On 8 October 2018, around 55 students commenced the cleaning of the deserted and neglected archaeological building of Al-Kamilia School in Gaza as part of an almost-year journey of investigation, research, action and learning about the site.
The students’ journey with Al-Kamilia School began in January 2018, when three student groups from three preparatory schools in Gaza convened around an idea and a question. The idea was born of their astonishment to discover the presence of a beautiful deserted school’s archaeological building, which dates back to the theirteenth century. The ancient building is concealed by shops and other buildings in the Old City of Gaza, which have been left to decay over time due to community negligence. A question united the students: ‘what can we do to revive the site?’
“Although the journey of students’ teams with this school started early this year, each team represents a different educational project shaped since 2017. They fall within the teachers’ professional training under the Educational Research and Development Programme organised by the A. M. Qattan Foundation in Gaza,” explains Ola Badawi, Director of the Gaza office.
She adds: “The projects take place in Old Gaza and are shared by teacher Ahlam Sheldan and her students at Rimal Preparatory Girls School (A) with the purpose of exploring Old Gaza and raising community awareness of its attributes. The project aims to explore the city from a student’s perspective. The second project is ‘kitabat – writings’, shared with teacher Wisam Abed and the students of Nusseirat Preparatory Boys School to explore the act of writing in the life of the community. The third project is ‘Gaza Treasure Hunters’, initiated by teacher Israa Abu Al-Qumsan early this year with students from Gaza Preparatory Girls School (B).”
Sources show that the school was established in 1237 under the rule of the king, Alkamil Bin Almalik Al-Adel the Ayyub and was named Al-Kamilia after him. It was open to the homeless and poor students during the Ayyub, Mamluk and Ottoman eras before it was deserted and deprived of any educational activity to date.
Students evoked contradictory and different feelings as they discovered the building: a mix of astonishment, joy and appreciation of the beauty and ancient style of the building. They curved great dreams and luminous perceptions of what the buildings may become. This was confronted with shock and sadness about the current state of the building with multiple questions on the history and ownership of the school, taking into consideration its neglect and how the surrounding community relates to its fate. A family dwells in the upper floor of the building, claiming that it rented it although community members who reported that they do not know the owner; meanwhile, many claim ownership of the building. In spite of the ambiguity and challenges, students in the three groups agreed that revival of Al-Kamilia School is their responsibility. They thought it would be possible by cleaning and renovating the building in addition to organising a number of outreach activities. But where and how to start?
The exploratory trips began with the aim to learn about the school and neighbouring ancient buildings from a different perspective in cooperation with engineer Nasmah Al-Sallaq from Kanaan Team . She organised awareness workshops on heritage and its different expressions and shared her experiences in ancient archaeological buildings in Gaza. Al-Sallaq also provided the students with information on Al-Kamilia School building.
Students began researching library and internet material to find as much information as possible about Al-Kamilia School. Research showed that information about the school was scarce and contradictory. Most of the material published coincided with the time they became familiar with the school. Throughout their work with the Educational Research and Development Programme in Gaza, they met over social media to share data and raise questions and hypotheses, which they redrafted in partnership with their teachers.
Students gathered information and pictures about anonymous and other ancient schools, some of which appeared to be about Al-Kamilia itself. This pushed students to compare and examine the shapes of the buildings and their engineering and design for true identification. They concluded that the description they had did not match the school they are researching. They then identified a group of competent agencies and sources to help them learn more about the school and understand its history and how they can begin its revival.
Later, they organised exploratory trips to the surrounding area and drew the building with environmental plans specifying the surrounding houses, alleys and inhabitants. They interviewed the inhabitants of the area and shop attendants, searching for stories about students who attended the school during its active years. The more they researched, the more perplexed they were, and the more questions they had. The name of the school is unknown and so is its closing date. Information about the school was contradictory. Thus, one of the girls’ school students began new research, hoping to meet an older person who can tell them about the school.
They succeeded in meeting Amnah Habib and the grandmother of one of the students, Ms. Hajar Alshobaki. They recalled walking to attend Al-Kamilia, a girls’ school. Between 40-45 students attended the school, which held five periods a day. They spoke of their school bags, the desks they sat in and the hope that the school would return to these old times.
The students organised, in cooperation with the Educational Research and Development Programme, a number of interviews, visits and activities, including a visit to the Land Department where they met Mr. Kamel Madi and discussed with him the ownership status of the school. The students were even more puzzled as the department could not identify the building’s owner. They turned to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquity and met Dr. Jamal Abu Rida who presented them with another problem: The Ministry cannot compensate the owner of the school, if found, or the tenant currently dwelling in the school. He explained that the Ministry can provide for legal coverage if they wish to renovate. Following this meeting, students visited the family of Abu Yusuf Alruzzi, who lives in part of the school. They took pictures of the school and an old classroom that the family annexed to their home before closing the door that led to the remaining classrooms. A student measured the area of the rooms after Hajja Um Yusuf explained she had been living in this room for almost 55 years. She also explained that the school was operating at that time but when it became too small for the students, the students moved to Al-Ramalah School.
Students also met with researcher Hayam Al-Bietar from the Ministry of Tourism to learn about the nature of the Old City and its archaeological houses.
They also visited Iwan Centre at the Islamic University to benefit from its experience in renovating archaeological sites and met with engineer Mahmoud Al-Balaawi, who explained the harm caused to the building after analysing of the pictures taken of the building’s elements and interior.
Students also visited a recently renovated archaeological site—Maqam Al-Khader (St. Hillarion Monastery) in Deir el-Balah, which was transformed into a library and cultural centre. There, they were received by Nawa for Culture and Arts Association and explored the renovations. This increased their determination to pursue the process and rehabilitate the groveland near the Maqam Al-Khader. The three teams met to reflect on the progress over the past months and plan for the next stage. They were astonished by the beautiful mosaic in the monastery and proposed to employ it in Al-Kamila School, especially since they had already participated with other students in the Old Gaza project to explore mosaics.
The three teams convened by the end of the summer holiday to develop an action plan and prioritise activities and distribute tasks. They discussed a number of questions and ideas and shared three perspectives to renovate the school and add aesthetic work to it. The final perspective covered the legal framework of their projects.
Female students collaborated with engineer Nashwa Al-Ramlawi from Iwan Centre to prepare a plan to clean the school. As the students headed over to start cleaning, they were faced with a new challenge: a group of ten students had already begun cleaning on their own initiative. Thus, an opportunity was seized to transform conflict into productive work and learn about community participation and the importance of task distribution to organise community work through practise.
Cleaning activities are expected to proceed as students develop skills on dealing with ancient buildings under the supervision of archaeologist Fadel Al-Attil and Al-Ramlawi.
On the school revival, student Nida Saad told us, “we have many archaeological and heritage sites, but our society does not care about their protection and preservation. It is our duty to raise public awareness of our cultural heritage and endeavour to change existing stereotypes. We must work with our hands.”
Student Shahd Al-Areer added, “we work to upgrade the status of our community by safeguarding the history of our ancestors.”
Shahd Falyounah said, “this is the heritage our ancestors left us and we must preserve it or the occupation will conceal it even further.”
Abdelrahman Isameel spoke about his dream that Al-Kamilia School building become a scientific research complex.
Bassem Al-Ghafeer added, “we hope to revive Al-Kamilia School and raise public awareness about it to make it a centre for research and exploration since it is one of the ancient archaeological sites in Gaza. We hope to make it an icon and a monument.”