Bright Stars Summer Academy 2005

As the Israeli separation wall and movement restrictions continue to imprison Palestinians on a daily basis, the Bright Stars Summer Academy this year came to offer the children and youth of Bethlehem newer opportunities of training and hope.

The children and youth in the Bethlehem district, who constitute over 50% of the population, have increasingly limited access to opportunities and resources, and now even limited exposure to life beyond the 8-meter high concrete wall. The Bright Stars Summer Academy 2005 focused on offering those children possibilities and visions to overcome the barriers and have the chance to learn, express, and enjoy.

Through the programs of the Bright Stars Summer Academy 2005, the children and youth were able to develop their skills and receive professional training in the fields of their interest, discover and express their potentials and concerns, take pride in their work, develop hope, and start seeing themselves as stars.

The Bright Stars Summer Academy 2005 took place between June 27th and July 31st, with the participation of 200 children between the age of 6 and 16, Christian and Moslem, male and female, and from towns, villages, and refugee camps in the Bethlehem District. 

Participants distribution by age:

Participants Distribution by geographic location:

Participants distribution by gender:

Participants distribution by religion:

During the 5-week summer program, 40 Palestinian and international experts in different fields devoted their time and efforts for providing training to the children in the following areas:

Arts & Crafts:

-         Mosaic

-         Glass fusing

-         Ceramics

-         Drawing & painting

-         Sculpture

-         Bead works 

-         Recycling arts

IT & Communications:

-         MS Office

-         Web Design

-         Internet & email

-         Graphic design

-         Photography

-         Video filming & editing

-         Audio editing

-         Journalism

Sports:

-         Karate

-         Swimming

-         Vollyball

-         Soccer

-         Basketball

-         American Football

-         Table Tennis

-         Sports games

Performance arts & music:

-         Palestinian Folk dance (Dabke)

-         Vocal music training

-         Music instruments

-         Theatre & Drama

-         Hand bells

-         Rap music

Other:

-         Chess

-         English

-         German

-         Games

In addition to the training programs in specific fields, different activities took place every week providing awareness, training, and entertainment to the children. The activities included film screenings, theatre show about Jerusalem, workshop on “Democracy & Youth Participation”, outdoor trips, magic show, sports gala, and fun day.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Alliance of Baptists has been our partner in this very important project. For the first year, 20 international experts from the USA and Europe joined the Summer Academy 2005 providing new training methods and topics and adding a multicultural dimension and a valuable diversity to the program.

As  the Summer Academy also aims at enhancing the concept of volunteerism among young Palestinians, the Bright Stars Summer Academy 2005 gave the opportunity to 20 Palestinian youth aged 17-25 to contribute with their abilities and skills, and to have this experience to develop different skills such as leadership, communication, etc.

At the end of the 5-week summer program, on Saturday July 30th, the children and teachers helped organize the "Final Day" festival, where the children performed and exhibited the different works that they have learnt and produced. For the children, this was a chance to take pride in their work, and an opportunity to express their abilities and concerns and share their great potentials with the community.

The Bright Stars summer program continues a tradition that started in the 1960s, and serves as an opportunity to discover the children's interests and identify their talents, and allow the children to learn the different alternatives that they have when planning their future professional lives.

The Bright Stars program is a continuous project of the ICB, where children have weekly gatherings in the different clubs, according to their talents and gifts and interests. All of these clubs focus on expressing the emotions, fears, thoughts, and visions of the young people.