In a sector torn apart by siege and engulfed in flames for more than two years of annihilation war, Gaza is rising from under the rubble, not by official decisions or international budgets, but by what remains of the will in the hearts of its people. Individual initiatives sprout among the rubble like grass on scorched earth; It satisfies hunger, quenches thirst, and gives people the meaning of living even though life is no longer possible.
Amidst comprehensive devastation that left nothing intact, youth and community initiatives emerged in multiple fields: feeding the hungry in the camps, transporting potable water, collecting medicines, providing milk to children, helping bury the martyrs and cleaning the streets, providing psychological support to the displaced, and devising pioneering and creative solutions to get out of crises.
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Human development expert Dr. Nabil Al-Louh says, “What is happening in Gaza today is not just ordinary initiatives, but rather a movement of life in the face of extinction.”
Al-Louh adds to Al-Jazeera Net that every action – no matter how small it seems – has become of great value, because hunger, death, and cold are manifestations that make the simplest initiatives a heroic act.
He believes that these scattered efforts contributed to strengthening social solidarity and the steadfastness of the population. Gazan society – as he says – “proved that goodness cannot be bombed, and that the collective spirit is still capable of restoring what is destroyed.”
Women’s initiatives
Among these models, the “Al-Jinan Modern Kindergarten and School” initiative, launched by Dr. Ranad Al-Helou amid the chaos of displacement, stands out.
Al-Helou says, “I started from nothing. I lost my large institution that was bombed before it opened, but I felt that we had to save our children from psychological and educational loss, so I started again in any safe space.”
The school was reopened three times in different places after repeated waves of displacement, where there were no tents, no chairs, and only a floor on which letters were taught.
Al-Helou told Al-Jazeera Net: “We were working under the sun or the rain, sitting on the ground without stationery or protection. Some children were martyred during the bombing, but we continued working because surrender meant another death.”
She believes that Palestinian women have been true leaders of steadfastness, because they combine family care and leadership of community initiatives.
Leadership despite the ashes
After a large number of projects disappeared under the rubble or due to Internet and electricity outages, new initiatives began to appear that attempt to restore the home economy and individual opportunities.