UNRWA students in Jordan share hopes, dreams with women Nobel Peace Prize laureates

AMMAN — Palestine refugee students at an UNRWA school in Jerash Camp in Jordan have shared their hopes and dreams with Nobel Peace Prize laureates Jody Williams and Tawakkol Karman, who pledged to make their voices heard globally

Williams and Karman sat down with students at UNRWA Jerash Preparatory Girls School No.1 during an April 12 visit to the camp, according to an UNRWA statement.

The visit was part of a delegation to the West Bank and Jordan by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, an organisation led by eight women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, which also included meetings with UNRWA staff in Amman and a virtual connection to Gaza.

 
“I speak today not just for myself but for every girl in Jerash Camp. We were in a place the world often forgets but we aren’t forgotten,” said ninth-grader Jana Amjad Ibraheem.

“Life here, in the camp, isn’t easy. The opportunities are few and the challenges are many, but we wake up every day carrying dreams bigger than the walls around us. We study with passion; we work with purpose,” she said.

 The ninth-grader added that she believes in striving to build her future in the face of steep challenges.

Jerash Camp was founded in 1968 for 11,500 Palestinians who were forced to flee to Jordan from the Gaza Strip after the 1967 Arab Israeli War. Known locally as “Gaza Camp”, it is now home to 36,500 people, who are among the most economically vulnerable of the 2.4 million registered Palestine Refugees supported by UNRWA’s work in Jordan.

“You’re women who challenged the world and won, you’re more than visitors to us, you’re an inspiration to us,” said ninth-grader Jana Al Duhainy.

“We aren’t asking the world to open its doors for us, we are building our own doors. And we will walk through them with pride because we weren’t born to wait for miracles, we were born to become them,” Duhainy added.

The delegation also met with members of the local committees that UNRWA works with to prevent and tackle gender-based violence and held a dialogue focused on women-led initiatives in the camp and the collective efforts to support and empower Palestine Refugee women.

They also visited the UNRWA Health Centre in Jerash Camp to learn more about the agency’s healthcare services, with a focus on the maternity programme and women’s health.

UNRWA’s role in Jordan extends beyond the provision of basic services; the agency also works to foster social cohesion and economic independence of Palestine refugees in support of Jordan’s stability.

 
Karman, who received the prize in 2011 for leading a nonviolent struggle for women’s rights and democracy in Yemen, expressed her solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“We are here, to hear you, in Palestine and in Jordan,” she said. “We will carry your, and other Palestinian women’s, voices to the world.”

“This visit has shown us the importance of the continuation and funding of UNRWA’s mandated work for the Palestinian people," she added.

Williams, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for leading the international campaign to ban landmines, said: “Each and every woman we have met on our delegation here in Jordan—and in the days before in Palestine—inspires us deeply.”

“Your courage, resilience, and determination to fight for justice fuel our commitment to stand in solidarity and continue the struggle together. It is an honor to be with you and hear you. I pledge to we will be nominating you for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Williams added.

The delegation also had an opportunity to meet with women entrepreneurs in the camp, one managing an artisan clothing and embroidery business and the other making traditional food. UNRWA’s provides support to Palestine Refugee women to start small businesses and achieve financial independence.

Eman Mohammad Saeed Obeid, who makes and sells dishes such as stuffed vine leaves, was asked by the visitors who her main competitors are.

 
“Nobody! When anyone tastes my food, they know it’s the best,” she said, smiling, as she sat alongside her young daughter and her husband, a Gaza-born former street vendor who can no longer work easily after having to have his leg amputated following an accident in Jerash.

The Jerash visit highlighted the resilience and determination of Palestine Refugee women and girls, and the critical role UNRWA plays in supporting them and the rest of their community through education, health, protection, and economic empowerment.