I made a point to Mona that I am here at the school to act in whatever capacity best benefits her and the school.
I have been a member of the Friends of Al Tafawk Kindergarten Support Group for about 6 months.
I had little knowledge of how it works on the ground, my main impression being built on the few photos of the school and the kids shared on our website. To me it looked just like a typical western style school for toddlers that could have been in any town in England.
All the kids smartly turned out often in blue clothes resembling a school uniform, each carrying backpacks assumedly full of lunch packs and exercise books, all of them playful and happy.
Within an hour of being there this impression was brought crashing down to earth.
There is no school uniform and the backpacks rarely contain any food,books or crayons.
The parents or guardians of these kids (some have no father or mother) take great pride in them having a cherished place at Al Tafawk and spend what little money they have in making the kids as smart as possible for school.
These kids are indeed special. There are hundreds of 4 – 6 year olds who want to attend Al Tafawk but the school has a maximum capacity for 80 children. Mona is restricted to welcoming only 1 child from 1 family for 1 year. This is a gut wrenching choice for Mona to have to make.
For me, the best way to describe the challenges that Al Tafawk faces every day and the amazing job it does in meeting those challenges is probably best done by describing what I experienced as a typical day at the school.
The School Run
This starts at 7 am and is accomplished by use of the Al Tafawk school mini-bus and and Mona'a father Mohtar in his car. Both make several journeys ferrying kids.
The school bus does the runs where the kids are clustered in geographic neighbourhoods. Mohtar and I do the runs where the kids are in temporary accommodation and are frequently moved from one house to another..
We typically pick up 6 kids per run.
It should be noted that all these kids had family homes in the the Jenin Camp which was destroyed by the IDF in 2025 along with the original Al Tafawk Kindergarten and everyone forced to evacuate.
About The School
The space for the school is rented from a big family house and occupies the ground floor area and gardens. In the space Mona has created 3 classrooms, a small in-door play area which can serve as an additional classroom, a large outdoor playing area as well as a small office for Mona and her admin assistant. Mona employs 3 teachers, sometimes 4, an admin assistant and a cleaner. The school is registered with and regulated by the Palestinian Authority Education Department.
Staff Arriving At The School
Almost every day it is a challenge for the staff to get to the school.
The IDF can set up a road block at any time and a journey that would normally take 15 minutes now takes 45 mins. This is deliberately done to make it hard for the teachers and staff to get to the school. The people of Jenin, especially those from the destroyed Jenin Camp, are known for vocalising their human rights, putting them high on the IDF's list of expulsions to make way for 'Greater Israel'.
Kids Arriving At The School
Most of the kids are full of joy and within minutes are playing with their friends in the play ground on swings, slides and trampolines or kicking balls around.
But for some the playing will have to wait,
One boy shyly and so politely creeps into Mona's office and asks for food - he is hungry.
On arriving, a little girl living in temporary accommodation immediately comes into Mona's office just to sit with her and then falls asleep; she has had little or no sleep the previous night. At Al Tafawk she feels safe.
Another boy arrives overwhelmed, traumatised and struggles to orientate himself, he sits on the playground floor staring into space until one of the teachers comes to pick him up and comfort him.
This is what makes Al Tafawk so special. All of the kids here have suffered trauma and addressing that, providing them with the support they need individually, is as important as giving them an elementary education.
A Typical Day For The Kids
The day always starts with play! The staff at Al Tafawk consider it a priority that kids can just be kids and rediscover the joy of simply playing together.
After play its time for lessons which include learning basic english (yes I was surprised at this), counting and simple addition & subtraction, dancing and singing.
Around noon a break is made in the lessons for the all important lunch which is typically a mini-pizza made with traditional herbs and cheese. Everyone including the staff eats together in the playground unless its raining.
The staff know that for some of the kids this might be the main meal of their day so where possible they try to give them extra, they also get any left overs to take home with them.
At the end of the afternoon lessons its play time again before the school run home begins.
Mohtar and the school mini-bus driver check for updates on road blocks and checkpoints and then the kids are taken home.
End Of Day At The School
Mona and the staff and teachers meet to discuss how the lessons and play time went and flag up any behavioural problems they observed in individual kids. Those kids are put on a 'special care list' and if necessary the guardians or parents are invited to meet with Mona to discuss how they might work together to help them.
Finally the class rooms and play areas are cleaned and tidied ready for a new school day!
Financials
The kindergarten only exists through the funds raised by the Friends Of Al Tafawk support group.
The school is incredibly well run, nothing is wasted and the staff and teachers give much more time than they are paid for.
Mona and I shared concerns about ongoing funding.
In particular the roll out of the AI Agent Know Your Customer (KYC) by banks which scrutinises all transactions and suspends or blocks payments if certain 'integrity checks' are not met. Mona agreed that we need to explore alternative ways of getting funds to Al Tafawk if/when KYC creates payment problems.
