Anna MacLeod dances happily for the cause Photo provided
On Monday and Tuesday of this past week, the Seedlings preschoolers got down and boogied for a 10-year old boy named Belal Dardonah of Gaza City, Palestine. Belal was born deaf and as one of eight children in his family, has never been able to attend school. There is one school is Gaza City specifically designed for hearing impaired children and adults; it's called Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children (atfaluna.net). It would be a dream come true for Belal and his family if he could attend Atfaluna. There he could learn to communicate with his parents and siblings. He would be given the opportunity to be educated either in a specific vocation or potentially be mainstreamed into further education in Palestine. Seedlings, together with Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church, has held an annual fundraiser for Atfaluna for the last eight years. This year Seedlings held a Dance-A-Thon dubbed "Boogie for Belal" in hopes of raising at least the $600 it would take to educate Belal for a full year at Atfaluna. The preschoolers did just that! They have raised over $1700 to date, but pledges are still coming in and hopes are high that monies raised could ensure Belal's education for years to come.
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA