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12/11/2005:

"'We're trapped ... books free our minds'"

Nadeen cradles her folder. She carefully lays it on the table and takes out four books, a notebook, a pencil and what looks like a passport. The 'passport', she says, contains a list of the books she has read recently.
She enjoys holding the books and turning them around in her hands and pointing out characters.

Nadeen Hawareen, aged seven, from Ramallah is one of thousands of Palestinian children who are offered lessons, books and activities by the Tamer Institute. She has been taught to use the books to trigger her imagination. She can paint what happens in her books or act out scenes with her friends.

Tamer was founded in 1989 during the first intifada, when Palestinian children needed an education despite school closures and curfews. The Israeli army, surprised by the Palestinian protest, took brutal measures to regain control, breaking the bones of stone throwers and closing Palestinian areas.

Jehan Helou, the institute's director, said: 'Local communities and civil society tried to find ways of compensating for the closure of schools to ensure that a generation did not grow up illiterate. It tried to be informal, in contrast to the traditional style in schools, and to encourage the seeking of knowledge through reading, creative writing, drama and art.'
guardian.co.uk