Visiting Aida Refugee Camp

At the tail end of our Eid holiday last week, we decided to take one last trip to visit some fellow ICS volunteers living in Bethlehem. On the Saturday, we had booked to take part in a Palestinian cooking class run by the NOOR women’s empowerment group in Aida refugee camp. This was something that I was really excited about as it is a great opportunity to learn more about life in a Palestinian refugee camp, whilst getting the chance to cook (and eat!) some delicious local food.

All refugee camps in Palestine are
administered by UNRWA

The NOOR collective was set up in 2010 as a way to help women in the camp with disabled children. Life in Aida is particularly hard for families with disabled children, as many facilities that we would take advantage of at home are simply not available. For example, education within the camps is run by UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) and there are only two schools in Aida, neither of which have adequate facilities for disabled children. This means many families face significant school fees and transportation costs for their children. As a way to generate some income for the families affected, NOOR began to run bi-monthly cooking classes for internationals which offer a chance to prepare some Palestinian cuisine and take a tour of Aida.

At the cooking class we were immediately welcomed into the project co-ordinator Islam’s home, where Sdihar (another member of the collective) was ready for us to start preparing our meal. For the main course, we helped prepare mujaddara – a traditional Palestinian dish with rice, lentils and caramelised onions. We were also taught how to make an Arabic salad and everything was served with home made yoghurt. To finish the meal off, we were served Arabic coffee and a helba (semolina and fenugreek) cake.

The fruits of our labour

After the meal, we were given a short tour of Aida camp. Aida was founded in 1950, after the expulsion of Palestinians from their original villages in 1948.

The camp is located between the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem and Beit Jala, and most residents of the camp come from 17 villages in the western Jerusalem and western Hebron areas. Mahmoud, our tour guide and Islam’s husband, showed us some graffiti at the entrance to the camp depicting scenes from these villages. On the tour, Mahmoud also explained to us some of the key issues facing refugees living in Aida. These include water shortages, overcrowding, unemployment (Aida has an unemployment rate of 70%) and being unable to vote in local municipality elections.

The cooking class was not only a chance to learn more about some traditional Palestinian dishes, but it was a great chance to learn more about life as a refugee in Aida.