Oxfam's Sarah-Eve Hammond reports from Al Zarnouk in the Negev-Naqab desert

In the heart of the Negev-Naqab desert, a few kilometres from Beer Sheeva in Israel, the little village of Al Zarnouk is bathed in the morning light. The sun has not reached its full glory yet and already the Negev greets us with an oven-like dry heat that leaves the visitor wondering how people cope in this intense weather.

About 80,000 Bedouins who live in this region are in unrecognised villages, which do not officially exist nor appear on official maps of Israel. As there is no right to establish local or municipal authorities to govern the villages, the Bedouins cannot vote or be elected for municipal representation, even though they are citizens of Israel. Villagers are deprived of basic infrastructure and services like roads, sewage, running water, and even electricity. Families mostly live in sheds under zinc roofs where the temperature can soar as high as 55 degrees Celsius during summer and drop close to zero in winter. Without a recognised authority to deliver building permits, houses in the unrecognised villages are unlicensed and under constant threat of demolition.

We enter into a building that has no electricity. A few rays of sun enter through the open door and window. Inside, nine women take their seats behind tables facing the white board. The atmosphere is calm, the noise of the main road seems distant, muffled. Our entrance however, interrupts the lesson that is taking place. Immediately people busy themselves finding us a table, chair and a glass of water.

We sit ourselves down in one of the premises of the small school for women in Al Zarnouk, home to a few thousand Bedouins. The women here get together twice a week to learn how to read, write and speak Hebrew. Two other groups are learning Arabic, since they never had a real chance to learn to read and write their own mother tongue. Fortunately for this group, most women already have a good understanding of Arabic.

This is a class with a difference. Here, no bell is rung and no register is taken. Study is from eight till 12 and then back home it is to do the daily chores. This morning, Azhar, a lady with a piercing look outlined with kohl (dark eyeliner), has brought one of her children with her. The child is peacefully resting against his mother's chest. Further away, another member of the group cradles her youngest child.

Oxfam, with the financial help of the European Commission, has been running literacy classes in the unrecognised village of Al Zarnouk with our local partner Sidreh for the last three years.

Nine women are before me. I am impressed by their calmness, strength, by their intense looks and their beauty. I have not been given permission to take photos, so I try to immerse myself in their presence and their determination.

Even with all the work that awaits them on return from their classes, the women want to learn more because at last "things are moving forward for the better here". Some ask for driving lessons, others for a playground for the children so that they can study for longer.

There is so much to tell about their lives. Instability, unemployment, uncertainty. Over half of the men in Al Zarnouk are dependent on benefits to live and due to the impossibility of obtaining building permits, the threat of having their houses demolished is always present.

Azhar, holds her son closer. Her deep blue eyes mist over when she tells that her house has already been destroyed twice. She smiles courageously.

Mariam goes back to the subject of education to relax the atmosphere. "Now, we can go everywhere and reach places and services that up until recently we were so difficult to get to. I can now go to the doctor on my own and I can tell him what is wrong because I speak Hebrew. I no longer need my husband to translate for me, I have more freedom and of course more privacy!"

It's a positive situation also for the children, as they are no longer the only ones studying Hebrew. Their mothers also have to sit down and do homework and the kids benefit from their help.

Rayka, the teacher from Sidreh, goes to Al Zarnouk twice a week. "It is not always easy to motivate adults to learn", she says, "but fortunately, this mid-level group is motivated and easy to work with." Even with all the creatively and good will in the world Rayka has to sometimes cancel the class when in summer when their little school becomes an oven or gets too cold in winter. "In these moments," she continues, "it is too difficult to concentrate and we give up for a day!"

As they laugh between them and joke about the slim chances they have of attending university, the women of Al Zarnouk are proud and inspiring.

Strengthened by their newly gained knowledge, these women want to make the world understand the hardship of their existence. Sat down with them around cups of tea, in a hot and bare school, I am learning too.