The 10th International Peace Camp in Egypt

The International Caritas Peace Camp for unprivileged children from all over the Middle East was held in Alexandria from 14th July to 4th August. This peace project took place for the 10th time and, therefore, it was a very special anniversary.

The camp was organised and conducted with close collaboration offered by Caritas Egypt, who hosted this unique project for the fourth time. The participants were, as in the previous years, very friendly and comfortably accommodated at the Daughters of Charity's "Tito" Convent, in the midst of a splendid big garden.  

While some camps in the previous years had been either cancelled due to the political situation or overshadowed by the threatening war incidents, this year nothing suchlike luckily happened and the holiday for those deprived children could take place without any troubles.

98 children aged between 10 to 14 years old arrived in Alexandria on 14th July. They were coming from eight different countries of the region (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen and Egypt) and were all chosen according to strict social criteria and parameters by the local partners of Caritas (national Caritas, NGO’s and other religious congregations). Two thirds of the children had to be girls in order to counteract the preference of boys which is still widely spread in the region. For the first time more than half of the children were Muslims, while in the previous camps they had been represented by only one third.

Among the participants there were orphans such as the entire Yemeni group as well as the children from Jordan who all came from the three SOS Children's Villages in the country, street children (four boys from different Street Children Caritas Projects in Cairo and Alexandria), refugee children such as the Palestinian, Iraqi and Sudanese children and children from a slum near Cairo. All the children had one thing in common and that was the fact that they would have never been able to spend three interesting weeks of fun and joy if it was not for Caritas assistance.

More than 30 counsellors cared for the children, among them there were five religious sisters from four different congregations in addition to one young volunteer from Austria. All in all they were approximately 130 people coming from 10 nations and belonging to 10 different religious denominations.

The programme was very interesting and varieties of activities such as handcrafts, learning new songs, a talent show, many sport activities and contests with awards and medals for the children at the end of the camp were offered at Tito Convent. There also was group work conducted on a regular basis and concerning various subjects such as hygiene, children’s rights etc. In addition, there were several peace-related workshops such as respect, tolerance etc. with a professional trainer from CRS (= Catholic Relief Services) which the kids enthusiastically joined.

On top of that, the various national evenings needed to be well prepared and the kids represented their countries with dances, songs, and national costumes. The best performances of these national evenings were presented during an "international evening" in front of an audience at the end of the camp. Dishes from the respective countries were also served and everyone tasted the culinary variety of Arabic cooking.

Getting acquainted with the host country was also an important element and, therefore, many outings were organised to the Citadel, the famous Library of Alexandria and the Former Royal Palace. Special "thanks" to the Swiss Ambassador as due to his assistance we could offer a two-day interesting programme to Cairo which included visits to the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Egyptian National Museum as well as a boat trip on the Nile and a visit to a fun park. And, of course, we won't forget the Austrian Ambassador who invited the children for swimming and a lunch at a water park. For many of them, swimming in a pool and eating in a restaurant were first-time experiences.  

The camp objectives, such as initiating border-crossing friendships, dismantling prejudice, promoting tolerance and arousing interests in other nationalities, cultures and religions were certainly achieved and for that I thank the commitment of the camp staff as well as the active participation of the children themselves.

Caritas Salzburg would also like to thank Caritas Germany, Caritas Holland, Caritas Italy, Caritas Luxemburg, Caritas Sweden and CRS (Caritas of the USA) for their financial funding which was essential for the success of this project.




Stefan Maier
Middle East Coordinator of Caritas Austria and
Director of the International Caritas Peace Camp 2010