Hope and Play's 2026 calendar features art made by children in Gaza. They drew and wrote in workshops we ran with them, focusing on fun, play and beauty - a rare glimpse of childhood in the midst of the genocide that surrounded them. Your purchase of their calendar will support them to rebuild their young lives.
A calendar by Gaza's children for Gaza's children...
We asked them about their hopes and dreams. And the most consistent theme that came back was for normality. Tragically, even though they yearned for it, the only normality that these children knew even before the genocide was a life under siege. It is a testament to the love of their parents and Gaza's community that even that siege seemed like a good life to these kids.
Children need to dream. Need to see and create beauty. Not shoulder the responsibilities that no human, let alone a child, should. And that has been the important work of our partners at the Canaan Institute and Shababeek for Contemporary Art. To give a glimpse of what childhood should be.
And it is through that art that Gaza's children send us the clearest message of all. The bombs, the starvation, the destruction and dehumanisation may continue - even after this "ceasefire". But they won't take away their resilience, endurance and hope.
The calendar is A4 portraight, staple bound and with a hole mid-top for hanging.
[Your full purchase less costs of printing, packaging and sending will go to Gaza. The charity is volunteer-run, so we keep nothing here for the charity itself.]
