Annahda Women's Association
Location: Ramallah, Holy Land
Acting Director: Muhammad Joudeh
Founded: 1972
How it all started
The Annahda Women's Association
was established in 1925, with the aim of promoting the social, educational
and vocational standard of Arab women, as well as providing various
other activities to meet the needs of the local community.
In 1972, the group realised that something
needed to be done for the many children with mental disabilities in
the area, and a small training centre was set up. It began with five children
in a small room, but soon grew and, in 1980, a purpose-built Day Centre
was opened. The Centre now cares for over 60 children and young adults,
who all have mental disabilities, whilst some are also physically disabled
or deaf or unable to speak. This Centre is one of the main activities
of the Women's Association, serving families from both Christian and
Muslim backgrounds.
The Association also oversees: a vocational
training programme for women, with courses in embroidery and sewing;
a centre for the diagnosis and rehabilitation of those with hearing
and speech impairments; a complementary education programme, giving
help to students with learning disabilities who are enrolled in regular
schools; and gives financial aid to needy families.
The Centre is located in Ramallah, a
town about 10 miles north of Jerusalem. The original population of Ramallah
were Christians but, as a result of the 1948 war, refugees from many
parts of Palestine settled in Ramallah. Now both Christians and Muslims
live in harmony in the town.
Current activities
The
Rehabilitation Centre aims to provide the children who attend with the
basic skills needed for their future life. It does this through 2 main
courses – a school programme and a vocational training programme.
School
Programme:
- From the age of
four to 14, the boys and girls learn in the Centre's School and
are taught basic skills, such as recognising and
writing their own names, coping with minor domestic chores, recognising
colours, and counting. They learn food preparation and table manners
by having daily lunch together. The aim is to enable the children
to become independent members of their own communities. Pupils follow
individual courses, designed to help them achieve this independence.
Parents' meetings are held, to involve the families in the training
of their children. Each application for a place at the Centre is professionally
assessed to establish the individual's potential, and placed in the most
appropriate class.
Vocational
Programme:
-
Teachers
are kept up to date with the most recent techniques and methods of
teaching mentally disabled children through regular training sessions.
This ensures that the children are given the best education possible.
-
To
help teach social skills to its pupils, the Centre takes the children
on at least two day trips each year, invites their mothers to a celebration
of Mothers' Day, and runs a bazaar for the children at the end of
every academic year.
-
Parents
are asked to pay school fees if they are able to but, since the beginning
of the second Intifada, unemployment is now at 70% and many families
are living at a subsistence level. Therefore, some simply pay a token
fee, whilst many pay nothing at all.
-
The
Centre provides each of its pupils with two daily meals. This not only
enables them to learn social skills as they eat together and clear
the tables afterwards, but also gives them the valuable nutrition
that they may not be able to receive at home, due to their parents'
lack of money.
-
Because
of the current situation, many children cannot reach the Centre by
public transport. The Centre therefore uses its minibus to transport
the children to and from school. Some of the pupils board at the
Centre, if they are unable to cope with the daily commute. They go
home at least twice a month to spend some time with their families.
-
Many of the older pupils, aged between 15
and 26, then
go on to the Centre's Vocational Training Section, where they learn
such skills as embroidery, carpentry, agricultural work, weaving and
home economics. Eventually, they may find employment in the Centre's
Sheltered Workshops. The Toy Production and Carpentry workshops are
now able to offer over 100 different educational toys and pieces of
equipment for kindergartens in the area.
The Annahda Women's Association has no formal funding and relies mainly
on charitable organisations, such as BibleLands, to keep its programmes
running. But the staff are people of faith, who believe that
God will continue to provide, as he has done for so many years.
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 One
of the teachers in the School. |
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 One
of the young students at the Centre's Vocational Training Section. |
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