Dear supporters,

after two years of restrictions to our work induced by the pandemic, we are all the more pleased that this year, finally numerous cross-border workshops, seminars and camps could take place. Vacation From War has survived the peak of the pandemic – we owe this to the creativity and flexibility of our partners, but also to your loyal support as donors – a heartfelt thank you for this!

At the beginning of July, about 35 activists of the organization Seekers* (name changed) met in Greece for the final spurt of their evaluation and strategy process. Most of them were active members of different generations of participants of the organization’s programs, but also former and current team and board members took part in the seminar. The 10-day seminar was the culmination of the evaluation process which began back in 2021 and took longer than planned due to the pandemic. It was preceded by an evaluation of the work through digital questionnaires, individual and group interviews, and joint preparatory workshops in Palestine and Israel.
From August 1st – 14th, 25 courageous women from Israel and Palestine met near Cologne for intensive, stirring and mostly difficult dialogues about the conflict and the occupation.
The preparatory phase for the participants had not been easy due to the political situation, the fear of repression and the increasingly dominant discourse of normalization, but also due to COVID-related visa restrictions, especially on the Palestinian side. During the seminar, then, it became apparent how strongly the local political events of the last two years influenced the attitudes and perspectives of the participants and this changed the dynamics of the seminar.

Also in the former Yugoslavia, various activities took place: From July 24th – August 2nd, the annual Peace Camp for Youth happened in Seget Donji in Croatia.