Two years ago the Martín-Baró Fund gave Ibdaa a grant to support an oral history project designed to reconnect youth with their family and community histories. This spring, the reoccupation by Israeli Defense Forces of Dheisheh, the refugee camp in which Ibdaa is located, has caused the destruction of many of the Center’s facilities including the library, the hub of many of the group’s activities for young children.

The Fund has therefore awarded Ibdaa an emergency relief grant in the amount of $5000 to help rebuild the library. Although not our usual practice, the Fund’s past support of Ibdaa and the extreme trauma with which its children are grappling today warranted this exception. In support of children’s mental health, Ibdaa conducts workshops and special events (e.g. theater, picnics, academic competitions, cultural performances), holds after-school programs, and, in the present moment, provides youth with the only space where they have relative safety and the opportunity simply to play.

In January 2002, members of the Fund’s Program Committe had the opportunity to meet with Ziad Abbas, founder and director of Ibdaa: click here to see our report of this discussion.