“When night came, I had only an hour, maybe an hour and a half to study by the light of my phone. Then the battery would die. Even charging it was a struggle, sometimes harder than studying itself.”
For Khaled Abu Jiyab, that could have been the end of his studies. But it wasn’t.
Khaled is a student from Baitulmaal’s Hope School in the Gaza Strip. This year he studied without a home, without electricity, and at times without a notebook. When supplies ran out, he searched the rubble for old ones and kept studying.
Every day, he walked about 15 kilometers – over 9 miles – to reach his classroom, a tent.
There were schools closer to where Khaled was living. But he had his eyes set on something bigger. He wanted to study in a school with high academic standards so he could be well prepared for university and the future he hoped to build. That is why he chose Baitulmaal’s Hope School, which is accredited by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and endorsed by UNICEF – even though getting there was not easy.
The long journey was worth it. Once he arrived, Hope School became more than his classroom. It became a place where he felt embraced and supported, even during some of the most difficult days of his life.
This summer, Khaled scored 99.4% on his General Secondary exams, ranking among the top ten students across Gaza.
To honor Khaled and his classmates' top performers, Baitulmaal held a celebration at Hope School. For Khaled, the celebration offered a moment to forget the exhaustion of the year and celebrate what he had achieved.
“The journey was not easy, but I always told myself that I had to keep going. There was something inside me that always gave me the motivation to move forward: my belief that I could do it and the dream that I wanted to achieve.”
That classroom stands because people like you helped keep the Hope School open.
A new school year has begun, and the next Khaled is already walking through its doors. Your support keeps a teacher in front of them, puts a notebook and pen in their hands, and keeps the doors of Hope School open.
"In Gaza, homes may be destroyed, but destruction cannot take away a student's dream, a person's determination, and the hope of a generation."
Be the reason the next Khaled succeeds.