Gaza group marks thirty years of service to deaf community

In the middle-class Al-Nasr District, a crafts bazaar showcases the impact of thirty years of activities by a group of Gaza women determined to educate their deaf children left behind by existing Palestinian and international organizations. Founded in 1992, the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children educates 250 deaf children. It serves more than 5,000 hard-of-hearing people and their families annually. This week’s bazaar features products made by the hearing impaired. It helps fund the group’s speech pathology, clinical audiology, and community outreach work. Like 40% of Atfaluna’s staff, Hashem Abdullah Ghazal, the Director of the Carpentry and Technical Work Hashem Abdullah Ghazal, is hearing impaired. Ghazal told A24 that the pieces on display are each unique and incorporate elements of traditional Palestinian crafts.