DEIR EL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — In an era where social media is the name of the game, people are no longer reading books in the Gaza Strip. But some young girls who believe that reading is an intrinsic part of education have provided a glimmer of hope by thinking out of the box in a bid to encourage reading. In late January, they began to establish a library using recycled books and other items.

The library was ready in early March, and it immediately started attracting passers-by. The library organizes several activities to lure students and others into reading. When it opened its doors, it announced a competition requiring people to read five different books on various topics and summarize them. Ten winners receive a collection of cultural, social, historical, literary and religious books.

Wahj Wa Fikr (Arabic for Glare and Thought) is the first library of its kind in the Gaza Strip and has no other branches for now. It was created by Al Nayzak Organization for Supportive Education and Scientific Innovation and is located in Al-Sokayna Bint al-Hussein Secondary School for girls located in central Gaza. This library is different from other libraries as it consists of recycled and disregarded items with the aim to declutter society and protect the environment. The library is a collection of valuable books that were piled up in houses and libraries and left unread. It is an attempt to breathe new life into those books.

Fidaa al-Sharif, an engineer from Al Nayzak Organization who oversaw the establishment of the library, told Al-Monitor, “During my visit to Al-Sokayna Bint al-Hussein, I found that there was no library at the school and that the girls were only relying on their curriculum books, so I got the idea of ​​creating a library within the school to help the girls improve their cultural and intellectual awareness. The library is also open to the public.”