• Spreading God’s Word

    Spreading God’s Word

    Ellen Vallenga and Carol Jones met at a facilitators’ training event held by the Reformed Church in America for an interactive approach to children in worship. It was Carol who first saw the Pal Craftaid stole, made by women artisans on the West Bank. Carol told Ellen she had to go see it for herself, saying, “You’re going to love it.”

  • Aid to the Aged

    Aid to the Aged

    Aid to the Aged – called ATTA – is a humanitarian organization that operates in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to assist elderly Palestinians with basic needs and to create community for older people by hosting gatherings and coordinating regularly scheduled home visits. ATTA helps provide groceries, and, offers transportation to markets and to [More...]

  • YWCA of Palestine

    YWCA of Palestine

    The YWCA has a distinguished record of working to protect the human rights of women and, in Palestine, is working to provide vocational training for women whose lives are caught in the economic calamity on the West Bank and in Gaza, an outcome of the Israeli occupation.  Refugee households are increasingly dependent on assistance from [More...]

  • Rawdat El-Zuhur School

    Rawdat El-Zuhur School

    The Rawdat School is a non-profit, non-governmental elementary school that welcomes children from kindergarten through the sixth grade. The curriculum is designed to promote creativity among children who daily endure the stresses of a military occupation and who may cross military checkpoints to attend school. It emphasizes drama, art, dance and French language classes. Located [More...]

  • Il Bambino Shop

    Il Bambino Shop

    Manger Square, Bethlehem The delicate olive wood sculpted by Palestinian artisans at Salem Giacaman Sons is, literally, all in the family. The shop, Il Bambino, sits in Manger Square in Bethlehem, near the Church of the Nativity. The carving studio is a just a few blocks away, down a side street. Ibrahim Giacaman operates the [More...]

  • Melia Art and Training Center

    Melia Art and Training Center

    Sponsored by the Arab Orthodox Women’s Society, the Melia Center and shop was established in East Jerusalem in 1994. It is a gathering spot for women and a distribution center for the hand-stitched goods created by women in Jerusalem and across the West Bank. Given the dire economic realities of life under occupation, women are [More...]

  • Bethlehem Arab Women's Union

    Bethlehem Arab Women’s Union

    The Arab Women’s Union in Bethlehem is a non-profit charitable, social and cultural society founded in 1947. The Embroidery Center began in 1968 with the goal of providing work for needy women and to preserve traditional embroidery skills, an integral part of Palestinian culture and heritage. The embroidery patterns are drawn from the ornate designs [More...]

 

Stoles Galore: Over 100 Designs!

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Fida Bannouuih has hand-stitched countless Jerusalem crosses.

Any given Sunday, her work is wrapped softly around the shoulders of pastors in any given country in the world.

(Read more…)

Pal Craftaid is a volunteer, non-profit ministry of compassion, hope, and healing for Palestinians.

Pal Craftaid supports families, schools, elderly groups and community cooperatives in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

$40,000 Pal Craftaid Gift Boosts Education in East Jerusalem

Educational Commitment Shines at Rawdat School!

by Connie Depond

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Liz and Connie

On an October visit to Jerusalem, Liz Knott, Pal Craftaid founder, and colleague Connie DePond, saw the reality of what a few structural changes to the Rawdat El Zuhur School in the city’s eastern sector has done to enhance the classroom experience of its elementary school-age students.

The renovation was possible only through a $40,000 donation from Pal Craftaid’s Knott-DePond Fund, a campaign run in 2010-2011 to honor Liz and Connie and to support the school’s educational commitments to Palestinian children and families. The donation was coupled with a grant from the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).

63Now, the old computer room is a sophisticated science lab that will expand instruction in chemistry, anatomy and health.

The assembly hall is soundproofed so that dancing and music programs do not disturb students in the library next door – and it deters outside noises from interrupting instruction.

61A smart board with electronic tablets is available for students in the space as well. The old stage that crowded the space was given to a school that could use it. Now the open area creates a fantastic exciting place for dance and concerts.

Rawdat El Zuhur has a student body of 225 and offers courses from kindergarten through the sixth grade. Each year, Pal Craftaid resources support a specific partner-institution in its humanitarian work in the Occupied Territories. The Rawdat School was the focus of the 2010 campaign.