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Dima Foundation Newsletter (2017)

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

DIMA Foundation – Newsletter #6 April 2017

Thank you for your continued support! We’d like to provide you with an update on this year’s events at the DIMA Foundation – a school for children with Special Needs and Learning Difficulties in Najaf, Iraq.

2017 Update

Since its opening in September 2007, the DIMA Foundation school has continued to grow. The school now has 73 regular pupils with 6 teachers, 2 teaching assistants and 1 porter working at the school. It remains the only school for disabled children in Iraq.

The school moved to new premises in 2015 with 2 new classes teaching a variety of subjects including Mathematics, Arabic, English and Science. In 2016 the school was entirely refurbished with 2 new classrooms built in the school grounds and all the classrooms were redecorated including new desks, chairs and other furniture for all the rooms. The school also purchased new outdoor equipment for the playground to make break times more enjoyable for the pupils.

There are now a total of 6 classes, composed of one class in each year from Years 1 to 6. There are 12 pupils on average in each class with ages ranging from 7 to 22 years old.

School Activities

Along with the daily school curriculum the teachers are now ensuring that the children have a full and active timetable with regular school trips and school parties organised to ensure that the pupils have a fun and stimulating time at the DIMA Foundation. This year the children went on a trip to a local fun fair and had an Eid party

Fundraising

This year the teachers at the DIMA Foundation organised a variety of fundraising events to raise money for the new playground and refurbishment. These have included an Arts and Craft Fair and a second hand clothing sale.

We continue to receive monthly subscriptions from our regular contributors here in the UK. These contributions are vital to the day-to-day running costs of the school and mean that we can provide high quality education to our students and accept new students each year.

Regular Contributors

As always we greatly appreciate all your support and would like to thank and acknowledge all those who continue to contribute to the DIMA Foundation especially our fellow trustees and our regular contributors.

Website

Our website can be found at:

www.dimafoundation.com.

Many thanks for all your contributions to date and we look forward to letting you know all the continued news of future progress and developments at the DIMA Foundation in the coming years and finally here are some more photos of our pupils enjoying their time at school!

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Dima Foundation newsletter (2015)

DIMA Foundation – Newsletter #5 July 2014

Mon 21st July 2014

This is the latest in a series of newsletters to thank you for your continued support and provide you with an update on this year’s events at the DIMA Foundation – a school for children with Special Needs and Learning Difficulties in Najaf, Iraq.

2013/4 Update

Despite, the tragic headlines coming out of Iraq recently, you’ll be pleased to hear it is business as usual at the DIMA Foundation school in Najaf. Our teaching staff and 72 children continue to grow from strength to strength. The Dima Foundation remains the only school for disabled children in Iraq and is a real source of pride for the local community in Najaf.

Thanks to your many generous donations, we now have a dedicated arts and crafts classroom at the school- the children love it and have benefited greatly from the ability to have fun and get messy! With the money we have raised from regular contributions we have also been able to provide monthly health checks for the children by a school doctor. Healthcare in Iraq is variable and often too expensive for the families at our school, so the ability to provide our children with medical support is invaluable.

The school year ended in June with a graduation ceremony for all the students again and this year the kids had the benefit of brand new school uniforms, courtesy of one of our very generous individual donors.

Fundraising in the UK

In 2013/4 the DIMA Foundation was the fortunate recipient of generous donations from The Grammar School in Leeds, The Almoltaka Association, The Wareham Tangent Club in Dorset and The Iraqi Youth Foundation of the UK. You will recall that the Iraqi Youth Foundation raised money for a fully equipped arts and crafts classroom in 2012 allowing the children to develop artistic skills and have become one of our regular contributors.

Regular contributors

As always we greatly appreciate all your support and would like to thank and acknowledge all

those who continue to contribute to the DIMA Foundation especially our fellow trustees and our regular contributors.

Plans for 2014/5

As many of the children at the school are wheelchair-bound and have great difficulty in traveling to and from school daily, we plan to begin fundraising for an accessible school bus and driver to facilitate their journey and to ensure that they get the most out of their time at school.

As part of our ongoing mission to improve the health of the Dima Foundation children, we also plan to provide provision for regular nutritious school meals for the children.

Upcoming Events

For the most up to date information on ways to get involved with the DIMA Foundation, log onto the website:

www.dimafoundation.com

or visit our Facebook page

www.facebook .com/DimaFoundation

As always, many thanks for all your support to date and we look forward to letting you know all the continued news of future progress and developments of the DIMA Foundation in the coming years.