School Memories, Noor’s Experience with “Go School”
We, as Gazan youth, face a real conflict between present and future. Many questions come to our mind: what awaits us, how will we get there, will the enthusiasm be as now, or we will lose it later? And what do we want?
On the 7th of June, I saw an advertisement on the SDF Instagram account, about the launch of a new program for the first time. The title of this program is Go School. The program was about civic education and youth initiatives. I was curious about it and decided to sign up.
I started the registration process for the program and saw that is required to send a short video about my desire to join and an idea of a youth initiative that could be implemented in a residential area. When I saw this, I was a little bit hesitated, because I did not know any information about the idea of the program, or even what I need from it.
Thus, I stopped signing and started searching about civic education. I read some information which helped me to collect some ideas and end up building a clearer image. This made me able to know what I want from this program as well as what I want to say.
On the 8th of July 2021, I stood in front of the mobile camera arranging what I should say with a little bet stress, it’s my first time talking to the camera! I started recording introducing my name and university major and I mentioned during my talk, “My positive jealousy towards the youth of the SDF, including my friends” this jealousy encouraged me to strive to break the barrier of shyness and fear of speaking in front of anyone, and my main goal was to build a better and stronger personality!
I passed the interview with an enthusiastic soul. Of course, I was thinking if they will accept me or not. The interview was about some questions about local government bodies that I did not know enough about before.
In August 2021, I had a call from the SDF telling me that I was accepted into the “Go School” program. It was really nice moment mixed with joy and enthusiasm. I was so happy that I will be part of the program and I will get to know the other members.
We started the first day of the program with all activity and enthusiasm. It was distinguished as it is simulating the real school system. We were standing in a morning queue, ringing the school bell and many other amazing details. This gave us an amazing expectation of the coming days.
We began our day with an activity where everyone should talk about him/ herself and talk with the one next to him/her. The aim of this activity was to break the ice and stress. Moreover, it has the role of creating an atmosphere of comfort and harmony. We finished this activity and started entering the classes. After that, we selected our topics and civic education was the first one.
We got acquainted with the concept and foundations of civic learning and civil society and its pillars, while enhancing the concepts using videos that talk about the presented concepts in an attractive and beautiful way that makes us focus on them well, in addition to carrying out many joint activities with colleagues and cooperating with each other to extract what we saw and understood to consolidate all ideas.
There was a so-called (class mail) that was hung on the wall, an envelope for each person with his/her personal information, we write some notes and motivational phrases to each other and put them in it, it was a great idea from the forum that strengthened and brought the participants closer to each other and reminded us of the beauty and importance of the messages written.
On the second day, it was our turn in the school morning podcast. On this day, we brought back our memories of how was the real school with all its details starting with coordinating and preparing podcasts paragraphs, distributing them in a spirit full of activity and joy.
All the topics that we discussed in the rest of the days were new and useful in terms of information, ideas, and the reality we live in. It revolved around the following: [citizenship and its forms, democracy, and the three authorities, societal accountability, and initiatives. In addition to our meeting with Mr. Mahmoud Al-Zant and his discussion on digital accountability.
We learned about several services provided by the municipality to citizens, in addition to their effective role in supporting youth initiatives through our conversation with representatives of the Gaza Municipality and a field trip on a set of implemented initiatives in preparation for preparing an initiative on a community problem and presenting it to a committee of SDF members.
On the last day of the training, we were working in a team spirit, think about a societal problem, and come up with creative ideas in a collaborative manner to reach a solution and leave an impact, then we presented it to a large number of people without tension or fear, and frankly, it was a great experience that enhanced my confidence and strength, and built a relationship based on understanding and harmon