Atfaluna ("Our Children") School for the Deaf was established in May 1992 in Gaza City, the largest city in the Gaza strip, a piece of land sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean and bordering on Egypt. Today, 250 deaf children from Kindergarten through to 9th grade study in the school. Atfaluna also offers other services for the deaf, notably vocational training, income-generating activities, a range of training courses for the parents and relatives of deaf children and specialized medical and technical services.
Working in Gaza is especially challenging. Gaza is only 360 square kilometres large, but has a population of 1.3 Million, two thirds of them refugees originating from areas that today belong to Israel. These ca 870,000 persons live in eight refugee camps; the largest are Jabalia and Rafah, with 103,000 and 91,000 residents respectively. The degree of overcrowding is unimaginable. With about 60 percent of the population living on less than a Dollar per person per day, Gaza has one of the highest poverty rates in the world. In 2003, UNRWA reported that half of Gazan residents lived on one meal per day and 35 per cent of Gazans suffered from malnutrition. Political tensions mounted considerably since 2003, and both numbers are bound to be much higher now.
Small wonder that only in a few isolated cases, the students of Atfaluna School are able to pay school fees. The great majority of students not only cannot pay anything, Atfaluna also provides them with school uniforms, underwear and hearing aid batteries.
Since January 2008, LFT sponsors five of Atfaluna's students:
|
Bara'a |
Ahmed |
Afnan |
Mohammad |
Abdallah |
DoB |
2000 |
2001 |
2001 |
2000 |
1998 |
Grade |
1st grade |
Transitional level |
1st grade |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
Method of communication |
Sign language |
Sign language & speech |
Sign language & speech |
Does not know how to sign |
Sign language & speech |
Attitude |
Cheerful, energetic and very intelligent |
Sociable with classmates |
Sociable, very active, polite but untidy |
Withdrawn and isolated due to lacking communication skills |
Barely communicated |
Events during period of reporting |
Family moved to new house. They have very little household equipment. |
Parents separated & Ahmed and his mother lived in maternal uncle's house. Much tension. |
Afnan is taught acc. to a special plan and is making remarkable progress and catching up with her classmates |
No special events |
Attended summer camp with deaf and hearing participants |
Problems during period of reporting |
enuresis (bed wetting) |
Communication problems with parents who have five deaf children and live in marginalized, far-off area |
Low concentration due to emotional trauma two years ago |
Very low academic skills |
|
Services during period of reporting |
Counselling for Bara'a and family for the enuresis |
Counselling for Ahmed and his parents and stress release sessions |
Counselling plan set up for Afnan and parents |
Special educational plan |
Special attention in class |
Educational results |
Moved to second grade with excellent average |
Moved to grade one with good average |
Moved to grade 2 with good average |
Improved concentration and improved writing skills |
Improved participation in lessons |
Remarks |
|
Ahmed moved to another school |
|
|
|
It is exciting to see how much progress these deaf children have made in only eight months. Dear LFT donors: 50 GBP per month is sufficient to give a deaf child a chance for a better life. Please, donate generously. More children are waiting to be sponsored.
Give As You Earn:
Islamic Humanitarian Service:
Comfort Aid International:
To make a regular donation by standing order, please download a mandate from the website or contact us and we will send one to you. http://www.ladyfatemahtrust.org/donate.php . You can make a donation by using our secure on-line payment facility at https://secure.webstar.co.uk/lft/donate.php.
Please remember that completing a Gift Aid form substantially boosts your donation by 28% if you are a UK taxpayer.
Thank you, as always for all your generosity and support without which our work would not be possible.
Yours sincerely,
Amirali G. Karim
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
http://www.ladyfatemahtrust.org/
Tel: +44 (0) 7798 76 10 20
Tel +44 (0) 1494 762 063, Email info@ladyfatemahtrust.org, Fax +44 (0) 1494 762 286,
Mobile +44 (0) 7798 76 10 20, Fax +44 (0) 7798 76 90 30
Website: http://www.ladyfatemahtrust.org/