Reclaiming stolen childhoods: swimming classes resume in Gaza after three years of war

The Guardian reports that swimming classes have resumed in Gaza after three years of war, giving hundreds of children a brief escape in five makeshift sea pools built from sandbags and rubble. The lessons let a few hundred girls and boys learn to float and take their first strokes in a place with no playgrounds and no formal schooling, where they live in fear of continuing Israeli attacks. The Guardian notes a UN survey in March found that ninety-six percent of children felt death was imminent. For a few hours on the seafront, the classes offer traumatised children a moment to reclaim a piece of their childhood.

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