July 3 Camp Day 9- Rawabi and Ramallah.

After meeting at Ramallah Friends School Campus, Go Palestine Camp went to Rawabi, which is a new city built specifically for Palestinians. We started out with a private bus tour of Rawabi to see the whole city. Then we had a tour of a 4-D exhibit to get an idea of what the city would be like if we were walking through it, and later watched a 3-D movie about the city and what it contains. After that, we went outside to see the largest Palestinian flag in the country, and the progress of the construction of one of the neighborhoods of Rawabi. We then had a Question and Answer session with two employees and Mr.Bashar Masri himself who developed the idea of Rawabi and is the chairman of Massar International. Mr. Masri explained the funding of the project, how he transformed an idea of building a city for Palestinians into action, the education systems that would be implemented within the city as well as the positive international attention the city and Palestine have received.

Then we went back to Ramallah to have lunch at Sangrias Restaurant to eat and sing karaoke. We had a friendly competition to see which group of campers would be the best singers and dancers. The whole camp was dancing, singing, and enjoying their time. After every round, groups voted for each other. People who were having lunch at Sangrias made guest appearances in some of the songs and assisted with judging.

After we walked back to campus, we had a conversation about what the campers wanted to do for the kids in Aida refugee camp because they enjoyed their first visit so much they wanted to go back. 

After finishing our discussion, we headed to the library and welcomed our guest speaker, Ahmad Shami who about his family story and their suffering because of the occupation. He also talked about the formation of the Palestinian identity, and the importance of finding it in a country of confused identities. 

At the end, we walked to Rukab Ice Cream, which is one of the most popular and oldest Ice Cream places in Ramallah. The campers then went home early to get ready for a busy next day.