PA 05 - A SAFE WAY TO SCHOOL
Project Location
The project targets the Jahalin Bedouin communities of the West Bank. The Bedouins of the Jahalin tribe arrived there from the Tel Arad district in the Negev desert. Tribal history asserts that since 1949 the Israeli authorities have initiated a campaign of forced evacuation against the Bedouins in the Tel Arad region.
Physical and psychological violence increases, leading to the demolition of Bedouin homes. The Jahalin tribe fled the tribal territories on the fringes of the Negev, moving first to Jordan and then to the West Bank where they are recognized as refugees by UNRWA. Bedouin villages are located in what has been outlined Area C by the Oslo Accords.
Area C is one of the frontiers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where numerous human rights violations continue to happen. A large part of the population risks being deported or having their homes demolished for security reasons, measures that often specifically affect the nomadic tribes.
In 2009 the Comboni Missionary Sisters based in Eastern Jerusalem launched an educational project. At first the scope of this project was to establish and foster alternative learning for children. Over the years it expanded, so that step by step new Bedouin villages and communities came to benefit from it; currently the project also provides services to women and children’s parents.
Part of our ministry in the villages are visits to families. On these occasions we regularly come into contact with bright young people who would like to continue university studies and women eager to develop their skills. The Bedouin society is a patriarchal one.
The village chief holds authority and the older Bedouin generation often has no formal education. In Bedouin villages, opportunities for education and development for girls and young women do not exist. Some villages have both a kindergarten and a primary school, others do not even have a kindergarten.
Project description
Educating girls in the Judean desert is a brave undertaking. For girls, access to education is even more difficult, due to long distances, financial hardships and social norms. The precarious economic situation of families also prevents many gifted women from realizing their dreams.
Bright young women have had to abandon their studies for economic reasons during the first years of university or before graduation. Whereas among those young women who are not educated, many are forced into early marriages. In El Muntar, a village distant from the urban centers, six girls seek assistance to be transported to school.
They strongly want to continue their studies. These intrepid girls need a transport (car and driver) to be able to go to school in Abu Dis, a small town about 10 km from the village. So far, some of them have managed to continue their studies and attend high school. Others go to university with great sacrifice and disregard for the rules. To reach the school, they cover a distance of about 20 km each day, on foot or by donkey, under the scorching sun.
But not all of them are so strong and not all parents allow them to study or have the necessary financial resources to pay for their education. That’s why we ask for your help so that these brave girls can realize their dreams.
They are eager to graduate and to support the development of their families and communities. Higher or university studies give them the dignity and confidence necessary to take an important position: education provides them with the tools to help create more inclusive and resilient families and societies.
Objectives
- To enable six girls to continue higher education
- To ensure safe and fast transportation to and fro from home to school
- To make sure that they receive a good education that will enable them to support the development of their families and of the local community
- To empower them and enhance their sense of dignity and self-esteem
Beneficiaries
Direct: 6 Bedouin girls
Indirect: their families and society
Referent Sister for the project: Sr. María Lourdes García Grande
Project's costs