How was the impression of the participants in the “Keef Shaifha” tour?
Wasla’s youth take a tour, Keef Shaifha, to learn about emergency mechanisms related to housing and evacuation for persons with disabilities
The “Keef Shafiha” tour was launched for the second time during the second season of the “Wasla” program, last Thursday, with the participation of 25 young men and women. The participants were directed to a group of stations that serve the main objective of the tour, which is to learn about the emergency mechanisms related to the safe evacuation of persons with disabilities in periods of aggression and emergency events, the mechanisms for their implementation and the extent to which safe accommodation is achieved for them in such cases, as one of the basic rights that persons with disabilities must enjoy in times of emergency, in addition to knowing the extent of the flow of information provided by the competent authorities for persons with disabilities.
The tour targeted three main stations, starting with the Central Civil Defense, passing through the second station, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and finally with the Palestinian General Union for Persons with Disabilities, the Central Branch – Gaza.
In the same context, during the tour, the youth learned about the role of each party, the extent of its readiness to evacuate and securely shelter people with disabilities during periods of aggression, and the most important challenges and difficulties they faced.
The youth opened a series of dialogues with the people representing each party, which in turn enhanced the listening skills and community accountability, and the tour at all stations acquired a lively interactive character through the questions and inquiries submitted by the participating youth about the nature of the role of each party in securing evacuation and safe shelter for persons with disabilities.
For his part, Zakaria Abu Lashin, one of the participants in the tour, expressed his experience, saying, “It was a special experience. This is the first time that I participate as a dialogue facilitator with decision makers. During the session, I was able to speak and discuss well, and this in turn helped me enhance my confidence in myself and develop my personality for the better. I hope to repeat This experiment”
At the end of each station, the youth presented a set of recommendations to the representative bodies, in which they stressed the importance of taking into account emergency plans for persons with disabilities in evacuation and safe accommodation, and in providing social, health and food services.
In their recommendations, they also stressed the importance of ensuring access to information for persons with disabilities in times of war. And work to involve persons with disabilities in building emergency plans to the extent that they know their demands in such times more than others.
In turn, MarIam Naji, Training and Advocacy Coordinator at Wasla Center, added that “Keef Shaifha” tour is one of the main activities that work to enhance the role of youth in community accountability towards various societal issues, through which youth can dialogue with decision makers and officials and listen to their various interventions on each axis” One of the axes of the issue that the tour aims to shed light on, and indeed we have seen the active role of youth and the strong presence in the discussion and debate of the three different target parties in this tour.”
It is worth noting that the “Keef Shaifha” tour is one of the activities implemented by the Social Developmental Forum within the project to improve the local response to the rights of persons with disabilities “Wasla 2” in partnership with MAP.