RAMALLAH, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Amid a joyful atmosphere, 11-year-old Jana Raed stood on a stage in Ramallah in the West Bank, confidently performing Dabke, a traditional Palestinian folk dance, before an audience.
Raed, from the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, had spent the past 10 months learning the dance with other children from Palestinian refugee camps.
Before taking the stage, she adjusted her headscarf and waited for her turn as the rhythms of music echoed through the hall of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front headquarters.
"I am very happy to participate in this project," Raed told Xinhua. "It has provided us with very important and unique activities to improve our skills, not only in Dabke but also in our studies, while teaching us new skills."
Raed was among 136 children who participated in a 10-month initiative combining education, extracurricular activities and psychosocial support.
The "Volunteer for Hope" organization, affiliated with the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, held a ceremony attended by about 100 people, including Sun Zhen, head of the Chinese Office in Palestine, and Ahmed Majdalani, secretary-general of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front and a Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee member.
Funded by the Chinese Office in Palestine, the project included 71 girls and 65 boys and provided 803 hours of educational and training activities, according to its organizers.
The program offered lessons in English, mathematics and science, alongside activities in chess, Dabke, journalism and artificial intelligence applications.
In terms of psychosocial support, 97 children participated in group emotional expression activities, while 28 mothers took part in parenting-related activities.
The initiative comes as children in the West Bank face growing obstacles to regular education amid movement restrictions, deteriorating security conditions and school disruptions.
Against this backdrop, the project's organizers said that extracurricular and psychosocial activities can provide children with opportunities to interact with their peers and develop skills outside the classroom.
Hind Ayyad, director of the "Leaders of Tomorrow" project at the "Volunteer for Hope" organization, told Xinhua that the initiative had been particularly meaningful under the prevailing circumstances.
"Under these difficult circumstances, this project has given us moral support, energy and hope to move forward. We cannot express in words how important and meaningful this project is," Ayyad said.
She said that the project had helped children become more confident and encouraged them to remain engaged with education, while expressing hope for continued friendship between the Palestinian and Chinese peoples.
For parents, changes in the children's behavior were also noticeable.
Maysoun Al-Ali, from Ramallah, said her son, Mohammed Shaher, had become more open and communicative after participating in the project.
"Thanks to this project, my child has gained a lot of knowledge and become more talkative and willing to make friends," she said.
During the ceremony, Majdalani highlighted China's support and stressed the importance of investing in children and young people as an investment in the future of Palestinian society.
Sun Zhen said Chinese assistance to Palestine was rooted in the friendship between the two peoples, describing "voluntary support" and "hope" as two keywords for Chinese aid.
Sun expressed hope that the participating children would grow into active contributors to their homeland and ambassadors of friendship between the Chinese and Palestinian peoples.
