A great deal of work and effort goes into building these playgrounds. Some are designed and manufactured locally. When equipment is purchased abroad, parts are shipped to Palestine and assembled using local labor. We transfer ownership of the equipment to a local Palestinian NGO, school, or municipality with which we contract to assume responsibility for the playground. The land is always donated. Among PfP’s stipulations for these playgrounds is that 1) girls are given equal access as boys, 2) children are not charged for use of the playground, and 3) the local partner commits to regular maintenance and cleanup to ensure the safety of the site.
2009 The Najdeh Association, a local NGO working with Palestinian children in refugee camps, established a preschool in Ein El-Helweh Refugee Camp in Saida, which serves a community of Palestinian refugees. The preschool serves around 90 children, ages 3 to 5, in the mornings Sundays through Thursdays and hosts youth activities on Fridays and Saturdays
2022 The Al Sumud playground is located in Hebron and was built by PfP through the generous contributions of Madison-Rafah Sister City Project and Rochester Witness for Palestine. The playground is located in Hebron, an area that is subdivided by checkpoints and settlements. The children often have to pass through checkpoints to get to
2022 This project was funded by and completed in partnerships with PfP—UK. The Madaa Creative Center was established in 2005 to serve and empower children, teenagers, and women living in Silwan.
2019 This playground was built in partnership with UNRWA at the Baraaem Kindergarten in the Mia Mieh refugee camp is located south of the city of Saida. The camp was established in 1954 and extends over an area of 54,000 sq m. The camp survived a series of major events in 1982, when the
2008 Abir’s Garden, was built in a very small village on the southern-most edge of the West Bank, south of Hebron, called Al Samoa-Simya. This is the second playground to be built in memory of a 10-year old girl named Abir Aramin, who was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper. Abir was the daughter
2016 This playground is built on the property of an elementary school in one of the most threatened Palestinian cities. Qortuba is part of the Hebron District, where settler violence and harassment are particularly extreme. This playground is a rare point of color and play for the children it serves.
Playgrounds for Palestine’s first playground was acquired from the American Playground Corporation and was shipped to Bethlehem after nearly one full year of preparations.
2009 This playground was built in celebration of the marriage of Heather and Armen Vartian. In lieu of wedding gifts, the couple asked their guests to make a donation toward this playground in the refugee camp where Heather had previously lived and worked. Heather and Armen said: “We passionately care about the people of Palestine, having lived
From the legacies of our ancestors through the land that holds all our roots and all of our stories, Palestinian farmers persist in the traditions of the olive trees, and bring you the nectar of Palestine’s noble fruit so that we might also build spaces of love and play for Palestine’s children.
Grow MorePlay, while it cannot change the external realities of children’s lives, can be a vehicle for children to explore and enjoy their differences and similarities and to create, even for a brief time, a more just world where everyone is an equal and valued participant.