OPCY

Projects

OPCY

Operation Palestinian Children and Youth
 

Project Summary
OPCY addresses some of the needs of children living in the West Bank. It has 50 project schools all over this area, and each school is visited five times. Through creative performances (dance, drama, puppet shows and so on) they teach children about themes like recognizing their own feelings and being thankful for what they have.  

Right now OPCY is transitioning between their phase one and phase two.
In phase two the focus will be on families. OPCY realized that to truly have impact on children, they need to cooperate with the families and adults around them. OPCY will also give drama training and puppet show training to different youth groups in the West Bank.
 

Background
The Palestinian Bible Society started the precursor to the project “Operation Palestinian Children and Youth” as a direct response to the Second Intifada in September 2000 when PBS put together a Christmas program for children in Bethlehem.

Due to the continued negative impact of the Second Intifada and the Israeli response to the Intifada, the one-time event developed into an ongoing program. The PBS leadership and staff became increasingly aware of a great need for more consistent work with the Palestinian villages, particularly in the more rural areas.
 
In 2002 PBS and the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Norway (ELFCN) developed a partnership agreement to work cooperatively.  Around this time ELFCN assigned one Norwegian employee to PBS to facilitate the cooperation. In 2004 ELFCN and PBS decided to partner in a concrete project to offer creative educational programs to communities in the West Bank.