A Box of Smiles: Restoring Childhood in Gaza's Orphan Camps

Yusuf* is eight years old. He lives in a tent in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, a displacement camp that was never meant to be a home, but has become one for tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 7th, 2023. He no longer has a school to attend, a yard in which to play, nor a sense of what tomorrow may look like.

What he does have is a memory: the day a colorful box arrived at the camp, was set down in the fresh air, and opened.

And out came a puppet. 

For ninety minutes, Yusuf laughed. He forgot, briefly and completely, the weight of everything he had seen. When it was over, he stayed close to the box, unwilling to let the moment end. 

That box is called "A Box of Smiles." 

*Name changed to protect privacy 

Bringing Healing to Orphaned and Vulnerable Children 

In Gaza's displacement camps, traditional mental health services are nearly impossible to access. Children's trauma is daily, and silence has replaced play. And the children who need support the most have nowhere to turn.

Zakat Foundation of America’s Gaza team responded by asking a simple question: What if we brought the healing to them? 

Launched in March 2026, "A Box of Smiles" is a mobile puppet theater that travels directly to orphan camps and communities across the Gaza Strip. Each 90-minute session uses puppetry, storytelling, and movement to create something that clinical settings rarely can: a space where traumatized children feel safe enough to open up. 

In one month, the program delivered 15 performances across North and South Gaza, reaching an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 children and adolescents ages 6 through 16. 

More Than a Show 

Each performance was designed to protect as well as to heal. Four specialized shows taught children about the dangers of unexploded war remnants, bodily autonomy and protection from exploitation, and how to recognize and stand up to bullying; all delivered through age-appropriate storytelling that children can absorb, remember, and act on.

The "Big Mouth Puppet" sessions invited children to share their own experiences and feelings; many for the first time in a structured, safe space. The result, observed across all 15 sessions, was striking: visible emotional release, growing confidence, and children who arrived alone leaving as part of something. 

What a Box Can Hold 

It is a physically small thing, this puppet theater. It fits in a box. It can be carried anywhere. It asks only for an open space and a gathering of children, and the belief that even in catastrophe, joy is not a luxury. It is a lifeline. 

Yusuf still lives in his tent. The conditions around him have not changed. But something in him has shifted, something small and important. 

He knows the puppet's name now. He has started telling the story to his younger sister. 

Your zakat and sadaqah make programs like this possible. If this story moved you, help us keep the box traveling.