Location: Jenin Refugee Camp
Portrait of Artisans in the Jenin Refugee Camp
“ACCF’s mission is to allow for the protection and enrichment of the resources to support refugee women and children in need." -- Aisha and Child's Cup Full
Welcomed to Not to Forget, a women’s association in the Jenin Refugee Camp, by Aisha Dwiekat (please see the page: Aisha Dweikat - Jewelry Designer for more information about Aisha), designer for the project, I entered a large and airy room full of artisans, chatting and sewing busily on machines. In the next room, Aisha unfolded and displayed colorful calendars, alphabets, matching memory games, and shapes and numbers in English, Spanish, and of course Arabic all made from recycled materials. These calendars will find their way to markets in The Middle East, Africa , Asia, Europe, and North and South America.
I was especially taken with the chubby colorful Arabic letters, the math manipulatives made of jazzy recycled materials, and the amusing bus which housed the letters. The center produces linguistic, science and math items, memory games, and calendars . All of the items I saw were innovative. They are designed for discerning customers who want unique images, not Disney characters or Hello Kitty clones.
Dr. Janette Habashi, an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma and the director of A Child’s Cup Full, Toys for Hope, in collaboration with Farhah Abu Al Hija, founder of the not-for-profit organization Not to Forget , conceived the idea for this project. A Child’s Cup Full is part of Dr. Habashi’s larger dream plan to provide resources in support of refugee women and children in need all over the world. The United Nations for Relief and Works Agency-Job Creation Program also supports the organization. This U.N. program is interested in how the project, aimed for refugee women, creates environmentally-friendly toys for women to become economically stable as well as to assist in the educational development of their children.
This is truly literacy and mathematics education presented through creativity and art.
The project provides work and income for women in the Jenin Refugee Camp, a place where life is challenging. Established in 1953, The Jenin Refugee Camp has a population of about 16,000. Because of the camp’s closeness to the refugees’ original villages, many have ties with their relatives inside the Green Line Israel. Like other West Bank camps, it was established on land UNRWA leased from the government of Jordan. All shelters are connected to public water and electricity infrastructure, and nearly all are connected to the municipal sewage network. In the mid-1990s camp came under Palestinian control and suffered some pretty terrible violence during the Second Intifada. Currently, around a quarter of residents are unemployed. Other major problems include overcrowded schools and damage from second intifada .
Important links: http://www.childscupfull.org/home, http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=118
Please watch the video of Aisha Dweikat and Nedal Sawalmeh at Not to Forget and A Child’s Cup Full