When Jarah al-Hawamdeh was having treatment for bone cancer, he lay awake at night dreaming of his future as a mountaineer. He was just 15 years old and suffering lengthy bouts of insomnia after doctors amputated his right leg. But Jarah refused to let this ruin his life. The Palestine refugee student from the al-Jofeh in South Amman was determined to turn his situation around. He has since become a certified climber and this week begins his greatest climbing challenge - trekking to the Mount Everest base camp. “It gave me the opportunity to be anything I wanted. It made me special,” says...
Sitting at the front of the classroom, 11-year-old Tala Al-Masri, is bright-eyed and attentive as she pursues her dream of an education at the UNRWA Zaytoun Elementary Co-Ed B School in Gaza. In spite of being born with a severe visual impairment, leaving her with little light in her eyes, Tala's passion for learning has been clear since she was a child. "Tala is one of the most active and wonderful students in the school,” her school principal Itaf Adel Hadi describes her. Born at the onset of the stifling Gaza blockade as a Palestine refugee, Tala has been exposed to poverty, deprivations...
On 13 March 2018, over 1,000 Palestine refugee students from four UNRWA schools in Khan Younis, Gaza, gathered to fly kites of hope in commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the most powerful earthquake ever recorded to hit Japan. For the seventh year, messages of continued empathy and solidarity soared into the skies of Gaza. The Kites of Hope festival was held at the Khan Younis Training Centre in southern Gaza. UNRWA Director of Operations (DUO) in Gaza, Mr. Matthias Schmale, the Ambassador for Palestinian Affairs and Representative of Japan to Palestine, Mr. Takeshi Okubo, as well as...
Samsung Electronics Levant announced its partnership with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jordan, inaugurating an Air conditioning (AC) Lab this morning at Wadi Seer Vocational Training Centre. Samsung Electronics Levant rehabilitated the lab’s infrastructure by equipping it with state-of-the-art devices, in addition to working closely with UNRWA to create a shared training program. Some 200 students will benefit from the AC Lab annually. Designed to support students who have completed secondary school (Tawjihi), the AC Lab will offer programme...
Today, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) celebrated the National Day for Persons with Learning Disabilities at the UNRWA Yarmouk School in Beirut, Lebanon. The event, supported by the European Union as part of a new EUR 5 million educational project, was attended by the Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Gwyn Lewis, and engaged some 180 students with learning disabilities, from grades 1-2 from UNRWA Yarmouk and Bireh schools. Inclusive education is at the heart of the UNRWA education reform, which aims to address the needs of...
