NAWA Awards

Since our start in Deir Al Balah in 2014, we have been looking forward to empowering the local Palestinian society through culture, arts, and non-formal education. Through an idea from a local youth team, ‘Deirna,’ NAWA assumed the responsibility to raise funds needed to restore, rehabilitate and manage Al Khidr monastery to be a vital and active library for children. After three years of work, NAWA obtained the Gaza Award – Taawon in 2017: Falak and Abdel-Kareem Al Shawa Award for Community Organizations ‘For Gaza 2017.’

Statement of the Award Jury:

“The project is an inspiring model for restoring the historical building “Al Khidr Monastery – 1435 years” and rehabilitating it to be a library for children. The idea came from a group of local youth in addition to the needs of the people in the area to restore and turn the place into a children’s library. The Monastery joins Christianity and Islam together in the same place, and this enhances the feeling of identity, belonging, tolerance, and accepting others whole-heartedly; we sorely need this in our society. Adding the value of education and reading to the project as a symbol for enlightenment and knowledge makes it a future beacon that significantly contributes to making the desired positive change. As Palestinians, we carry the weight of the Cause and proving our existence continually and over many generations. The project empowers children, a ‘symbol of the future’, with science and knowledge to defend the Palestinian existence.