Middle East

Children’s Alliance
2022 Annual Report
From the Director When I was growing up in a West Bank refugee camp, it was humiliating
to wait in line for the starchy UN food. At MECA, we provide food with re-
Dear Friend of Children and Refugees, spect for every child and adult’s dignity and food traditions.
Meanwhile here in the U.S, we are excited that teachers are bringing Pal-
What inspires our MECA team to continue estine into their classrooms—reading new books about Palestine in ear-
to do the work are the amazing initiatives ly elementary classrooms or integrating it into high school Ethnic Studies
coming from our partners on the ground— classes. These teachers are taking risks and there is an explosion of attacks
initiatives grounded in survival, sustainabil- on educators who are teaching about Palestine.
ity, and creativity. The context for that work Despite the challenges, we consider ourselves lucky with our partners,
in 2022 was an alarming escalation of Israeli our staff members, our Board, and our volunteers. And with supporters like
repression against the Palestinian people, you, who stand with us and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
no matter where we live: in Gaza, the West You, too, inspire us with your generous support.
Bank, 1948, Jerusalem, or even in the dias- On behalf of the MECA team, Board, staff, partners, and volunteers,
pora. I am . . .
These escalations target every Palestinian, but the impact on children is In solidarity,
the most painful. The traumatization of children never slows, and in certain
locations the Israelis have doubled down on their attacks on children as our
hope for their future.
In the West Bank, Palestinian education is in crisis. Schools, especially in Zeiad Abbas Shamrouch
the Jordan Valley, are being destroyed daily, leveled by Israeli bulldozers. In
East Jerusalem, children are a daily target for the Israeli police and army,
the settlers and their private armies. They must cross checkpoints just to
get to school, are beaten, arrested and tortured. Some end up on home ar-
rest, with electronic bracelets on their ankles. Our partners on the ground
offer lawyers to go with the children when they are arrested, as well as psy-
chosocial support and tutoring to help them heal and stay in school.
In Gaza last August, children who were receiving psychological support,
to help them deal with a lifetime of trauma, experienced once again the
constant sound of bombing and drones. It pushed many of them back into
the most difficult and harsh moments of their short lives, and even reached
into their dreams.
Many children suffer from malnutrition in Gaza, where the siege has last-
ed since 2007 and has left families without enough food. MECA supports
farmers and cooks, who produce good food for strong bodies. Children are
monitored and treated for under nourishment, and we can already see the
positive impact on their health.

Front cover photo: A psychosocial support project in Gaza lets kids have fun
and express their creativity.

Right: Music student, Shoruq Organization in Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Palestine

1
MECA Accomplishments—by the Numbers
www.mecaforpeace.org
• 321 “Gaza Lights” rechargeable home ELECTRICITY SYSTEMS to power medical
devices for children with respiratory conditions
• 4,701 children and families received WINTER RELIEF in Palestine and Lebanon,
including blankets, jackets, shoes and socks, heaters, heating fuel, and weather
protection for homes.
• 6,768 FOOD PARCELS with produce, staples, and more from local farmers and MECA projects
collectives for families in Palestine and Lebanon
in Palestine
• 5 NEW MAIA UNITS—water desalination and purification units were installed in
Gaza kindergartens and serving the surrounding communities. and Lebanon
• 1,600 olive and fruit TREES PLANTED in Palestinian villages.
• 1,193 children in 14 Gaza kindergartens got WARM, HEALTHY MEALS six days a
week.
• 2,690 children started the new school year with BACKPACKS, made in Gaza and
filled with books and school supplies.
• 2,087 children and youth attended ten SUMMER CAMPS in Gaza, the West Bank,
and East Jerusalem.
• 53 WOMEN IN GAZA received financial support to expand and sustain their small
businesses based on traditional agricultural practices.
• 150 UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS
• 25 COMMUNITY PARTNERS in Palestine and Lebanon
• 473 children in Gaza TREATED FOR MALNUTRITION.

2
Community Projects for Children:
To Heal, Play, Learn, and Dream
In 2022, the lives of children in Palestine were marked by a dramatic
increase in Israeli violence, including arrests and detention, home demoli-
tions, the devastating siege of Gaza, and the murder of children and adults
alike. Still, MECA’s Palestinian partners continued to provide a sense of
safety and everything from arts, dance, and music classes to legal and aca-
demic support; from sports and games to libraries, psychological counsel-
ing; and more.

