UPA's longtime partner, Atfaluna Society for the Deaf, reports that due to fuel cuts and extreme supply shortages, the 2007-08 school year has ended one month early.

"It will be with a collective sigh of relief that teachers here at the Atfaluna School for the Deaf will bid farewell to the 07-08 academic year, for this year has been one to match no other in the school's 16-year history," says director Gerry Shawa.

Teachers often had to carry out classroom activities in dim classrooms due to frequent power outages and no fuel with which to turn on the generator. "It seems we spend many of our days in hot pursuit of a canister of butane gas for cooking the children's meals, locating a supply of photocopy paper, a tube of glue, or some threads for the sewing class. It's been tough going, that's for sure, but we can also feel a sense of pride that, somehow or other, we managed to get through yet another year," Shawa explains.

Despite all their hardships, these remarkable children and young adults persevere with the help of Atfaluna's hardworking staff. They have not allowed this blockade to make all their efforts seem futile. This year 23 students graduated from the Middle School, where the brand-new Atfaluna dance troupe of 7 deaf children debuted. Thirteen-year-old Mahmoud founded the Atfaluna Palestinian Debka dance troupe, and at this performance, the "hearing and deaf audience cheered and clapped in time as Mahmoud led his troupe by means of eloquent hand signals ... to the beat of Debka music and a strong tabla beat."

UPA continues to support this strong will to persevere in Gaza, sending over $8,500 to sponsored children at Atfaluna Society alone last month.

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