School contest «Peace for Palestine» ends in festive atmosphere

The school competition was developed over six months in various schools in the country that adhered to the proposal of the nationwide contest, "Peace for Palestine" sponsored by the MPPM. The contest aimed at carrying out projects of various kinds that developed an interest in the history and culture of the Palestinian People and contributed to the knowledge of the situation in Palestine.

Thus, students of the 2nd and 3rd cycle of basic education under the guidance of their teachers planned and implemented work in the form of Written Production, Fine Arts, Performing Arts, Video and Multimedia, which included their personal mark in their final product.

In some schools, the competition triggered the implementation of other initiatives such as at the Institute Almalaguês, of Coimbra, where was organized a competition for cartoons, among students of the 5th and 6th grades, with a jury consisting of teachers, students and staff, who selected the winning entry that was submitted to the School Competition, where it would win the first prize in the field of Fine Arts in their age group.

The awards presentation ceremony of the School Competition "Peace for Palestine" took place on May 22 in the space provided by the city of Lisbon's Republic and Resistance Museum Library where were also exhibited to the public, until May 26, the winning works in Written Work and Fine Arts categories. The award ceremony was conducted by Julio de Magalhães, who chaired the jury, assisted by Amador Clemente, executive coordinator of the competition. It also counted with the presence of Ambassador Randa Nabulsi, who gave an unsurpassed support to the initiative, and with some of the jurors who delivered the awards.

The auditorium, on that Saturday, was full of students, faculty and guests of all ages, grandparents and siblings of young age who came from almost the entire national territory, with the exception of prize-winning students of the Pico Island - Azores who had great difficulty in travelling to the Continent.

It was with great enthusiasm that these young people attended the reading of texts and projection of videos of the winning entries and with great emotion and respect that they received the awards and the "keffiyeh" - scarf that was well known in the sixties for becoming  a symbol Palestinian nationalism - that Ambassador Randa Nabulsi, General Delegate of Palestine, placed on the shoulders of each prize-winner, students and teachers.

One highlight there was when the Ambassador announced the Special Prize of the Jury, consisting of a trip to Palestine, for winning students and the faculty advisers, for a week, accompanied by representatives of the General Delegation of Palestine and MPPM. The winners were: Ana Isabel Silva Lourenço, Carla Felícia Mira Adriano, Jéssica Alexandre Pinto Roque, Rafael Alexander Alegria Miller, Simaura Alexandre Marques Faria and Professor Aníbal José Ribeiro Serra, of the Basic School of the 2nd and 3rd cycles Poceirão, Palmela; Ana Filipa da Cunha Real André Rafael Gomes Fernandes and Sara Cristiana Marques Costa and Professor Carla Sílvia de Vasconcelos Ferreira, of the Basic School of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of Real, Braga; Ana Isabel Correia de Pinho, Ana Raquel de Pinho Bastos, Cátia Freitas Almeida and Professor Nelson Manuel Gomes Valente, of the Basic School of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of Carregosa, Oliveira de Azeméis.

Ambassador Randa Nabulsi in her speech expressed great pleasure to be speaking to an audience so young and interested in the issue of peace to Palestine and encouraged young people to continue to learn about the world around them.

In the end, a photograph of all students with Ambassador Randa Nabulsi and members of the organization, set the party atmosphere that ended this initiative of MPPM.

The reactions to the event were extremely rewarding, as this of Professor Carla Ferreira, of the Basic School of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of Real, Braga: "I begin by saying that both I and the students loved the experience shared with you on May 22 last and thank all that you have given us. For the students it was a moment the was almost magical and an enriching experience at all levels for their development. For me it was doubly good because I was thrilled with the excitement and happiness of the students and I became personally richer. Let me I say that I found the intervention of the Ambassador delightful. "

The papers presented in the contest, showed great sensitivity in the approaches taken to this problem, because this age group (10 to 15 years) is very sensitive to issues of injustice and make their judgments following the path of the heart. The success of this year encourages the movement to repeat this contest in the near future to stimulate young people's critical sense.