To help Ola from Gaza get to University in the UK

Hello, I’m Louisa from Scotland. I’m writing this appeal on behalf of my friend, Ola Aburamadan, from Gaza

Ola is stuck inside Gaza, living in a tent with her family in al – Mawasi in the South of Gaza. Like everyone imprisoned in Gaza, she has in these last nine months endured more than most of us can even imagine. Ola and her family live with airstrikes around them every day. They have lost close family members, killed by the relentless bombing of Gaza where no one is safe. The whole family is suffering from lack of food and extreme stress.

What is remarkable, is that in these beyond-hellish conditions, Ola has set up a local school, in the tent she shares with her family. This is the photo that you can see.

In Ola’s own words, ‘I started this initiative to give the children their right of education that they were deprived of, including my little sister. And that I did that to make things better for them, to save them from the street all day..... I did it on my own according to the very simple tools available [in Gaza]’.

Ola is giving lessons to twenty children, fifteen girls and five boys age between 6-12 years. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of these lessons to children who live with bombing and fear every single day. Every school in Gaza has been forced to close, many are now shelters for displaced Palestinians, and families have repeatedly been killed by airstrikes inside schools.

Ola is a great teacher, and she’s also an educational psychologist. During this war she has actually been offered a place at Sheffield University in the UK to study for a Masters in Arts, Psychology and Education. She is desperately hoping to be able to travel to the UK to enrol on this course later this year. ‘I want to chase my dream of having a master's degree in Education and psychology. And then I’ll come back to Gaza as a more educated teacher for [the] children who need me’ she told me via WhatsApp.

Please contribute if you can to Ola’s efforts to educate children inside Gaza right now, and for her to be able to continue this amazing work. A tent and materials for her classroom will cost around US $1,000. Ola also needs to cross from Gaza into Egypt as soon as possible, to be able to prepare to travel to the UK, including her visa and travel costs. Her crossing will cost $5,000 and she needs to travel to the UK, pay for her visa and living costs as well as her university fees which are currently$30,000.

We are asking Sheffield University to waive fees, and will adjust the appeal if we are successful. The most important thing is for Ola to be able to get to the UK and study.

I speak with Ola via the Internet as often as we can. ‘Believe me, every day it gets harder to survive, to have hope’ she says. ‘We all want to scream and say enough of the war..stop the killing, the hunger, the pain, the desperation, but no one is listening..only we can hear the screaming of children and women, the shouting for help..and it the airstrikes above our heads continues.’

Ola is very clear about why she is appealing for funds. ‘If people could help me and donate for my class and education, I promise them to make a better future not just for me but for the children I will teach when I get back home [from the UK] with a master's degree.’ I'll help them better if I have more power of education myself.’

Please help Ola to contribute to the future of children in Gaza. We know the best people to help children are Palestinians who understand what they have endured. Ola is committed to being one of these remarkable educators and to supporting her young community as much as she can.

Thank you so much

Louisa and Ola