These are the projects that will be supported with the funds raised by the Cycling 4 Gaza Team
1. Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children
Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children was established in 1992 by women’s health care and education professionals in order to help deaf and hearing impaired children in the Gaza Strip, through the provision of education, rehabilitation services, and job training. The Society runs a school for 295 deaf children. This project focuses on early identification and intervention services for deaf children, through counselling parents, provision of hearing aids, sign language courses for family members, and early identification of hearing loss.
This project trains social workers and family members to recognise and address hearing impairments of infants and young children.
2. Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP)
GCMHP is a non-profit organisation established in 1990 to provide mental health services, therapy, research and training. The continuous occupation-related violence and closure restrictions affect all aspects of life in Gaza. GCMHP research studies conducted in 2009 indicated that 56.6% of children in Gaza still report moderate reactions to trauma, 10.6% are reporting severe reactions. GCMHP is working with these traumatised children. This project focuses on establishing school-based Counselling Units in 6 schools located in all Gaza Governorates. They will provide support to school counsellors and teachers, and referral of traumatised children with acute needs to appropriate mental health services.
The project will enable GCMHP to provide specialised therapy for at least 100 severely traumatised children.
3. Kanafani Kindergartens (KG)
The Ghassan Kanafani Development Association operates four kindergartens with 700 children enrolled from the Beit Hanoun and Jabalia areas of Gaza. This project will support one of these kindergartens by: improving its infrastructure and outdoor play environment, providing educational materials for 100 children, as well as school clothes and a daily nutritional meal, and training the KG staff in active learning techniques.
The kindergarten is located in an area that was hit in the recent attack on Gaza in 2009, and serves very poor families.
