Kafa kids get a new school – USAID press release/Non-UN document

Kafa Kids Get a New School

TULKAREM, West Bank – The kids of Kafa Village have a spacious, brand new school building, built with funds contributed by the American people. They seem happiest about the playground that comes with it.

The new 460-square-meter, two-storey Kafa Primary School boasts six classrooms, a play yard, an administration office and restrooms. Six teachers and 67 students have already moved in and more are expected when the school is fully opened in September.

The project was funded with a $92,000 grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project generated 2,102 person-days of employment, a real boon to Kafa's 500 residents.

The community contributed a 400-square-meter parcel of land for the school and its playground, said Majed Mohammad Mustafa Odeh of the Kafa Village Council. The council also paid the cost of demolishing the old building and assigned a local engineering firm to design the new structure.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education is providing the school with administrative and teaching staff together with furniture and equipment. Together with the village council, the ministry will cover the school's running costs.

The new school replaces a dilapidated house that had been rented by the Kafa Village Council as a temporary facility. The old "school" had no play yard, insufficient toilets, unpainted walls, inadequate lighting and tiny, poorly ventilated rooms that were too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

"Before this school was built, the older students had to travel to schools in Tulkarem," said school headmistress, Mrs. Kawther Awwad. "Now the parents won't have to worry about their children leaving the village to attend school."

"This new facility will provide students with an environment more conducive to learning and will enable us to conduct a lot of new educational activities," she added. "And, we can use the large classrooms to hold meetings."

USAID administers America's foreign assistance program and provides economic and humanitarian aid in 84 countries worldwide.

Since 1993, Palestinians have received more than $1.5 billion in U.S. economic assistance via USAID projects – more than from any other donor country.