from our centre, where a picnic area is well equipped with tables and chairs for all who come to enjoy that beautiful area in nature.
The mothers soon got busy preparing the food while the children and their teachers walked into nature collecting stones and wood for the recycling class. After lunch, the children went into the river for a swim under the supervision of the adults who sat on the side enjoying each other’s company.
It was undoubtedly an enjoyable and busy summer.
In Nazareth, DSPR ICCI held a successful and joyful youth conference titled "Jesus brings us together", where the conference verse was "I am the vine, and you are the branches" (John 5:6). The sermon was given by Canon Fuad Dagher from the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. There was singing together, listening to a sermon and sharing. It is our concern to strengthen young people in their faith. God bless all who contributed to and participated in this meeting.
