Rise Special Initiative for the Children of Palestine
How You Can Make a Difference
Your generous donation will directly contribute to:
Training Gazan Parents: Equipping parents and caregivers with the skills and knowledge to facilitate trauma-informed learning, minimizing learning losses children are experiencing.
Providing Resources: Supplying educational materials, toys, and emergency aid to create engaging and supportive environments for the children.
Creating Safe Spaces: Establishing secure areas where children can play, learn, and heal from their traumatic experiences
Why Your Help Matters
The impact of trauma on developing brains is profound. Children exposed to war and violence face significant emotional and psychological challenges. By providing structured support and creating safe, nurturing environments, we can help mitigate these effects and promote healing. Without interventions like these, children risk falling into an enduring cycle of fear, isolation, and developmental delays. War doesn’t just destroy buildings—it threatens the potential of an entire generation. We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Can You Help Us Provide Emotional Support and Learning Opportunities for Palestinian Children?
Since our founding in 1997, Rise Alliance for Children (formerly WWO) has been dedicated to supporting children facing the harshest of circumstances, including conflict. Now, in light of the ongoing horrors in the Middle East, thousands of traumatized Palestinian children desperately need safe spaces to learn and play.
In addition to addressing the education gap the last year of war has caused, the Rise program provides a safe space for children to play with their peers, create secure attachment with a supportive and caring adult, and provide a pathway for healing. We know that nothing is a substitute for a permanent ceasefire and an end to violence — AND recognize that children cannot wait to get the support and education they need.
Now in the 2nd year of children displaced from their homes, without access to school and disconnected from their peers - our programs are more important than ever.
Healing Trauma Through Play
Rise's programs are creating sanctuaries of hope for Gazan refugee families wherever logistically possible. Through trauma-informed guided play, children:
Build resilience.
Find emotional stability.
Reconnect with their peers and create community.
Our program launched in Cairo, Egypt — where tens of thousands of Gazan families are taking refuge, but who fled with little to nothing on their backs. Due to the uncertainty of their future and without resident status (because of their desire to return to their homeland in the future), these children do not have access to government education or health services.
In coordination with our Palestinian partner organization, Zimam, we have leased an office in central Cairo that has been transformed into a Rise Learning Space. Each day, more than 100 Gazan refugee children and their families (with 300 more on the waitlist) are benefiting from our evidence-based, play-based learning program. Rise provides psycho-social support, age and culturally appropriate learning materials, and music and movement that help children reconnect with their love of learning.