Enlighten believes that children who learn how to use computers will be better placed in the future than those who do not. In the Palestinian refugee camps very few UNRWA* schools have computers. Consequently there is little opportunity for children to access computers.
Computer labs with access to the Internet are ubiquitous in schools throughout Europe, North America and much of the Middle East. Computers are to be found in almost every office. Knowledge of how to use computers is both important in educational and vocational fields. Giving children the opportunity to learn how to use computers will provide them with a brighter future.
Enlighten works with Palestinian refugee children between the ages of 10 and 17.
This element of the Palestinian community is amongst the most vulnerable and
disadvantaged, not only in the occupied Palestinian territories but throughout the
entire Middle East. UN agencies (especially UNRWA) do strive to provide essential
support to refugee communities, but financial limitations mean this aid is frequently
insufficient given the scale of need faced. International agencies and
donors alone remain unable to keep up with spiralling levels of unemployment and
deteriorating standards of living within the rapidly growing refugee camps.
Education and vocational training are essential to the remedying of many of the
immediate problems faced by those in the camps, yet UNRWA itself has warned in
a recent appeal for funds (Summer 2003), that without drastic change, "students'
skills will erode… and many will be ill prepared to continue their education."
Life in the camps is hard. By mid-2003, per-household poverty levels in the camps
of the Gaza Strip, where more than half of all residents are under the age of 15
(UNRWA data to 2002), had topped 84% (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics).
The principal education provider in the camps, UNRWA has recently reported that
in the wake of the past three years of violence and economic crisis in the occupied
Palestinian territories "the opportunities for young people… to access education,
employment or training have diminished dramatically." It is in this context that the
charitable work of Enlighten has taken on an increasingly urgent note. The charity
is committed to providing youth with free and professionally tutored courses in
safe and well-equipped facilities. It does so in close coordination with UNRWA and
other agencies and endeavours to foster close inter-agency and community
involvement in all its activities.
Enlighten's teaching programs are managed so as to consistently offer equal
access to both girls and boys and to ensure sufficient opportunity is granted each
pupil to advance through the full range of levels taught at Enlighten centres. At
present, a single learning centre, equipped with 20 internet- and network-connected
computer workstations, is capable of providing nearly 1,000 pupils per
year with a full 3-month course of study.
Despite operating year-round and weeklong, Enlighten's centres are persistently
oversubscribed. This has led the local trustees and staff to operate a rotation system
and keep waiting-lists for eager students so as to ensure a maximum number
of different pupils are able to benefit from the services over each course period.
Nonetheless, the charity is painfully aware of the enormity of the problems faced
in the camps and hopes to continue expanding its facilities so as to reach more
and more children, with better and better services.
(* The United Nations Relief and Works Agency)
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Without the generous support of the sympathetic public, Enlighten would not have achieved what it has up until now. With that support and solidarity, Enlighten can go on to expand and improve its charitable work.
Enlighten's Membership Leaflet. |
