NOVANEWS
Diary, March 24, 2010
After I finished Arabic class, we rushed to Nuseirat refugee camp, where Dr. Mona al-Farra runs an amazing center called Faq al-Jadeeda: New Horizons. Mona is an old leftist. Faq al-Jadeeda was filled with children. It’s a kindergarten-cum-public-health-clinic-cum-health-education-cum-water-provider. They do a lot there. Dr. Mona said that the center’s catchment area as including 15,000 people, maybe a fifth of Nuseirat.
First, we watched six young men perform another fantastically well-rehearsed dabka. I asked Dr. Mona about the size of the center’s operations and their curriculum, whether it is vetted, who approves it. It is approved by the Hamas Ministry of Education. Mona said that everyone who works there is a “very progressive person,” and with pride said that they had to double their kindergarten enrollment, to 250 4 to 6 year-olds.
There was also playground equipment. She told me that not everyone kindergarten in Gaza has such nice equipment. We walked around, looking at the children. We gave out balloons reading “Free Palestine,” and took pictures of the children. Then we left. I asked Dr. Mona a few more questions, about her training–on the job training in public health–and then about her work.
She does women’s health education, which must be immensely challenging given prevailing strictures, both governmental and cultural, and the way they dynamically reinforce one another.
On the ride back, I asked Dr. Mona about what we could do. I told her I had seen that they had a Viva Palestina ambulance. She said that she had secured two Viva ambulances with the help of Middle East Children’s Alliance. Local Initiative could have used an ambulance, too, but they are not registered as an NGO.
Faq could have been the recipient of the vehicle on behalf of Local Initiative, but they did not know this and Westerners didn’t ask, and we don’t ask frequently enough–a recurring problem.
[Yea this was almost two weeks ago, I meant to post something other than violence and confrontation, and this leftist-style sumoud was the best example].
Technorati Tags: Faq al-Jadeeda, Gaza, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Mona al-Farra, Palestine
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April 5th, 2010 | Tags: Faq al-Jadeeda, Gaza, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Mona al-Farra, Palestine
