The “Dream of a Refugee association” was registered officially at the Lebanese ministry of interior on March 31st, 2011. The story of the association has started in October 2010 when a group of five young Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who have understood how hard it is to live without having a good education decided to establish a centre (Martyr Ali Abou Tok Centre) that provides children of the camp and the entourage with the reinforcement they require to succeed in their schools. The five young men had in mind their suffering throughout their childhood education, how they succeeded in their universities and faced the legal problems Palestinians face in Lebanon, decided to equip their country mates with the principal weapon of a degree. Having a highly respectful image in the camp’s community this helped them gain the families’ respect and confidence and allowed them to take responsibility over their future.
The “Dream of a Refugee association” founders had a short experience helping students in other young centers for their exams before they first ran the centre (25 students). The centre has first started in a small house with three small rooms accommodating 40 students. Children had to come in shifts and stood up in order to receive their assistance. In September 2014, the centre accommodates the educational needs of 408 children of the camp between grade 1 and 10. The “Dream of a Refugee association” doesn’t only enjoy a teacher-student relationship with the camp students, which pride them with a competitive advantage over other study centers or free lance teachers, but they have also developed it to a more strong human relationship where they have established a cultural group, a football team and psycho-social support and have taken their students for excursions around Lebanon to open a window of hope for the marginalized community. This allowed them to create a friendly environment where students associate themselves and arrive happily to study.
In addition to its main role, the Association has provided its students with different important activities that are required for their personal development and that will assist in the capacity building
DRA aims to make the camp a better place to live in by primarily assisting the children who forms the Palestinian future and to help the old population in aging respectfully until they return to Palestine. In summary the Association aims to help in the capacity building and the empowerment of the community by building a cultured and aware youth generation hoping for the best of the community and respecting the right of the older generation in having a life with dignity.