The Norwegian Refugee Council's Better Learning Programme, funded by Education Cannot Wait, delivers mental health and psychosocial support alongside education for children in Gaza.
GAZA, Palestine, Dec. 30, 2025 -- In a tent in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, 12-year-old Masa carefully places her colored pencil on the page, tracing the curve of a wave. Her brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail, secured with two plastic barrettes. The sea she draws is calm and glimmering.
In her real world, nothing is calm. But in this small act of creativity – in the rhythm of drawing and comfort of her new learning space – Masa is learning to breathe again.
She has already endured more loss than any child should. "I used to live a beautiful and peaceful life in the Al-Nasr area. My school was my wonderful world where I gathered with friends. But after the war started, we were forced to flee multiple times until we ended up in a tent at the Saned site in Deir al-Balah. My life became nothing but emptiness, suffering and extreme loneliness," Masa says. After attacks and displacement orders forced her to flee her home – and the school and friendships that once gave her joy – she faced a daily battle with fear and feelings of despair.
When a temporary learning space was established at the Saned site, Masa regained a small semblance of the childhood she once knew. She now attends learning sessions in a safe environment where she's rebuilding her lost skills in Arabic and mathematics, making new friends, learning calming and coping techniques, and rediscovering joy through play and art.
This initiative is funded by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises in the United Nations, and is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council's (NRC) flagship Better Learning Programme (BLP). For children like Masa, it's a first step towards recovery and hope.
Where Learning Establishes the Foundation for Healing
When Masa's family fled Al-Nasr, the 12-year-old not only left behind her home, but her school, friends and beloved teachers. She spent long days in the family's small tent in Saned site, her anxiety growing in the silence. She says, "I always felt isolated and distressed, with no one to talk to."
Even stepping outside of the tent was dangerous. Her mother urged her to stay inside, afraid for her safety. Her beloved aunt was killed in an airstrike on a school where she was sheltering, and her cousin's leg was amputated after sustaining injuries in the same attack. Masa says, "I woke up terrified many times at night, sometimes waking my brother to calm me. I felt that death was getting closer to us and war and bombings were stealing the people we love."
Everything changed the day a group of teachers visited her family's tent. They spoke to her mother about a new learning tent at the site and encouraged Masa to join.
Today, Masa regularly attends psychosocial and learning sessions through the BLP. The initiative weaves together basic education – including Arabic and mathematics – with therapeutic tools like breathing techniques, storytelling and guided drawing to help children process trauma and stress. "I learned deep breathing exercises, the safe place technique and relaxation methods. I practiced these techniques regularly, especially picturing my safe place," says Masa.
One core aim of the initiative is to teach children self-regulation, calming and coping skills. Now, when Masa feels afraid, she remembers her teacher's words – that negative thoughts make us feel hopeless. She then takes out her drawing supplies or talks to friends to cope.
Educators and community members are also equipped with tools to create safe learning environments and support children's emotional recovery – part of ECW's commitment to holistic quality education. ECW has supported education in the State of Palestine since 2019, where its investments have reached nearly one million crisis-affected children to date, 51% of them girls.
Masa says, "Since joining the sessions at the educational tent, I have felt some hope that life could return to us. I made friends and established a routine in my life. I also started drawing beautiful pictures again."
Rediscovering Hope, One Lesson at a Time
Masa now walks to the learning tent each day, where she reads, draws and relearns math and Arabic – the building blocks to education that two years of war had threatened to erase. She dreams of becoming a doctor. "I want to help children. It is my right, like all children in the world, to dream, grow and build my future," she says.
Yet, for children like her, that future hangs in the balance. Continued investment in education and mental health support is not a luxury – it is a necessity. BLP is just one step in a much longer journey towards recovery. But it is a powerful one.
"This grant from ECW allows us to begin restoring mental health and learning services," says Jan Egeland, Secretary General of NRC. "But it is only a drop in an ocean of need. These children must not be forgotten."
In a corner of a tent in Deir al-Balah, Masa picks up her pencil again. The waves on the page are growing stronger. She still carries the weight of grief, but her drawings whisper something else: resilience. "I love drawing the sea because it reminds me that life is still possible and beautiful."
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