Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MECA News Fall 2011
MECA News Fall 2011
MECA News Fall 2011
If my younger sister
dont have clean water], so we also wanted to help out with that. We decided to continue collecting money to build a water system in a school in Gaza. And last summer we had a little stand outside our moms work and we sold hotdogs, cookies and lemonade.
and I were able to Personal connections succeed in building Despite growing up in Northern California, the children feel a one water purifica- strong connection with their Palestinian roots. Their mothers tion system, think of family is from Palestine, and the children have enjoyed visiting their relatives there. The violence of the occupation has affectwhat everyone else ed their family directly. Their cousin Khalid, at age 2, became could do. If we could very sick and needed urgent medical care. When Khalid and his parents tried to pass through an Israeli checkpoint to get to the just band together Israeli occupation and build systems all hospital, father from crossingforces delayed them, and prevented Khalids the checkpoint, despite the seriousover Gaza, everyone ness of his sons illness. The father was not allowed to pass, and the mother was eventually allowed to take Khalid alone. It was would have clean too late. By the time she reached the hospital, little Khalid had water over there. died. And I think thats what they deserve. Nayema: I feel like its home when I think of Palestine. I feel like it fits. I dont really care what other people say, like Oh, Omar
In 2009 and 2010, a sister and brother in rural Northern California, Nayema, 12, and Omar, 13, decided to respond to the urgent needs of young people in Gaza by raising funds in their community for MECAs Maia Project. On weekends and after school over several months the children raised enough for a water purification and desalination unit for a community kindergarten in Gaza. MECA is inspired by these children who worked so hard and took the initiative to help children in Palestine. Associate Director Ziad Abbas interviewed Omar and Nayema to find out what motivated them and how they were so successful. Here, in their own words, is their story: thats a bad place. Because its not really their fault that any of this happened to them and theyre just being blamed for something they didnt do. The people there are really welcoming, and always really nice. Its just really fun too.
Omar: Because our heritage is there, and Ive seen some of the problems that go on over there and it has affected me in ways,
Raising Money
Nayema: In 2009, my family and I went to a peace march, around the time when all the bombs were going off in Gaza and we saw all these pictures of children and grown adults dying, for no reason at all, really, and it was really heartbreaking. So we decided to place a jar in our moms shop, where customers could donate to Gaza. Omar: Later, our older sister told us about MECA and the Maia Project. We thought that it was really sad [that children in Gaza
have as much of some stuff and so when I come back here its just reallyits just different. I support [the Maia Project] because everybody needs water, no matter what. To not have clean water is just another factor that can lead to diseases, and a whole bunch of bad stuff. We want to prevent that and keep people healthy; we just want to help out with the whole water crisis right now. Omar: We went and spoke at two community gatherings and at one of them we made $970, and that really helped us out. Nayema: We basically tell people that we are raising money for the Maia Project and that its to give children clean water in their schools and just basically emphasize that topic. I feel like its kind of a wake up call. These two young children are doing this, and Im pretty sure theyre thinking, thats crazy, and thats great. I feel really good about it. Im really happy that after all this time of fundraising it actually happened.
Water
Omar: Water is a necessity of life, ; its the main thing everyone should have. And for one human being to deprive another human being of water is inhumane. No one should have the power to do that. We have clean water every day so why not them? Nayema: Its unfair if someone cant have clean water. Because thats another human being and if they cant have clean water, thats not fair at all. Especially children, because then youre depriving basically everybody. So my brother and I wanted to help out with that basically, because its not their fault and, with all the stuff thats going on there, they should at least have clean water. Omar: We just ran out of cold water [at home] and basically for us it was like the end of the world. Even though the hot water is clean, we take it for granted. To freak out that badly over something that minor is actually a little embarrassing. There are people who dont have water and we continue to have water, clean water, and at the same time we ask for more and more everyday. Nayema: Well I mean, one thing I learned from traveling to different countries is that we take things for granted, like all the food we throw away sometimes, and waterwe sometimes waste it, and its really hard in other countries because you see how they try and save as much as they can because they dont
2 MECA NEWS
Omar: What Im asking is for youth to stand up and realize that this is a very real problem. They need to help people across the world, those that that honestly need help. And if the youth can do that, then adults will probably follow as well. Theyll see that kids have the power to make a difference, and if kids have the power to do that then adults do as well. Hopefully going into the future, Palestine will eventually be free. Help in anyway you can, put out a jar at the supermarket, at your mom or dads store, or anywhere. Maybe help get the word out, talk to your local newspaper, put an article in your school paper. Help out in anyway you can in order to help kids in another country that are in need. Nayema and Omar call on others to follow their example and join them in making sure that the children of Gaza have clean water to drink. To learn more about water in Palestine or to raise funds in your school or community to support the Maia Project, please contact Leena Al-Arian: leena@mecaforpeace.org, 510548-0542, ext. 312.
