OPT: In Gaza, Salwa helps children feel safe again

Each morning in Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Salwa opens the door to a temporary learning space and gets to work.

Displaced by the war, caring for her sick mother and her son Zain, who has diabetes, and now the main breadwinner for her family, the 37-year-old teacher is doing more than teaching. She is creating a place where children can feel safe, heard and able to learn again.

For the children in her classroom, Salwa is a steady presence in an unsteady world.

With a calm voice and close attention to each child, she helps create a sense of reassurance in a place shaped by fear, loss and uncertainty. Her classroom is not just a place for lessons. It is a place where children can begin to feel seen again.

“When Ms. Salwa is around, we feel safe, and she lets us express everything we feel inside,” says Layan, one of her students.

Ahmed adds, “She understands us even if we don’t speak, and she lets us talk and play without worry.”

Creating space to heal

Through a social-emotional learning approach, Salwa gives children space to express what they are carrying inside.

She opens circles for dialogue, helps them talk through their fears and creates room for play, reflection and routine, small but important steps for children whose lives have been deeply disrupted.

Salwa strengthened these skills through a programme implemented by the Teacher Creativity Centre in Gaza, in partnership with War Child and with support from the OCHA-managed OPT HF.

The programme equips teachers with practical tools for crisis education and social-emotional learning so they can better support children living through conflict and displacement.

For War Child and its partners, that support has been essential.

“The OPT Humanitarian Fund is a vital source of support for our work in Gaza because it allows us to respond quickly and adapt to what children and families need most,” said a War Child Senior Programme Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory. “That flexibility is especially important in a context like this, where needs are immense, conditions change constantly, and local partners are doing everything they can to keep services going.”

For Salwa, the training was not just about professional development. It helped her turn a temporary educational space into something more meaningful: a place where children can recover a sense of stability and hope.

Strength in the face of hardship

Outside the classroom, her own life remains marked by hardship.

Salwa now lives in a small tent in Gaza after losing her home and job because of the war. She is responsible not only for supporting her family financially, but also for caring for her mother and closely monitoring Zain’s condition.

Still, she keeps going.

“I had no choice but to be strong,” Salwa says. “My strength was my responsibility to my son and to myself.”

Between her fear for Zain, her determination to provide him with treatment, and her care for her mother, she chooses that strength every day.

Zain, who is in sixth grade, speaks about his mother with pride.

“My mother is my safety… she’s the one who taught me to be strong,” he said.

Restoring stability in crisis

For Salwa, returning to work has meant more than earning an income. It has helped restore a sense of dignity, allowed her to support her son’s treatment and brought some stability after months of upheaval.

Her story is also a reminder that when women are supported in crisis, the impact reaches far beyond one individual. It extends to children, families and entire communities trying to hold themselves together.

Salwa’s story – published to mark International Women’s Day (March 8) – reflects a broader truth seen across Gaza: women are not only enduring the crisis, they are carrying families, supporting communities and creating spaces of care and continuity under impossible conditions.

The OCHA-managed OPT HF is designed to support frontline humanitarian partners so they can respond quickly where needs are greatest.

You can help women like Salwa continue supporting their communities by contributing here.

Posted March 2026
Pooled Fund impact stories