Saturday April 2

nd
, 2011
A memorable day that was held at Al-Zahra Orphanage. It was a joint activity between the U.S.
Consulate in Jerusalem, AMIDEAST, Middle East Partnership Initiative program (MEPI) and
alumni of different programs; as the American Palestinian Local University Scholarship program
(A-PLUS) and the Youth Exchange and Study program (YES).

This day brought them all together in an enormous act to bring happiness to 54 girls in Al-Zahra
orphanage in Bethany. In a vast collateral effort, volunteers gathered to plan how to spend a full
day in the company of the girls and have it as a successful and joyful event.

























Al Zahra Orphanage day
Bethany, West Bank

The day started with an appreciation
and thankfulness from the orphanage
director for the good intensions of
making a fun rewarding day for the
girls. That was followed by a
presentation introducing the YES
program by one of the YES Alumni,
talking about its impact on their lives
and how it shaped them forever. In
addition, Ms. Cynthia Harvey,
Cultural affairs Officer for the U.S.
Consulate, and Steven Keller,
AMIDEAST Country director, were in
attendance to welcome all the
attendees and the orphans, showing
their support to those girls and the
institution and wishing them a
pleasant day.
As part of the alumni commitment to the environmental project, the YES alumni made sure to
bring it along with them to their day with the girls, making sure that they all interact with the
environmental project.












































As the activity started, the 54 girls
were split into three groups
according to their age group to start
their exciting day. Young girls
started their day with coloring
environmental art, as middle school
girls listened to the environmental
presentation. After both groups
were done they gathered for ice
cream where they enjoyed singing
and making jokes. After the ice
cream break the groups split again
to go on with their day.
The young girls enjoyed a circle of
games, switching from spot to
another the games were stationed to
allow the kids to pick their spot and
play the game they want. Games
included face painting, chair game,
find the ball, toss tic tac toe games.
The young ones ended their day
with a group game of balloon smash
in which everyone competed
together to be the last survivor in a
balloon smash battle.



The middle school girls were up for a challenge,
starting with a warm up; grab the finger game. The
girls got in the competitive mood. After which they
split into 3 groups to battle head on for who can be
the best at the teambuilding games; magic carpet ,
mine field and lineup. After the accomplishment of
each game the every group gathered to discuss the
importance of team building, identify the management
objectives of team building events, Identify the level
of satisfaction sustained from team building in terms
of fulfilling objectives and Identify who the team
building event was focused on.


































Ms. Erin Mai, Assistant Cultural Affairs
Officer, was part of this event as the rest
of the U.S. Consulate staff whom played
a role in the mingling and interacting
of those orphans in this day. They played
together, painted, colored and shared the
ice cream break with singing and joking.









High school and university students got
the longest activity of all, painting a
mural that would serve as a memorial for
the environment project. An enduring
outcome of the YES alumni visit, and a
reminder of the importance of the
environment and the safe keeping of
planet earth.












































After an amazing hard working day
for everyone, the group ended with a
lunch which was offered by Hadil
Saleh, Alumni Coordinator in the
U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem.
Afterwards, they had a cake
celebrating the orphanage girls
whose birthday was in that month.
That was followed by a giving out
gifts to the girls that were given by
Alya Nasser Eddin, who is one of the
alumni of the U.S. Consulate
programs. Everyone parted off
happy, satisfied but with sadness that
such a beautiful day was over.