A campaign to help Palestine students

Atef Daghlas-Tulkarm

The first day of the new school year for siblings Mohammed, Amani and Duaa in the West Bank will be much better than the previous one, and will join their school carrying their bags over their backs and joy overwhelm them, as is the case for most school students after they received most of the school tools from the campaign "joy in a bag" launched by a group of young people in the region.

The distribution of bags is not limited to one category but also includes all categories and commensurate with their needs, with the aim of alleviating the financial crisis that afflicts the general Palestinians, and the financial burdens placed on the parents in the current year, which is close to school return dates with Eid al-Adha and many other occasions.

The three brothers were chosen from among dozens of students to be included in the campaign launched by Palestinian youth from different cities in the West Bank, through which they volunteered to collect school bags and distribute them to needy students in difficult financial conditions.

Puzzled and resolved
Just a few days ago, the three children and their mother were sitting at home in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, puzzled by the absence of those who provided them with the tools of the new school year and by the difficult financial conditions they are living after the loss of the father. All their needs.

The mother of the children expressed her great gratitude to the campaigners, and said that they provided the largest amount of school requirements for her children before the start of the new school year, saying it coincided with their need.

These days, more than 1.3 million students are enrolled in the school year for the 2019/2020 academic year, amid difficult economic conditions for themselves and their families, especially the teachers sector, where 60% of the workers did not receive their salaries for the eighth consecutive month due to Israel withholding clearing funds. Tax) for the Palestinian Authority.

The campaign was launched three years ago in the city of Tulkarm under the supervision of 20 young people who volunteer to provide bags for poor students. And then we give it to the needy without mandating the donor. "

Good guys
Campaign organizers have made school administrations a point of contact to examine the situation of needy students who have not been able to buy bags to provide them after verifying their needs. Srouji says their campaign has broken the silence with both institutions and civil society figures to collect and provide support to the poor. Social responsibility.

"Initiatives range from Eid to schools, all of which create awareness among young volunteers who realize that their role is complementary to the institutions concerned with the needs of the poor and not a substitute for them," he said. "Young people provide what they can and those who know what preserves their dignity, which prevented them from reaching out to the official authorities such as Zakat committees and the Foundation." Community Affairs ".

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the cost of living increased by 0.18% among Palestinians in July, amid extreme poverty, which jumped to 30% and resulted in unemployment reaching 31% for labor force participants in Palestine in 2018.

Initiatives
The idea of ​​the school bag was raised by Dean Dweikat, a social activist in the northern West Bank city of Nablus four years ago, and the owner was keen that at first the donor would communicate directly with the needy and that his role would be limited to coordination and information, As part of a campaign they called "Joy with a Bag".

Dweikat praises people's interaction to do good and their willingness to help poor families, and says the campaign has achieved its goals by collecting hundreds of bags and distributing them to those in need.