Children’s arts festival, Gaza

Right: Madaa Creative Center, Silwan, East Jerusalem

Above: Summer camps provide fun and a necessary respite for

Palestinian children who live every day surrounded by violent Israeli
soldiers, police, and settlers.
3
 I wish you could see the children’s happy faces at the arts festival one of MECA’s
partners held in my hometown of Khan Younis, Gaza.
I wish you could hear the applause of the children’s families and neighbors as
they performed traditional dances and acted out Palestinian folk tales. And I
wish you could see the enormous pride they showed in the artwork they created.
—Dr. Mona El-Farra. MECA Director of Gaza Projects
 

The Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp,

is a world-famous cultural center
in the northern West Bank,
offering theater, film, art, and writing
programs for children and youth.

With input from the local community, and funds raised by the partici-
pants of The Big Ride for Palestine (UK), a new park in Beit Lahia, Gaza
includes a playground, bike and running tracks, a sports field, and a com-
munity gathering space
4
Education in Palestine, Lebanon, MECA provided 150 scholarships for stu-
dents earning college degrees in a wide range
and the U.S. of fields at Palestinian universities.
From tutoring to scholarships to rebuilding schools to providing back- I dreamed of studying nursing because I want-
packs, many of MECA’s projects support education for children and youth ed to help people who are looking for a caring
whose lives have been marked by Israeli violence, destruction, and eco- hand to comfort them and ease their pain.
nomic devastation. MECA’s partner organizations in Lebanon provide aca-
demic and physical education for child refugees from Syria who are unable — Thabet Irziqat, Nursing student, Hebron
to attend local public schools because of discrimination and poverty. University is a cancer survivor himself who
plans to specialize in palliative care.

Below: In the South Hebron Hills, where homes and schools have been
repeatedly demolished, the Rural Women’s Association provides
emotional and academic support to children in six villages.

Above: The three libraries in the Edward Said Public Library network
(two in Gaza, one in East Jerusalem) are about reading and a lot more.
Children and adults can join book and discussion groups and take class-
es in creative writing, art, music, dance, storytelling, English, computer
and job skills.
5
The economic devastation has forced thousands of children in Gaza
out of their homes and schools into work that poses grave threats to I knew this program would
their physical, emotional, and educational well-being. MECA’s partner
the Youth Vision Society prepares child laborers to return to school by
become core here after its
providing psychological and academic support. first round. The children them-
selves were asking me, “when
are we going to go back to class
again? I heard this from the
same kids who felt left behind
and no longer wanted to go to
school anymore.
—Fatma Nawaja,
head of the board of
Rural Women’s Association.

In 2022, 2,690 children

started the school year with
new backpacks, made in Gaza
and filled with books and
school supplies.

MECA’s Teach Palestine Project continued to expand its work

of supporting teachers who want to bring Palestine into their
classrooms. One highlight was “Settler Colonialism from Turtle
Island to Palestine: Teaching in an Ethnic Studies Framework,”
a two-day workshop at the US/Mexico border at Nogales, AZ,
and in Tucson, AZ, co-led by the Xicanx Institute on Teaching and
Organizing. Teachers worked with Palestinian and Xicanx educa-
tors, a representative of the Tohono O’odham Nation, and an in-
vestigative reporter, exploring connections in how colonial con-
quest continues to operate in the United States and Palestine. 6
Water, Warmth, Food,
and Income—Strengthening and
Sustaining Communities

Above: The “PaliRoots” Meal Program, has hired women in several com-
munities to prepare and deliver warm, healthy meals to about 1,200 chil-
dren in fourteen kindergartens in Gaza six days a week. This project now
includes assessment, referral, and treatment for children who are moder-
ately or severely malnourished.  

Above: MECA Nutrition Coordinator Wafaa El-Derawi assembling more Right: Each year’s Winter Relief
than 6,000 food parcels that MECA staff, partners, and volunteers deliv- Campaign in Gaza and Lebanon’s
ered to families in Gaza and Lebanon, containing fresh produce, staples, refugee camps distributes blankets,
poultry, and meat from local farmers and food producers jackets, shoes and socks, and heaters

Palestinian children need strong bodies because we are first and foremost
living under occupation. When the occupation is combined with poverty, this
is an impossible situation for the children.
— Um Hassan,
Founder of the school kitchen in the West Bank village of Masara,
7 farmer, grandmother, and community leader
 Above: Together with our Gaza partner the Gaza Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture
Platform (GUPAP), MECA is providing support for 53 women’s small businesses
based on traditional agricultural practices. They sell a large variety of goods, in-
cluding fresh vegetables and fruit, cheese, honey, fish, eggs, chickens, herbs,
maftoul (Palestinian couscous), and contribute to food security and sovereignty
in Gaza.
Right: Five new Maia units were installed in Gaza kindergartens in 2022, providing
safe, clean water for the children, teachers, and the surrounding neighborhoods. 8
2022 Events and Fundraisers
In 2022 MECA had the honor of paying tribute to our Founding Board
President, former Berkeley Mayor, and life-long activist Gus Newport. We
also welcomed Maya Abu Al-Hayyat to the Bay Area with both live in-per-
son and online events.

