Dear friends of UK Playgrounds for Palestine,

Just as many of you will have, we have spent the past year watching the situation unfolding in Gaza and trying to understand the best way that we can support the children of Palestine. 

As displacement soared and immediate needs for food, relief and medicine grew stronger in Gaza, violence and upheaval also spread across the West Bank, preventing us from continuing to build playgrounds in Palestine. We paused our building work, asking our supporters to redirect their financial support to organisations that provide aid and relief to keep supporting Palestinian children and families. 

Since we were last in touch, we have spent time as a charity reviewing our constitution and goals, and reimagining how our small organisation can continue to deliver the work we are so passionate about. After reflecting and re-examining our capacities, we are back.

To respond and adapt to the present situation, UK Playgrounds for Palestine will now expand beyond our traditional work in playgrounds. We may not be able to build physically, but we can build emotionally. 

What this means in practice is that we will expand and widen our work to support Palestinian children’s right to play in the current context. Where we are able to, we will continue to physically build playgrounds, where this is not possible, we will continue to build and support individuals through drama, music, art or play therapy.

Play is integral to children’s health - physical, emotional and mental - and is a recognised right in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 31). We aim to support and facilitate the healing powers of play for Palestinian children as widely as we can.

In recent months we have supported drama therapy sessions for displaced children in Gaza, delivered by a Gazan organisation called Child Smile. Following its huge success we hope to support another of these sessions, and we also hope to add new equipment to a playground we built in Silwan, East Jerusalem. 
As we relaunch, we do so with heavy hearts and determined spirits. We know our work now is more important than ever and hope you will join us in supporting Palestinian children through their right to play. 

We hope you will consider donating, or even better, signing up to give regularly. Please keep an eye out for UK Playgrounds for Palestine events and other ways of supporting us over the coming months. 

Together we know we can bring brightness, support and release to Palestine’s children at a time when it is most needed. 
Thank you so much,
​
The UK Playgrounds for Palestine team

Together, we can make children smile.

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Our latest project

Helping children make sense of the inexplicable.

We are proud to show our most recently completed project, Child Smile in Gaza, where a group of dedicated drama graduates worked with six groups of children, aged 9 to 12 and 13 to 16. These children have faced unimaginable hardship, and through the power of drama and creativity, we aim to help them rediscover joy and hope.

Dream it

It all began with an idea. How could a group of drama graduates from Gaza help children begin to regain their childhood?
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The answer was in 12 dynamic workshops designed to build confidence, spark imagination, and nurture healing.

Build it

UK Playgrounds for Palestine funded tents, wages, props, refreshments, and so on. Child Smile used that funding to build and deliver the drama workshops.
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Enjoy it

The project culminated in two inspiring open days, where the children showcased their talents and creativity in front of family and friends—a celebration of their strength, resilience, and newfound joy.

The project is about more than just theatre; it's about helping young hearts heal from the trauma of war.
We are now fundraising to enable this initiative to continue - we need about £8000. ​Please help if you can.

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