In the spirit of International Volunteer Day, on 4 February, 200 UNRWA students – together with UNRWA counsellors, teachers, their parents and local community leaders – participated in a ‘volunteering day’ activity in North Gaza to promote volunteering among youth in Gaza.
“I felt very happy participating in this volunteering day and cleaning my school and the surrounding area. I wish to have regular activities like this one,” commented Ibrahim Saleh, a third-grade student.
The volunteering day was a joint effort of various UNRWA programmes, including the education programme, the Community Mental Health Programme (CMHP), and the infrastructure and camp improvement programme. The event aimed to enhance the spirit of volunteering among schoolchildren and maintain a cooperative relationship between the school and the students’ families by involving parents in activities organized by the schools.
During the volunteering day, activities included, for example, the joint cleaning of school surroundings or the painting and decorating of the school walls.
“We promote the schoolchildren’s well-being through their full engagement in non-curricular activities that serve the wider community; all activities are based on a teamwork approach involving students, teachers, counsellors and community representatives,” explained Khaled Nasser, the UNRWA Community Mental Health Programme supervisor who organized the event.