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Seir School Library, Occupied West Bank, Palestine
Seir is a small village of some 700 people in Qalqilya, an administrative area of Palestine in the northwestern West Bank. Its school caters for children up to age 13, and is a valuable hub for community events. A grant from Mandala Trust has helped to stock the school’s library with much-needed encyclopedias and textbooks.
The local school is central to the social health and well-being of the small Palestine village of Seir, providing a hub for community events such as summer schools, Eid celebrations and sporting activities – indeed, the school playground is the only space in which villagers can play football and basketball.
Members of the Britain–Palestine Friendship and Twinning Network, Journeymen Theatre has developed a close relationship with the village school over a number of years, as well as with Leena Zaroor, Chair of the Seir Women’s Cooperative, who works closely with the school’s head teacher. Funding has enabled the school to reestablish the kindergarten and create an outdoor play area, and to provide a special needs facility, an English Language laboratory and, most recently, a functioning school library.
The school library project – supported by the British poet, writer and musician Benjamin Zephaniah – included refurbishing a large room with furniture and bookshelves. However, the book stock was patchy and, in particular, lacked up-to-date encyclopedias, Arabic–English dictionaries and other text books. With a grant from Mandala Trust, these gaps on the shelves have now been filled.