Right: MECA’s first ever soli-

darity ride, inspired by the Big
Ride for Palestine (UK) was a
huge success with over a hun-
dred riders raising $50,000 for
our projects in Palestine and
Lebanon, while broadcasting
a message of solidarity along
eleven miles of the San Fran-
Above: MECA’s 19th Annual Palestinian Crafts Bazaar and online store cisco Bay. Please join us this
at ShopPalestine.org provides income for small businesses, families, ar- year on July 16, 2023. Go to
tisans, and cooperatives that are preserving their embroidery, ceramics, RideforPalestine.com for info,
olive oil, wood, leather, and weaving traditions. inspiration, and registration.

Friends Raising Funds So much appreciation to the groups, families, and

businesses who reached out to people online and in their communities to support MECA’s work :
Katrina and Beatrice Halaby Scholarship for Palestinian Women, Big Ride for Palestine, Cor Cochion
Caerdydd (Cardiff Reds Choir), Diocese of Oregon, Free Democratic Palestine Movement,
Independent Jewish Voices, Jewish Voice for Peace-Detroit, The Love Club, Madison Rafah Sister
City Project, Palestinian American Community Center in Arizona, Palestinian Public Health, PaliRoots,
Santa Fe Friends of Khuza’a, Southwest Coalition for Palestine, US Palestinian Community Network ,
Westminster Presbyterian Church of Wilmington, ZamZam Water
9
FINANCIALS Remember the Future! MECA Board of Directors
Sherry Gendelman • Sami Kitmitto
With a Planned Gift to the Middle East Chil- Howard Levine • Jumana Muwafi
dren’s Alliance Osha Neumann • Jos Sances
Michel Shehadeh
There are several ways to make contribu-
MECA Staff
tions through your will. More information is Zeiad Abbas Shamrouch
on the MECA website at www.mecaforpeace. Waed Abbas
Deborah Agre
org/planning. For further assistance, please Wafaa El-Derawi
contact Deborah Agre at Dr. Mona El-Farra
Zak Morelli-Habash
deborah@mecaforpeace.org. Voulette Hattar
Nancy Ippolito
Ghada Mansi
Patrick O’Neill
Penny Rosenwasser
Josina Shields-Stromsness
Samia Shoman
Shukran is the Arabic word for “thank you.” Jody Sokolower
MECA Income 2022 MECA Expenses 2022 Ali Wihaidi

INCOME
Support MECA’s
Individual Donors
$1,512,586 38.64% profit making
Benefits & Fundraisers
$585,220 14.95%
Grants & Donations to Rawa Fund
$526,189 13.44%
Shukran, the Arabic word for “thank you.” business!
Foundation Grants
$449,345 11.48%

Sales of Palestinian Crafts
$206,405 5.27% Many, many thanks
Bequests & Trusts
$199,520 5.10% to everyone who sustained the hard
Monthly Donations
$148,690 3.80%
work of MECA’s staff and partners caring
Events
$116,237 2.97%
Employee Giving & Employer Matching
$92,497 2.36%
for children and refugees in Palestine and
Miscellaneous Income
$77,666 1.98% Lebanon during this very difficult pan-
TOTAL $3,914,355 demic year, including:
EXPENSES • 7,841 individuals and organizations
unionbug @unionbug.com
Humanitarian Aid $1,394,932 34.74% who made financial contributions
www.unionbug.com
Projects for Children $731,921 18.23% • 497 individuals who make monthly
Rawa Fund Program $503,064 12.53% 510-845-8835
contributions
Fundraising $482,453 12.01% 1101 8th street
Administration $288,239 7.18% • More than 2,000 people who sup- Berkeley, CA 94710
Scholarships $201,505 5.02% ported Palestinian artisans, farmers,
Education & Cultural Programs $160,979 4.01% and small businesses by purchasing Your One Stop Shop
Shop Palestine/Bazaar $147,806 3.68% for Thousands
items on ShopPalestine.org
Rawa Fund Fundraising & Admin $104,594 2.60%
TOTAL $4,015,492
of Great Products!
Made in USA, Union,
Note: MECA is proud to be the fiscal sponsor for Rawa: Creative Palestinian Communities Fund. Rooted Sweatshop Free,
in collective community decision-making, Rawa is a funding and support model that aims to raise hope,
build trust and dignity, and promote successful alternative local solutions generated by Palestinian Green
communities. Learn more at www.rawafund.org
10
 NON PROFIT ORG.
US POSTAGE
PAID
OAKLAND, CA
PERMIT #8265

Each summer, kids in Gaza join in a

fun sister ride with the Big Ride for
Palestine in the UK, and MECA’s
annual solidarity ride in Berkeley.