Speech therapist Mohammed al-Hayek is treating several children from different Arab countries, including Syrian children displaced to Turkey and Lebanon, from behind his computer screen in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Hayek, 29, began his career as a speech therapist after graduating from the department of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University College of Applied Sciences in the Gaza Strip in 2009. He then joined local projects under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which examined the speech of primary school students in institutions affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

“At first, my job was only to examine the children. After I proved myself, the project manager transferred me to the pediatric speech therapy department. During my work with the ICRC, I came across a large number of students with speech problems. Because speech problems emerge between the ages of 4 and 6, I then focused on private kindergartens,” Hayek told Al-Monitor. Today, he works with eight schools altogether.

He added, “I visit each kindergarten two days a week and created a Facebook page where I give people advice and post photos of me working with children, in order to promote my work as much as possible.”