Quaker Service Norway supports Gaza kindergartens
‘Many of the children are heavily traumatised and marked by their experiences in the war.'
A Quaker-supported programme in Gaza has started ‘open days’ to help traumatised children in three kindergartens.
The Palestinian Early Childhood Education Program (PECEP), supported by Quaker Service Norway (QSN), has been helping kindergarten staff who fled their homes after the recent violence started on 7 October 2023, following Hamas’s attack on Israel. Many of the employees are now based in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza.
The first open day was held in April in Rafah Kindergarten.
‘None of the thirteen kindergartens that PECEP runs has been in operation after 7 October 2023, and several of them have been destroyed in the hostilities. We hope to get started with [other] activities as soon as possible,’ says Arnstein Finset, clerk of Kvekerhjelp Meeting in Norway.
‘Many of the children are heavily traumatised and marked by their experiences in the war. PECEP plans guidance for parents in the refugee camps on how best to help traumatised children to prevent longterm trauma reactions. Kvekerhjelp gives top priority to supporting these projects.’
Writing on the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) website, Arnstein Finset describes how Quakers in Norway have donated funds to staff who were left without pay when the kindergartens closed last October. QSN is now planning to send more funds for the employees of PECEP.
UN experts said they were ‘horrified’ earlier this month after mass graves were recently unearthed in the Gaza Strip. The graves showed that most victims have been women and children over the past seven months.
‘Over 390 bodies have been discovered at Nasser and Al Shifa hospitals, including of women and children, with many reportedly showing signs of torture and summary executions, and potential instances of people buried alive,’ the experts said.
They noted that women, girls and children overall are among those most exposed to danger in this conflict.
Revised figures published by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on 8 May show that, of 34,844 Palestinians killed in Gaza, the majority have been women and children.
