Photo of the week: the struggle for education

Imagine being a young child and turning up to school to find it riddled with bullet holes, doors ripped from the hinges and your school work littering the playground.

This is what children like Wahid (pictured) faced last year after a 28 day war between Israel and Hamas. One year after the conflict, the children are struggling to regain a sense of normality.

Wahid picks up what is left of her project work from the rubble

Wahid’s school was devastated in the bombing by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Teachers told how their students were traumatised and have lost interest in studying. Some are lost in their thoughts, day dream and have frequent nightmares.

Even before this war started, the levels of trauma among children in Gaza were quite high. Almost 33 percent of children in the area were in need of psychosocial care and almost half displayed symptoms of trauma. This recent conflict has only exacerbated the situation.

In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, ActionAid distributed kitchen sets, first aid kits and hygiene kits to almost 2,000 families.

Cash grants were also distributed to local women through our local partner Asala. These funds were able to help women re-establish their small businesses to guarantee sustainable income for their families.