Rania Kuhail & Donna Campbell
Rania is a very special person & our first teacher to join the Hands Up Project in Cairo in November 2024. Just two days after securing the apartment for our classes, we had a lovely interview with her over cup of mint tea. We were thrilled that she wanted to join us because she had so much experience as an English teacher, indeed she used to train teachers in Gaza. With her gentle yet firm approach, she was the catalyst to our school that’s led us to where we are today.
Every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, Rania runs her multi-grade English class with 5 or 6 students aged 12-16. She follows the Palestinian curriculum using the much loved ‘English for Palestine’ text book. It’s a very different situation because usually in Gaza, all of the children would be the same grade. But Rania is very adaptable and has supported students working in a multigrade style. With a team teaching approach, Donna, as the native English speaking volunteer, helps to activate the curriculum for the students by incorporating fun English language games, written tasks, and arts and crafts. Donna likes to organise practical activities like seed sowing, drawing & painting, reading poetry, board races & charades. Rania’s talented students produced a short play called ‘The Screen’ to demonstrate their use of English while sending important messages to audiences overseas. The children in her class have all produced poetry, which was initially inspired by the book ‘Moon Tell Me Truth’ and their poems are now all printed in ‘Oh Big Blue’. In later months, other volunteers came to work with us such as Jamie the magician, Lucy from the UK, Lis from Australia, Vicky from Wales and lots of other visitors who wanted to contribute to our project. The kids all learnt First Aid with Dr. Sulaiman, and Rania was part of this as a very active participant!
We’ve had trips to Dreamland, Family Park, Al-Azzah Park and well as many social events at the school for students birthdays or important occasions such as the Cease Fire Day in January 2025 and Iftar during Ramadan.
Rania has worked hard to support her students to catch up with the English curriculum but not only this, her dedication has boosted their confidence and given them much needed structure during uncertain times. Together with the other volunteers and teachers, she’s helped to build a solid community of people who have unwavering support for each other. Miss Rania is the heart of our school & everyone who’s met her loves her dearly.