The Department of Service for Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches has touched the lives of many thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Galilee and Lebanon.  The following are some of those stories.

Lebanon: Turning young lives around

In October 2008, the JCC was approached by UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees, to give a condensed 9 month course in electricity installation to 15 teenage boys who had dropped out of school. The difficult situation in which Palestinian refugees live has badly affected the young and has destroyed their motivation and ambition. The rate of school drop-out is alarming and many are warning of its effects in the long run as these young people spend their time on the streets of the camps, exposed to many bad influences.

The JCC has run an electronics program in one of the 12 Palestinian camps - Sabra-Shatila - for over 40 years. Many young men and a few women have graduated and many have found good employment locally or in the Gulf countries. The electronics program is currently run be three excellent teachers who have endless patience and are completely dedicated to training the students in the skills that the market needs. Thus the UNRWA request was readily accepted and a special course was designed to cater to the limited capabilities of these boys.

As the course began, an unforeseen problem emerged. These boys were illiterate, destructive and extremely badly behaved. In short, we had on our hands 15 horrors at a very active and energetic age. What were we to do?  Should we throw them out and go on with our normal activities? Should we just continue and invent new forms of punishment? What did the future hold for these boys if we were to expel them?

Not to be beaten, the teachers and the program director set to work. A plan was drawn up that included motivation, a lot of individual attention, simplification of theory and the increase of practical work and finally engaging the help of a police officer (a friend) in full uniform to drop in during their lesson times.

After about three months of hard work, and a lot of patience, the plan began to take effect for 11 of the 15 boys who finally settled down and began working seriously. It was not easy. At a certain point, one of the teachers who had been with JCC for the last 28 years, was on the verge of resigning, but with the support of the director he continued.

One of the boys, Mouhamad Darraj, had really quietened down and began to show a special interest in the electricity field.  He also began to show leadership inclinations. As the JCC had just rented new premises which needed new electrical wiring in all its five rooms, a special budget for labour was needed.  After much debate, it was decided to challenge Mouhamad with the job under the supervision of his teachers. Ahmad took up the challenge, chose a team of four as his crew and began work.

It was amazing to watch how far these boys had come after five months of training. Given this job, they suddenly became disciplined; they followed Mouhamad’s instructions; they listened to their teachers, followed their instructions and forgot about being rude and intolerable. The rest of the class, seeing what Mouhamad and his crew were accomplishing, began to realize what they too could accomplish and asked to be given responsibilities as well.

As the course neared its end, none of the boys wanted to leave. They thought of the JCC Center as their home. They could hardly believe that 8 of them were already offered jobs with the other 3 on waiting lists.

It was a proud day for them, when they stood up in their best clothes in June 2009 to receive their diplomas in front of their parents and members of their community. And, as the teachers allowed themselves a sigh of relief, the JCC felt proud of a job well done.

Less than one year on, Mouhamad is now foreman of a local electricity company.

Jordan: Empowering women

Samia Jaber Alqam is a 30 year-old resident of Souf Refugee Camp and lives with ten family members. She regularly visits NECCRW Women’s Center in Souf, through which she was given a chance to obtain an ICDL degree specializing in Computers in 2009 through NECCRW. She believes that her participation in this course helped her develop and expand her intellectual thinking, comprehend the material, and obtain the capability of helping others, like her sons, to understand computers as well. Samia believes that this training helped her develop many personal skills, such as the ability to deal with people, enhancing her self-esteem and confidence, as well as improving her character as a whole and becoming stronger. Samia desires that the role of the refugee women should be taken into consideration more often and wants NECCRW to keep up their support for women in Souf and elsewhere in order to grant these women better lives.

Zarifa Hasan al-Shalalfa is 24 and lives with her family that consists of ten members in al-Zarqa Refugee Camp. She says that she always visits the NECCRW Women Center in her camp and that she was very lucky to have had the chance to be part of the ICDL training and receive an ICDL certificate in 2009. After her graduation, she was hired in an office in al-Zarqa, which means that she and her family can now benefit from a new source of income. This made her feel and become financially independent, more self assured, and capable of helping and supporting herself as well as her family. She is very grateful to NECCRW for granting her such an opportunity and she believes that refugees, especially women, should be given more chances like these.