Queen Rania Meets Gaza Volunteers Prior to Their Departure to Gaza

March 11, 2009

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) In response to Her Majesty’s call to support the conflict-affected children of Gaza, four volunteers, will depart later this month to provide training and psycho-social support to several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) servicing towns and areas unreached by UN agencies within the Gaza strip.

In coordination with the Civil Defense Directorate, Her Majesty met with General Abdullah Hamadneh, Manager of the Directorate of Civil Defense, Colonel Awad Abu Darweesh, Director of Civil Defense Ambulance Department, and Brigadier Dr. Tayseer Elias, Consultant to the Director of Psychological Services as well as four specialized trainers.

The four trainers will work out of the Jordanian hospital in Gaza, delivering a four day programme based on a Training of Trainers (TOT) model designed in collaboration with UNICEF. Throughout the four months programme, trainers will also provide relief and ground support to affected areas.
During the meeting Her Majesty thanked the volunteers for demonstrating courage in their efforts to offer support and aid to the traumatized victims of war.

Trainees in Gaza will include workers and volunteers in special needs centers and public shelters, workers in field hospitals, schools and emergency centers who require psycho-social assistance.
The curricula will include explanations of psychological trauma, methods to detect and overcome trauma as well as an assessment of the psychological impact the conflict has on children and teenagers.

The training will also tackle volunteers’ common shortfalls and mistakes in order to raise knowledge and understanding on these issues among workers already operating in the field of psycho-social support in Gaza.

After a period of four months, the trainers will return to Amman to brief eight additional counselors in Jordan who will then continue their work in Gaza, thus ensuring sustainability of the project.
The qualified trainers include, Ms. Suha Mssallam Hurb Al Hroob, a specialized trainer in the field of psychological support with experience in the Civil Defense Ambulance Department, Mr. Kayed lutfi al- khrabsheh, a volunteer for the Amman-based NGO Questscope, and a lecturer in the field of Drug Prevention and Medical Sociology, Ms. Shireen Mohammad Abdullah Al Sarairah who worked extensively as a psychological supporter and counselor in emergency centers and Mr. Suleiman S. Daraiseh who worked in the Civil Defence Ambulance Department for two years.