ACLAÍ Palestine

ACLAÍ Palestine is a community gym and movement space located in the Lajee Centre in the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, West Bank Palestine. It officially opened in February 2020 as a result of the hard work of our team in Ireland and Palestine, and thanks to the generous donations of the many people who backed the project through our fundraising campaign and by running small fundraising events in their own communities. ACLAÍ Palestine provides a space for strength and movement training and circus skills for people of all ages who live in the Aida camp, and also provides exercise sessions for patients of the community health program run by the Lajee Center. The Lajee Center is a grassroots organisation that provides cultural, educational, and health resources for the community, and their services currently include a community soccer pitch, a garden and playground, a kindergarten, Environmental Unit, Music and Dance Unit, Library, Media Unit, Women’s Unit, and a Community Health Workers Unit.

The Aida Camp

The Aida refugee camp was established in 1950 and is home to over 5000 Palestinian refugees from 27 different Palestinian villages who were forced out during the Nakba of 1948. It is located on the outskirts of the city of Bethlehem, overlooked by at least 6 watchtowers occupation watch towers and the apartheid wall. There is military base right beside the camp, and the camp is subject to regular attacks by the occupation. The main issues at the Aida camp reflect the issues faced by all Palestinian refugee camps; lack of space and community resources, unreliable electricity and/or water supply, restrictions on freedom of movement, and escalating occupation violence.

So Far…

In Lajee Centre today we have a gym that provides training for people of all ages and abilities every week. We provide supervised sessions for patients from Lajee’s community health program, run strength and movement training sessions with male and female groups, boxing sessions for youths, regular yoga sessions, and we work with people who are living with disabilities from acquired brain injuries to cerebral palsy. All of our services are provided to our participants free of charge by our small team of coaches, thanks to our ongoing fundraising efforts and contributions by our supporters.

The Future

We want ACLAÍ Palestine to be great resource for the residents of the Aida and Alazza Camps, providing important services in a place that is being squeezed from every direction by the occupation. We are working hard to develop the expertise of our team, and helping to get more people through our doors every week to spend a bit of time in a friendly and encouraging environment to play and to work on their own health.