Abulhassan Al-Jaberi – the Netherlands

When I met the internationals in Jerusalem, I was still wondering whether the camp would live up to its expectations. But then I met the locals. Spontaneously I started teasing and acting like I knew everyone, locals and internationals, for years. That was exactly how this camp was: i felt like we had been friends for years and we had last seen each other only the day before… Seriously, from the first moment in Abdelrahim Jerdani School we just started chatting and laughing.

The Askar kids amazed me most. These kids… under these circumstances… are full of enthusiasm, life, joy and energy. From the moment I saw them I became one of them: playing with them every day, being ripped apart by ten of them, being chased by twenty of them, buying candy bars for seventy of them… and afterwards missing all of them.

It feels like I’m more experienced now and I know more about me. People go through the worst things here and they can still have a good time. It hurts to see them suffer. I started to regard the Palestinian cause as an even bigger duty. I really hope I can give them something back in the future.