Amal’s Story

Amal is a seven year-old girl in second grade at school. She lives in Al Zaytoon area, East of Gaza, an area that is often subjected to military conflict. She has three sisters and two brothers. Amal’s father is unemployed due to the difficult economic situation in Gaza and the lack of employment opportunities.

Her teacher in Tunis School said that Amal is constantly leaning over her desk to write in her notebook, and that Amal’s writing is not tidy or clear. “I cannot read what she writes. I tried to encourage her to participate more but she refuses. Amal is shy and feels unhappy, fearing the other students will laugh at her.  She even refuses to write on the blackboard as she cannot see properly.”

Through the sight screening during the project, Amal was found to have severe short-sightedness/Myopia of the left eye and laziness in the right eye, which has negatively affected her daily life. The weakness in her sight also left Amal alone and isolated from playing with her friends at school. She had only one friend and her academic achievement was getting worse.

Amal was delighted to receive her new eyeglasses. The project team and teachers observed her progress as she started to study and prepare for the end-of-year exams well. They noted that her participation in the classroom has also improved. Her writing has become much easier to read. They also noticed that Amal started to build friendships with other students at school. 

Amal’s mother noticed that her daughter is now more relaxed and confident at home, she said: “Amal studies well now, and in her free time she loves to read stories and watch cartoons.”

Amal is one of the 1,974 young children who were screened for eye problems in this project, and one of 450 children identified as in need of glasses.  Without this project, these children would not be able to afford the eye screening and glasses, resulting not only in distress and psychological problems, but also the high possibility of illiteracy and dropping out of school, due to the economic hardships of families living in Gaza.

*Names have been changed