Ricky refers to his class of girls as, ‘Well behaved but never boring. A special moment was their comic and moving re-workings of the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice – I was really proud of them for that piece of work.’

Ben organised and refereed a football tournament between the boys of al-Bass and Rashidieh schools which was very popular.

Graduations were held in all schools and UNRWA officials attended some. Songs were sung, poems read, certificates received, speeches given and all the children were presented with dictionaries.

Afternoon classes were held with local NGOs Najdeh and Beit atfal as-Sumoud. At the Najdeh centre in al-Bass Jennifer taught a class of women with very mixed levels of English. She explored issues such as relationships, using the problem pages of magazines, and careers, holding mock interviews. Nadjeh proved to be a friendly environment – many of the students welcomed the volunteers into their houses and invited them to events at the centre where local teenagers performed Palestinian songs and dances.

At the Najdeh centre in Rashidieh, Ben, a maths graduate, was able to help a mother who was keen to assist her 11-year-old son with his maths studies. Nearly all subject textbooks in Lebanon are written in English, which means many parents are unable to help their children.

Small parties were held in the centre at the end of the programme. Peter organised games for his group of young children and a quieter affair was held for the mothers’ class.

The Nadjeh centre in Rashidieh has few resources and the volunteers were able to purchase a whiteboard for the classroom and some English handwriting books. Some picture books given to Unipal by Book Aid, a British charity, were also left at the centre for the children to enjoy.

Peter says of his time in Rashidieh, ‘I met many lovely, amazing people who shared their thoughts on what it is like to be a Palestinian in Lebanon.’

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