Al Tafawk Update 23rd Aug 2026
This week was a special one for many of the children at Al Tafawk Kindergarten as they celebrated their graduation.
Dressed in their caps and gowns, the children were clearly proud of what they had achieved, as were their teachers. They were celebrating not only what the children had learned, but everything they had managed to achieve during a year lived under the extraordinarily difficult circumstances of displacement and oppression.
During their time at the kindergarten, the children have had their basic needs of food, water and medical care met, developed basic English language skills, learned to write in both English and Arabic, and worked on their numeracy. They have also had opportunities to explore art and music, plant flowers and, of course, play.
Those few precious hours each day at Al Tafawk have given these children something that every child deserves - time simply to be children. For a little while, they could step away from hunger and fear of lives lived under military occupation. They could laugh. They could make things. They could learn. They could dance.
And so, despite everything happening around them, they celebrated. There was a clown (the son of Al Tafawk’s landlord), balloons, music and joyous dancing. There were smiles and laughter and the unmistakable excitement of children enjoying themselves.
It was a beautiful day in very dark times.
Of course, the celebrations were also tinged with sadness. The staff were saying goodbye to children they had grown fond of during the year. The bonds formed at Al Tafawk are about much more than teaching and learning. The shared experience of displacement, danger and uncertainty has brought the children and staff together in a powerful sense of community.
There is also the knowledge that when the new cohort arrives in September, many children who desperately need a place at the centre will be left without one. There simply isn't room for everyone.
In addition, there is considerable uncertainty about what education will look like for the children who are leaving.
While living in Jenin refugee camp, the children had access to the boys' and girls' schools run by UNRWA. Although their education was often disrupted, the schools provided a route to continued learning, and the children, living in the camp, could walk to school.
Since displacement, access has become much more difficult. Due to a lack of funding and resources, even the schools in Jenin city are unable to operate full-time. Children living in the city may attend school for around three days a week, with UNRWA staff using the school buildings to teach refugee children on the other two days.
For many displaced families, travelling to school is also a huge challenge. Families have been scattered, live too far away to walk and lack the money to pay for transport.
Online learning is not an easy alternative. Zoom requires equipment, electricity and reliable internet access — things that most displaced families no longer have.
So the frightening reality is that for many of these children, the graduation they celebrated this week may not be followed by any more formal education.
And that is why Al Tafawk matters so much.
In September, a new cohort of children will begin at Al Tafawk. They too will learn their letters and numbers, paint and sing, plant flowers and play. They will be given a little space to breathe and simply be children.
Al Tafawk Kindergarten is important because it gives the refugee children a safe and supportive space to learn, and play, while helping to build their confidence, resilience and hope for a future despite the uncertainty around them.
And so on their graduation day, the children danced, laughed and simply enjoyed themselves - a small but meaningful moment of happiness and normality in very difficult times.
Thank you to all who have contributed to making this happen.
Find out more about Al Tafawk and donate here
The content of this blog is written by multiple contributors. Any views or opinions expressed in individual posts are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or positions of the group as a whole.
