Gaza’s Children Use Art to Tell of the Future They Want

After enduring more than two years of conflict, children from Gaza have shared their dreams for the future using the power of artistic expression.

More than 11,000 children aged five to 18 across Gaza participated in a UNICEF* initiative designed to give voice to the region’s youngest residents.

The Gaza We Want initiative let kids get creative when imagining how they wanted Gaza to be rebuilt after the war, which damaged or destroyed more than 80 per cent of buildings in the region.

UNICEF chief of communication in the State of Palestine* Jonathan Crickx said 1603 children answered a structured questionnaire as part of the program, while at least 11,000 children took part in a range of safe, voluntary creative activities.

Many Palestinians now live in tents after their homes were destroyed in the war. Picture: Bashar Taleb/AFP

“They were asked to imagine dignity*,” he said. “Children were invited to express themselves in the forms they prefer and use naturally: drawings of neighbourhoods and parks, models made from rubble and recycled materials, poems, short stories and letters.

“They also participated through group murals, plays and simple surveys, supported by trained facilitators*.”

The results showed that many of the kids wanted a sense of safety, peace and opportunity to exist in their homeland.

Family life has become very different for those living in refugee camps. Picture: Bashar Taleb/AFP

“These drawings and poems are not symbolic. They are data and evidence expressed in crayons, cardboard and courage,” Mr Crickx said.

“Three weeks ago in the Gaza Strip, I met Hala, a 15-year-old girl in a UNICEF temporary learning centre in Deir El Balah. She told me: ‘Missing school affected my learning a lot. Education matters for my future, so I dream of a safe life — having a secure home, my own room, and a good school where I can learn and grow.’

“In one sentence, Hala summarised what I heard so many times in Gaza: children want a proper home, they want safety and they want to be back on school benches. And all decision-makers should hear their call and consider it the utmost priority. These are not extraordinary demands. They are the fundamentals of childhood.”

Children play on a hilltop in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, north of Dier al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip. Picture: Bashar Taleb/AFP

WHAT GAZA’S CHILDREN HOPE FOR
Here are some of the poems written by Gaza’s children about their hopes for the future.

Lama, age 13
Gaza that I dream of

is not a tent buffeted* by the wind

nor a counter for bloodshed

ticking day and night

I dream of it as dawn

opening its windows to a peaceful sea

as a fisherman

returning with nets full of fish

not riddled with shrapnel*

I dream of it

Writing down the homework

not martyrs’* names

counting the stars in the sky

not warplanes

I dream of it as a mother

waiting for her children to come home from school

not from under the rubble

baking bread

that smells of thyme

not smoke

The Gaza I dream of

is a city that resembles life

walking barefoot on the sand

laughing

unsubmissive* to the world.

—

I am a child from Gaza, dreaming of tomorrow,

After nights of darkness and bitter pain

I dream of a home where fear has no place,

Of my mother’s voice, of the children’s laughter

I dream of my school, my notebook, and my poems,

Of a toy that thunder cannot snatch away

I am tired of a war that has stolen my innocence

And taken my little dreams away

Tell the world: Here is a child with hope,

And with dreams that grow, despite cruelty and despair.

Alaa

One of the artworks from The Gaza We Want, which speaks of a new Gaza where peace and safety rule supreme. Picture: UNICEF

Name: Jana

Grade 4
Beautiful Gaza

We love Gaza deeply,

We love it without fear.

We envision it as a big home

Where children can laugh freely.

We want Gaza to have

Colourful schools,

New notebooks,

And toys in the playgrounds.

We dream of a blue sea

Where we can play safely,

And a sun that shines every day

Without the sounds of war.

We want Gaza

To sleep peacefully at night

And wake up to hope

And blossoming dreams.

Gaza, our city,

We will protect it with love,

Build it with knowledge,

And make it a place of laughter and peace

Name: Noor Mohamad Ismail Ahmad
Grade 9
I close my eyes and look around me …

I see the warm sun shining on the balconies where colourful spring dresses swing in

the breeze.

I see children running after a ball in a narrow alley, their joyful shouts filling the air.

I see a grandmother sitting on her wooden chair, knitting a colourful shawl,

surrounded by her grandchildren, like bees around a flower.

I see the sea … stretching out like a calm blue carpet, fishermen’s feet touching its

cool water at dawn, their boats returning laden* with the day’s catch and stories.

I see a market filled with the aromas of thyme, olives, and fresh coffee, and with the

voices of vendors* shouting their wares*, competing as if they were singing.

I see a school with the doors open onto a spacious hallway. On the walls are

drawings of children who have painted their homeland in rainbow colours.

I see a small garden in front of our house, where pigeons practice flying in circles

before returning to the roof.

I see tired faces, but smiling faces, because they know that tomorrow is a better day.

I see hands planting mint and basil seeds in small pots, and other hands writing

simple dreams in notebooks: “When I grow up, I will become …”

I see the night gently covering Gaza, and the moon sending silver threads onto the

rooftops. Under this soft light, friends whisper to each other about their little plans

for happiness.

I see the dawn coming softly in peachy hues, and people waking up to the sound of a

unified call to prayer*, gathering them all in peace.

That’s what I see …

Just an ordinary life …

And it’s the most beautiful thing we could ever dream of.

If only the world could see what I see …

The kids of Gaza dream of a place where beauty and friendship can shine, where imagination can be free and they can be children once again without fear of war. Picture: UNICEF