Stories from the Field

HCI launched this week the Kindergarten Rehabilitation Program in Gaza and is now working towards reconstructing the physical damages incurred on the Al-Majed School and Kindergarten located in the Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City.

The Al-Majed school and Kindergarten was established in 1972 under the name Hashim’s Gaza, and renamed the “Two Sisters” Kindergarten in 1992. The Kindergarten was established as a refuge for orphans and children whose families were too poor to provide them with an education and other basic needs.

In an effort to grant these children their childhood, the Kindergarten worked very hard to provide not only education and recreational activities for these children but also provided them with basic necessities that they were otherwise deprived of. Uniforms and stationary were provided, including daily lunch meals.

As a result of its ongoing success the Kindergarten expanded, and the Al-Majed school was established in 2007. A new two-floor building, each floor equipped with five classrooms and bathrooms hosted the new school. In addition, a large playground area and a garden were built for the children’s entertainment and recreational activities.

Prior to the war on Gaza in 2008, 70 children were enrolled in the Kindergarten that included KG0-KG2 and another 15 children were attending the new school.

This success however, was short-lived since both the newly-founded school and the decades-old Kindergarten incurred serious damages as a result of the bombings that targeted the adjacent Borno Mosque. The twenty-two days of conflict which left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, over 5,300 injured, caused extensive damage to the kindergarten. The kindergarten suffering from severe physical damages and financial loss, has not only been unable to resume its normal course of work, but has also lost many of its enrolled children as a result.

As such, HCI with the cooperation of the Palestine-established Vocational Rehabilitation Workshops Society for Girls (VRWSG) NGO — the founder of the kindergarten — decided to assist in reviving the school by contributing towards its physical rehabilitation. In consultation with the VRWSG, a Gaza-based Engineering and Consultations company was designated with the task of assessing the damages incurred. As the recipients of this fund, the Palestine-based VRWSG will be responsible for the rehabilitation of the Al-Majed School and Kindergarten.

The Al-Majed School and Kindergarten is one of many others that will be revived by HCI as part of the Kindergarten Rehabilitation Program. Through this program, HCI wishes to physically rehabilitate these Kindergartens to allow children to continue their education providing them with the space to play and learn away from the destruction of wars and poverty.

HCI also hopes to assist in providing temporary employment/aid-for-work opportunities for families without a breadwinner to participate in the rehabilitation of those kindergartens in hope that this program can involve and benefit as many people in need as possible.

Tags: Children, Gaza, Kindergarten, Palestine

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Children, Gaza Strip, Kindergarten, Palestine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.