MECA NEWS 3
through schools and organizations on signs of psychological distress and how parents and teachers can help children. The project psychologist is also designing a questionnaire to collect data about the impact of Let the Children Play and Heal on the children who participated. Special thanks to Gaza Mental Health Foundation in Cambridge, Massachusetts for its major financial support for this project.
photos: Afaq Jadeeda
Several of the childrens paintings created in Afaq Jadeedas Let the Children Play & Heal project are featured in the show A Childs View From Gaza, opening in Oakland on September 24. See back page.
4 MECA NEWS
A young Palestinian girl runs in front of a divided house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah where Israeli settlers have occupied the front of the house while the Palestinian family that owns the whole house still lives in the back part of the house. Photo: Jakob Schiller
highly segregated and militarized city of Lyd. We also visited numerous destroyed villages and Israeli national parks, all places in which Israeli leisure co-exists with the traces of destroyed Palestinian lives. A particularly memorable site in the field school was American Independence Park, an Israeli national park that is covered with pine trees planted by Jewish American contributions to the Jewish National Fund. While the park appears similar to many preserved wilderness areas in the United States, the field school students experienced the park in unintended ways. Within the forest, we saw cacti the plants typically used to demarcate Palestinian farmlands. We saw demolished structures and Palestinian wells all traces of the village of Dayr al-Hawa, a village 18.5 KM West of Jerusalem, ethnically cleansed in 1948. It was here that the theoretical work we had done in New Mexico was made visible, as students felt how Israeli preservation and U.S. resources are complicit with Palestinian dispossession. With the help of MECA, and its long record of collaborative work in Palestine, the UNM Israel Palestine field school offered an amazing educational experience. The class has been transformative for the students, as well as for the faculty. Alex Lubin, Chair, American Studies, University of New Mexico, and incoming Director, Center for American Studies and Research, American University of Beirut. (Also the son of MECA Director Barbara Lubin.) If you are interested in organizing a Field School or delegation to Palestine, please contact Josie Shields-Stromsness: josie@mecaforpeace.org, 510-548-0542, ext. 310
MECA NEWS 5
Mother and daughter pose together in front of a mural painted at Tuyor Al-Jena, Um Al-Nasser Kindergarten in Rafah. Photo: Josue Rojas
The Middle East Childrens Alliance Maia Project has now installed thirty-seven water desalination units in Gaza schools and community kindergartens, providing clean, safe drinking water to approximately 35,000 children today and far into the future. Many, many thanks to those who contributed the entire cost of a unit; to the dozens of community groups who raised funds for one or more units; to the Maia Project Leadership Circle of individuals giving $1,000 or more a year to underwrite the entire project; and to hundreds of MECA supporters for their ongoing generosity. The Maia Projects goal is to install units in all 228 schools in Gaza refugee camps and 250 community kindergartens.
Maia Means Water in Arabic. Mural at Bureij Girls Elementary School B, Bureij Refugee Camp. Photo: Hilary Hacker
Plant-a-Tree in Palestine
MECA is pleased to be part of a joint project with the Palestinian Grassroots AntiApartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall), the Palestinian Farmers Union, and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network to support Palestinians on-going struggle to sustain and rebuild their land by providing resources for villages to plant trees that are indigenous to Palestines natural environment and agricultural life. The project is part of the Stop the JNF campaign. It is not possible to replace what is lost while people are displaced, land and a way of life is destroyed, 1,000 year old olive trees uprooted. In Palestine, scores of 2,000-year-old cities and historical sites are buried under Jewish National Fund (JNF) planted forests and parks. Rebuilding and replanting are acts of daily resistance in Palestine. Over time, the project will expand to collect funds for gardens in schools, playgrounds and community spaces that the JNF and the State of Israel have also attempted to destroy.
To Plant a Tree in Palestine, fill out the form below and include it with your gift in the envelope provides or go to www.mecaforpeace. org/tree. Thank you.
This gift is in [ ] honor [ ] memory of (name on certificate): ________________________________________________________ Please send certificate to (Name and mail or email address): ________________________________________________________
Please send the certificate to: MECA is a 501(c)3 exempt organization. Your gift is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution.
MOCHA 538 Ninth St. Suite 210 Oakland Free Opening Reception Saturday, Sept. 24, 1-3pm
An art exhibit by Palestinian children ages 8-14 that reflects their realities and their dreams for the future.
September 24 - November 15, 2011 Exhibit is free to the public