In 1948 hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded into the Gaza strip seeking refuge from the Palestinian-Israeli war. These same refugees packed their few belongings again in 1967 and again fled from war. Gaza Camp, located in northern Jordan, saw 11,500 of these two-time refugees arrive from Gaza and set up camp in UNRWA tents. Shareef remembers those days when he became a refugee at 9 years of age, “It was a tough winter that year, our tents were sagging low from the snow and water was draining right by my sleeping mat; and no matter what we did we couldn’t get warm.  We used to wait in line for hours to get lentils or beans. But we adapted to our new living circumstances. After all, we thought, we would only be there for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks until everything straightened out and we could go back to our homes.” Unfortunately, those “few days” have turned into 40 years.  Today, the camp still stands on the same one square kilometer plot of land with a population that has nearly quadrupled since 1967. 

Tin-roofed, square-shaped concrete houses clutter the narrow dirt roads. Multiple families of up to 25 people share one house. Each house sits on top of a septic tank, decades old and often leaking into disintegrating water pipes. Water drains into exposed ditches in the roads, so clean water is never taken for granted. Life is not easy at the camp.  There is no privacy, and there are no parks or spaces for kids to play. This was supposed to be a temporary solution.  It was not meant to host so many people for so long, but for now, this is home. 

Although the camp functions as a tightly knit society, the aspirations of its youth are grim. Unemployment rates are as high as 40% in the camp. The limited employment opportunities make education seem meaningless.  Dropout rates are high in the camp – street life is more appealing with its variety of “escapes:” glue sniffing, pills, and alcohol. Two generations have grown up there not knowing where to belong,  “We had some good times as children, but our kids don’t have the same memories we have. We were born with a past, a country, a home, and a space to play. They were born in limbo. They have nowhere to go, nothing to call home but this shanty camp. They are Palestinian refugees that know Palestine only through their parents’ 40 year old memories,” says Shareef. 

It would be easy to give up on yourself if you were a young person growing up in Gaza Camp, but that is where Questscope can comes in. We believe in those who have lost belief in themselves.  We help them restore their self- confidence and provide options through non-formal education to move out of the margins and into new opportunities.  Questscope offers the youth of Gaza camp spaces to be young, to play, to learn, and to belong. 

Join us this Christmas as we invest in some of the most vulnerable youth and offer them opportunities to change the course of their lives.