Nisrine’s eyes glowed with joy at the sight of Right To Play members at her doorstep in the Palestinian refugee camp of Rachidiyeh. With tight hugs, she welcomed us into the tidy little reception room she has saved for the rare visitors to her home. She sent her little daughter to call upon her neighbor and relative, Um Hussein.

Um Hussein and Nisrine are members of a parents’ committee, founded in the southern camp in January, 2009 by Right To Play. The committee is a pilot project launched in three refugee camps in the south, central, and north areas of Lebanon. In Lebanon, Right To Play formed the parents’ committee with the aim to increase the programs’ impact on the refugee children. In addition to training teachers in schools and kindergartens on its programs, Right To Play sought to mobilize the community towards the importance of sport and play in the development of children, believing in a comprehensive participatory approach that requires the co-operation of the different communities.

Both Um Hussein and Nisrine work on a small plantation near their houses. Nisrine proudly pointed towards a green piece of land, “I invited the women in the committee over there, collected fresh vegetables from our land, prepared coffee and tea, arranged chairs, and planned a game to play together. Right To Play brought us together and made us friends,” she said

Um Hussein has six children and Nisrine has four. They send their children to the same Kindergarten of Beit Atfal As-Somoud (Home of Steadfast Children), a Right To Play Palestinian partner organization. Both women were keen to attend all the meetings held by Right To Play, and enjoyed the play sessions and discussions offered in what was informally called Sobhiyeh (morning reception).
“We used to wait for Tuesdays,” said Um Hussein. “It was the platform for the women in the camp to meet in a joyful atmosphere, and to tell about our concerns,” she added.

The parents’ committee meetings are held twice a month. Each time the meeting is held in a different Kindergarten of a Right To Play partner school.

The Rachidiyeh camp in south Lebanon is the farthest of all camps from the capital, Beirut (about 100 km away), and closest to the borders with Palestine. It had suffered from violent conflict since its establishment in 1948 and lost many of its community members from death and deportation. 

Nisrine and Um Hussein insisted that the committee again this year, saying that, “We still have important issues to tackle.” Right To Play Project Coordinators encouraged the ladies to take the initiative as Nisrine had earlier, to gather the other camp women and to continue their work.