Israel – Camp Sababa

Camp SABABA, Israel’s first Burn Camp, was founded in 2009 and operates in cooperation with Schneider Hospital for Children, Sheba Medical Center, and the Israel Burn Association. Camp takes place in Kfar Galim, a picturesque youth village set on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel, a diverse and multicultural country, was a natural home for Camp SABABA. Through the years, over 500 children from various backgrounds, religions and cultures have taken part in this unique camp. In addition to ordinary camp activities such as team sports and arts & crafts, campers also enjoy beach based activities such as surfing and swimming.

Each year, a team of more than 30 social workers, therapists, musicians, artists, and volunteers from Israeli hospitals accompany the children, many of them returning for the third or fourth consecutive year.

Camp SABABA has drawn much media attention in Israel and has been called “a bridge for peace”. The name SABABA, which derives from Arabic and is also a popular Hebrew slang word, means “terrific, wonderful”, giving it both a literal and a symbolic meaning.

Our burn camp is not the only entity being highlighted as “a bridge for peace.” Our partners at Sheba TelHashomer Burn Center have also earned such a title by providing the most international humanitarian missions of any hospital in the Middle East. Sheba TelHashomer treats more Arab and Palestinian children than any hospital in Israel, and together we share the philosophy that no child deserves to live with burn scars. We guarantee all childhood burn survivors that we will provide for them in any way that we can, in every way that they need. We hold ourselves to this promise, regardless of the origin of our patients.

“It is amazing to see religious and secular Jews, and young Israeli Arabs participate together in all our activities, sing the same songs, sleep in the same cabins together. Real bonding takes place during a fun-filled healing process.” – Samuel Davis, BAN Founder

“A child is a child, fire doesn’t differentiate between children” – Nili Arbel, Camp Sababa Co-Director