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- Country of residence: Palestine
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“I was born here, I was born there,” a phrase by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish that was quoted by the young Palestinian woman Enas Abu Hamada on the first page of the “Jane” diary that she worked on, in order to document the children’s first moments and the details of their lives from the beginning of their mothers’ pregnancy with them until their first year.
The idea of the memorandum, which is considered the first of its kind in Palestine, is based on perpetuating the child’s memories from the moment he came into the world, in a modern and innovative way, which Abu Hamada accomplished with individual effort and self-financing.
The memorandum includes several sections, including the parents’ first moments of learning about the pregnancy, and phrases written for him to review in the future, along with his first picture of him as a fetus, in addition to the first moments after his birth, such as his first picture, his family tree, and details of his progress in age each month until he reaches the first year.
Abu Hamada told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that her idea came after deep research that she conducted to arrive at the current idea to ensure that it was unique, and in a way that would contribute to immortalizing the child’s first moments, as it would contribute to strengthening the child’s self-confidence in the present and the future.
She explains that she conducted a study of the market to determine the extent of its acceptance of the idea or not before she implemented the project. She found wide acceptance of it, especially from mothers, pointing out that a number of mothers document some of their children’s special moments, which led her towards implementing the idea.
Abu Hamada points out that the desire to promote Arabic content and support such products, which are not often available in Arab countries, was present to her during the period of studying the project, especially since she found such ideas in European societies.
She considers that strengthening the psychological aspect is important, which can be achieved by documenting the first moments of the child and his parents as well, such as their first meeting, through the period of engagement and marriage, all the way to the pregnancy period, and other moments in which the memorandum seeks to involve the child.
Abu Hamada chose the name “Jane” for the memorandum because genes are the ones that carry the hereditary characteristics that are transmitted to the child from his parents, in addition to choosing special designs that are compatible with what the child goes through during his stages of development.
Regarding the difficulties encountered in its implementation, she points out that imitation of such ideas is one of the obstacles she faces, in addition to individual self-financing and the high costs of the printing process.
Among the difficulties Enas faces are sending the memorandum to the West Bank or the territories occupied in 1948 or promoting it outside the Gaza Strip, as she considers that the most prominent obstacle lies in the mail and the strict procedures imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities on citizens in besieged Gaza.
Abu Hamada aspires to be able, in the coming short period, to develop the memorandum in order to increase the child’s lifespan, and to be able to transfer it and distribute it outside Palestine, specifically in the Arab countries.
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