Siraj al Quds- A Model for Inclusive learning

Despite having had no expectations before arriving in Palestine, I've found myself consistently surprised by what I've encountered here. My lack of expectations probably had a lot to do with being preoccupied with my fundraising, which at times felt like an insurmountable task. Having got there after several weeks of serious hard work however, I perhaps didn't give my impending placement enough thought. Although that being said, no amount of mental preparation would have been enough, or would have even been particularly helpful. Instead, just going with it has served me well so far.

For me and my flatmates, the Ramallah bubble popped pretty quickly, in less than two days to be exact. Upon our arrival in East Jerusalem we were greeted with a power cut, but fortunately the staff of Siraj Al Quds Model Inclusive School and Society (to give it it's full name) were much more welcoming. The director Nureddin, is possibly the busiest (and friendliest) man in Jerusalem. To me this is good news because it means there is lots of potential for the efforts of myself and the In Country Volunteers to lighten his workloads and the other staff.

Siraj Al Quds is quite a unique school in Jerusalem which was set up to provide an adaptive and inclusive learning environment for children with visual impairments, physical and learning disabilities as well as able bodied students.  Siraj also provides training and capacity building workshops for teachers and the mothers of disabled children. All the programs and projects Siraj delivers are aimed at lessening the stigma surrounding disability, helping disabled children and able bodied children integrate and learn together and giving disabled children and their families greater ability to overcome marginalization.

So far at Siraj I have been supporting the kids with their English language exercises (and learning Arabic from 3-14 year olds on a very much reciprocal basis). I have been surprised at how well and how early on in education English is taught in Jerusalem. Even the children 'struggling' with English know the whole alphabet, the majority of phonetic sounds and show varying but generally solid levels of reading comprehension. My other main role is assisting Nureddin in completing funding applications and progress reports. Although constantly talking, typing and thinking in ‘development speak’ can at times prove difficult, it's both a necessary task and useful skill.

These first couple of weeks have at times been slow, and at others rather frantic, but I suppose that is to be expected given Siraj hasn't worked with ICS previously, and the fact that we are the first cohort of volunteers for over a year.  However I feel I've made the most of this introductory period by getting to know some of the kids, the staff and the general day to day operations of a diverse and inclusive charity run school in East Jerusalem.

I am very much looking forward to the weeks ahead as I will certainly become more heavily involved in the full range of tasks, activities and workshops provided here at the wonderful Siraj Alquds school- insha'Allah.