Teacher Muhammad Al-Khudari tours tents and shelter centers in the southern Gaza Strip to teach children (Al-Jazeera)

Gaza -

In front of warehouses belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) west of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, Umm Yamen found some curriculum books for her children. They were a treasure for her and helped her continue their lessons after a break from school since the outbreak of war on October 7. Last October.

Yamen Abu Ajina’s mother has 5 children, the youngest of whom is an infant, and the others are of school age. She and her husband displaced them from their home in the town of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, in the third week of the war. She told Al Jazeera Net, “We have been staying in this tent for a long time, and we do not know when the war will end, and the future Children and students in the knowledge of the unseen.

The textbooks that Umm Yamen found were on their way to the fire, many of which were consumed throughout the months of war and became a way for Gazans to prepare what scarce food they had.

Fatima follows her lessons on her own inside a tent in the city of Rafah (Al Jazeera)

Study in a tent

Umm Yamen (35 years old) refused to let her four children’s time be wasted, and she found in self-education an opportunity to continue their lessons with them. This mother, who used to work in a pharmacy and has been out of work since the outbreak of the aggression, says, “Praise be to God, my children were encouraged to take initiative and education, and they found it in the books.” "A way to escape from the pressures and escape from the repercussions of the war."

Fatima, who is in the eighth grade and is the eldest of her siblings, felt very happy when she saw the books for the first time since she left her home and school in the northern Gaza Strip.

Her mother, Umm Yamen, says, “Fatima excelled in her studies and memorized the entire Holy Qur’an, as did her brothers, Yamen, in the seventh grade, Aisha, in the third, and Moamen, in the first. All of them excelled in their studies, and they were happy to return to school, even if temporarily, inside a tent.”

With the enthusiasm that the Gazan woman found in her children and their happiness in continuing their educational lessons, she and her husband were encouraged and went to the remaining libraries operating in the city of Rafah in search of helpful and explanatory books for the curriculum. She added, “Praise be to God, they depend on themselves and take advantage of their time, and my husband, Abu Yamen, helps them with what is difficult for them.” Tutorials".

Individual and collective initiatives have become widespread in shelters, schools, and tents to save the educational process after 5 months of war on Gaza (Al Jazeera)

Living Martyr Initiative

School and university educational life has been disrupted in the small coastal enclave, and returning to it seems hazy with the continuation of the fierce war that has destroyed all universities and intermediate institutes, and hundreds of governmental and UNRWA schools.

Among the individual and group educational initiatives that have become widespread in shelter centers in schools and in tents, the initiative of displaced teacher Muhammad al-Khudari (38 years old) stands out, which began with self-education for his three children in a shelter center in the city of Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

Al-Khudari has one of the exciting war stories. He was among the martyrs for about 9 hours, and Al-Shifa Hospital documented him as a martyr on November 7, before he returned to life again with the success of the Civil Defense in extracting him from under the rubble of his destroyed house in the Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood, east of the city. Gaza.

After 3 days he spent receiving treatment, and as the tanks advanced towards the hospital, Al-Khudari was displaced with his family to the center of the Strip. He told Al-Jazeera Net, “Life is a situation, and a person must leave a mark, and not rely on despair and submission, and from here was my initiative to teach children and relieve them psychologically.”

This teacher holds a master's degree in curricula and teaching methods, and works as a lecturer in Gaza's universities. As part of his voluntary educational initiative, he tours displacement schools and tent camps in the southern Gaza Strip throughout the week, targeting children of basic education age from first to sixth.

Al-Khudari’s initiative focuses on teaching the Arabic language and psychological development, using modern methods that have attracted a large number of students and families, such as story telling, narrative style, puppets, and color drawing. He estimates the number of beneficiaries - since the launch of his initiative about a month and a half ago - at approximately 4,000 children.

In a simulation of a real educational environment, Al-Khudari begins his day with the students with a morning assembly and flag salute. One group includes about 60 male and female students, sleeping on the ground inside tents and shelter and displacement centers. Al-Khudari says, “The interaction I find from the children shows the bright side and hope for a better future, and that we "A people who deserve to live."

Nadwi Shamaa is an initiative for education and psychological relief at Taif School, west of the city of Rafah (Al Jazeera)

We light a candle

In Taif School, which is one of the shelter centers in western Rafah, the librarian there, Raed Abu Ta’imah, was inspired by the children’s interest in borrowing books, the idea of ​​his initiative, “Nadwi Shamaa,” and he told Al Jazeera Net, “The demand of the displaced children for the library was remarkable, and I wanted to enhance their passion for reading and studying.” Hence the initiative.”

With initiators and volunteers, an educational and recreational class was allocated for psychological relief, which provides children - three days a week - to learn basic school subjects and engage in extracurricular activities with the aim of relieving them of the stress and pain of war, according to Abu Taima.

Layan Abu Saad (9 years old), a displaced student from Gaza City, is keen to participate in the initiative’s activities. She tells Al Jazeera Net, “I had lost hope in returning to education, and the war was long and the year was lost, but this initiative gave me some hope back.”

Source: Al Jazeera