Dear Friends,

Palestine Children's Welfare Fund is pleased to announce that it has expanded the job creation programs in Palestine during the last year by employing more men and women to produce quality Palestinian arts and crafts for sale in the United States and Europe.  We are currently working with women's groups and social organizations in the cities of Beitlehem, Beit Sahour, Beit jala, Dhesheh refugee camp, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Jayyous, Gaza, Rafah and other cities in recruiting, training women to launch micro business projects and providing them with capital to launch and produce goods and  services in their own communities.

            While we continue to plan and develop various programs to serve our children in Palestine in collaboration with the Palestinian social societies, PCWF maintains its efforts to create jobs in Palestine by the sourcing of more and new products made by the artisans of Palestine.  Thanks to the Hebron Women Project envisioned and supported by our dear friend Tura Cook from Austin, Texas ,PCWF ordered and received from the great women of Hebron the third order for the year and the work can be seen on our website under the Embroidery section/ Hebron Women's Project.  The project doubled the income per item produced for the women who create the beautiful embroidery in less than a year and tripled the number of pieces produced, delivered and sold to our friends in the United States, Europe and the Far East.  Our friends and supporters who received the magnificent work of art by the women of Hebron share their embroidery masterpieces with their friends and tell the story of the pain and the joy of the women of Hebron who produce these items under the most stringent draconian occupation restrictions against them.  http://www.pcwf.org/images/hebron3.jpg

Besides, PCWF received hundreds of silver necklaces, bracelets and other Palestine, Olive trees and Hanzala themed jewelry items made by the artisans of Jerusalem and Beitlehem which will be sold at our website in the near future.  The list of the new products includes kitchen utensils, household furniture and other decorative items made from olive wood handcrafted in Beitlehem. Our goal is to promote the olive wood handcrafts in Beitelehem and to ensure the continuity of this important segment of the economy of Beitlehem which also serves as a cultural message from Palestine to the world.  More than one hundred women in the Beitlehem, Beit Jala and the Dhesheh refugee camp area produced thousands of small purses with the names of Palestinian cities destroyed by the Zionist occupation during 1948 and afterwards.  The purses were received extremely well by our friends and volunteers and thousands found homes in cities around the United, States, Europe and Australia and they will be talking points about the atrocities of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.  Each purse comes in a unique design with an olivewood peace dove brooch to spread the message of peace and justice that the women of Palestine yearn for, for themselves and their families.

Dr. Mona Elfarra, our friend in Gaza will be working with us to employ more than 12 men and women by providing them with 500 dollars each to set up micro businesses and to buy them tools that they can use to earn an honest wage and to live with dignity.  The program which started last year when PCWF contributed more than 5000 dollars to the women’s projects of the Union of Health Workers Committees and provided jobs to more than 10 women in the last year.   Expansion of the program and the diversity of its services will depend on the support of our friends and supporters in the United States by assisting in the distribution of the final products of the wonderful women in Palestine who are struggling under the most repressive and humiliating occupation.

 

We would like to encourage you and ask you to find a local event in your community to promote the work of the farmers, men and women of Palestine and to provide them with the opportunity to earn an honest living and an honorable wage.  PCWF is eager to work with peace and justice groups around the United Stats to promote fair trade business for the farmers and artisans in Palestine and any efforts and offers will be greatly appreciated and considered.

Looking forward to hearing from you and working with you for peace and justice in Palestine

Salamat

 

Riad Elsolh Hamad

Coordinator