Apr, 2007
The West Bank is still recovering from a widespread civil strike that interrupted schools for a period of three months in the fall of 2006.
With Anera’s financial help, one orphanage, Dar al-Yateem in Tulkarem, offered special lessons to compensate for missed school days.
Seventeen year-old Aisha is one of the students who took advantage of the extra sessions. Aisha is a member of the Anera Scholarship Program—an initiative which has helped improve education in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, where many Palestinian refugees live. Aisha comes from a poor family in a small village. Her father is handicapped and her mother, unable to provide for Aisha herself, and was forced to place Aisha in the Dar al-Yateem orphanage.
Since arriving, Aisha has shown great interest in her studies and worked hard to improve herself. With the encouragement of her teachers, she learned to use the computer lab and library established with a grant from Anera. During the strike days, Aisha worked closely with a tutor to build her skills in math and English, which were particularly difficult subjects for her to master. She was rewarded with good marks on her mid-year exams.
Based on the positive results with Aisha and other residents, Dar al-Yateem intends to continue providing specialized tutoring to ensure students progress academically and make up for class time missed when classes are disrupted by local events, which happens frequently in the West Bank.
Students and teachers are grateful to Anera for creating opportunity and hope to build a better future through West Bank education programs.
