Her Highness Sheikha Moza visits Fakhoora projects in Gaza

October 25, 2012

We are thrilled to have been able to welcome our patron Her Highness Sheikha Moza to visit a series of our projects and programs in Gaza. The visit, as part of a wider Qatari delegation including Sheikh Hamad, Emir of Qatar.

She said:
“Today I have witnessed for myself some of the inspirational steps being taken to enable young people to benefit from the basic human right of a full, high-quality education”.

“Education is under attack wherever we look. There are some 61 million children across the world who do not have access to basic primary education, 28 million of whom live in conflict zones. In Gaza, some 40,000 children are unable to attend school due to the continuing blockade that restricts free movement and delivery of educational materials.  Projects such as those supported by Al Fakhoora here give young people hope, opportunity, and the chance to break out of the vicious cycle of disadvantage.”

Her Highness visited three projects supported by Al Fakhoora, a campaign she launched in 2009 to support education in the wake of the bombardment of Gaza. These were:

Atfaluna Society, which is dedicated to educating, integrating and empowering deaf children. In collaboration with Al Fakhoora, QatarRed Crescent, and the Islamic Development Bank, the society has provided hearing screening tests to 12,000 young children, and provided hearing aid devices and support services to 420 children with hearing problems and their families. Her Highness visited the society’s facilities and spoke with students.

Dynamic Futures, which is a unique scholarship and empowerment programme that trains talented students in Gaza to become future leaders. The programme is currentlyproviding over 300 full undergraduate scholarships for students in Gaza and a further 10 international masters scholarships.  Over the next ten years, Al Fakhoora will commit to providing an additional 900 scholarships to help students pursue higher education both in Gaza and internationally.  Al Fakhoora recently opened its official headquarters in Gaza, where Her Highness met a number of the Dynamic Futures students. The headquarters facilities provide students with the creative space to organise activities locally and with university students in the US and UK.

The Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) was the first reconstruction project to be completed through a partnership between Al Fakhoora, Qatar Red Crescent and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). IUG now has two new floors for the Faculty of Medicine and Sciences, as well as state of the art laboratory equipment. The University had suffered structural damage to many of its buildings during the 22 day war in 2009. Their Highnesses were both awarded honorary degrees at a packed university ceremony, accompanied by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his wife Amal Haniyeh.