|
|
|
Greetings!
Welcome to the second quarterly Pal Craftaid newsletter. A lot has happened in the life of Pal Craftaid since our last newsletter several months ago.
The Pal Craftaid board and many friends and colleagues of our founder, the Rev. Elizabeth (Liz) Knott, attended the Women of Faith Breakfast at the biennial General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in early July. Liz was honored as one of four Women of Faith.
The board also honored and celebrated the retirement from active leadership of Pal Craftaid of Liz and Connie DePond at a reception during the General Assembly. This reception kicked off a fund raiser for the Rawdat El-Zuhur School in East Jerusalem in Liz and Connie's honor. We invite you to join us in this effort. More details are below.
After 17 years of intense involvement, Liz and Connie have become board members emeritii though they will continue to hold sales in their area.
As always, this is the season when Pal Craftaid gears up for sales during the fall and Advent. Many sales have already been booked through our board members and regional representatives. We can always use more sales, whether you have a regional representative nearby or not. Boxes can be sent on consignment for you to handle in your own setting. Please be in touch with us.
Remember, your sales help in at least three ways: artisans are paid fairly for their work; we are able to share the profits with our partner organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and your friends and relatives get wonderful and unique gifts.
|
|
The Rev. Elizabeth Knott
 | Pal Craftaid Founder Honored by PC(USA), Launches Fund for East Jerusalem School
It was quite the night in Minneapolis on July 7.
Taking a break from the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), more than 80 guests filled a reception room at the Westminster Presbyterian Church to celebrate the ministries of the creators of Pal Craftaid from just a wish and a prayer. That is, of course, the Rev. Elizabeth "Liz" Knott and Connie DePond.
What's more, it was a time to donate funds to ensure that the organization continues to have a dignified impact in occupied Palestine.
In this instance, the donations will go toward the support of classroom renovations of the Rawdat El-Zuhur School, a 50-year-old institution that teaches roughly 240 elementary-age children in occupied East Jerusalem, an area rife with economic calamity and emotional trauma.
The Knott-DePond Fund aims to raise $50,000 for the Rawdat School as a tribute to Liz and Connie, who, for 17 years, traveled to Palestine to buy craft products at a fair price, kept inventories of stock, shipped purchases to online buyers, ran sales in churches and major denominational events, stashed boxes in the basement and donated the profits to humanitarian work among Palestinian agencies.
Roughly 90 percent of the guests donated or pledged gifts to the Knott-DePond Fund.
"It was a celebration," said Sarah Humphrey, a Pal Craftaid board member from Atlanta, of the evening honoring Liz and Connie. "Liz and Connie stood at the doors as people came in. There was reminiscing. "It was a real celebration."
The Rawdat School is a favorite of Liz and Connie. The Arabic words, rawdat el-zuhur, mean "garden of flowers." Its teaching methodology epitomizes such a fertile philosophy, according to Liz, for each child is treated as a lovely, yet distinct, creation of God.
The students are Christian and Muslim children. Few of the parents at the Rawdat School can afford the $1,500 tuition; so the institution operates on scholarship funds. The children learn music, dance, sports - ways to express themselves in a stifling political environment. Sadly, the facility isn't big enough to accommodate all the children who'd like to attend and it is rare, if not impossible, for a Palestinian entity to obtain a building permit from the Israeli government in order to expand its facilities.
So, creative as always, the Rawdat School intends to subdivide rooms to create more space for students to stretch their bodies and their minds. The freedom they find there is so profound, that few welcome graduation, when they'll go as middle schoolers to a more structured academic environment.
Like the guests at the event, we'd like you to take a look at photos of the school and see for yourself why protecting the space of children matters in the conflict zone that is modern-day Jerusalem. "Martin Luther King Jr. is correct when he said, 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,'" Liz told a national gathering of Presbyterian Women as she was honored with one of the church's prestigious Women of Faith Awards. "Truth and justice matter! Compassion and generosity matter! Peacemaking and forgiveness matter! Palestinians matter and Israelis matter!
"Let us then, as followers of the Man for Others, Jesus Christ, seek the truth and speak the truth with love to one another and to the powers that be!"
Carol Hylkema, Pal Craftaid's board president, doesn't hesitate to say that the board has already committed more than $20,000 for construction at the school. All of our Pal Craftaid newsletter readers may simply click the link here to download a printable donation form to make your own contribution to the redesign of the school's facilities by adding to that sum before July 1, 2011.
Further, pass a copy of the form on to a friend. To commemorate Liz and Connie's 17 years of work, we're asking for gifts of $17, $170 or $1,700 - or however much you may want to give.
While she's stepping back from leadership of Pal Craftaid, Liz believes it is in good hands. "With our active board," she says, "I would venture that we'll be able to expand both selling and fund raising to support worthy projects and organizations in Palestine."
So be it. Please join us in doing so.
Read Liz's acceptance of the Women of Faith award
The Pal Craftaid Board. Seated left to right: Mary (Toppy) Witherspoon, Connie DePond, Liz Knott. Standing left to right: Jean Henderson, Carol Hylkema, Linda Kjeldgaard, Sheron Antczak, Sarah Humphrey. Not pictured: Judith Nilan, Virginia Priest, Alexa Smith. |
|
East Jerusalem School Teaches Diversity
At least 240 Christian and Muslim boys and girls attend integrated classes at the Rawdat El Zuhur elementary school, which includes grades kindergarten through six, and endorses a style of learning that is creative,respectful and embraces diversity and beauty as gifts of God. In fact, the school's name - translated as "garden of flowers" - epitomizes its philosophy, where each child is unique, yet distinct.
Located in East Jerusalem, the school's faculty and students often arrive hassled, having to clear a check point, or, to walk alongside the roughly 30-foot Israeli wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians.
Read more about Rawdat El Zuhur
|
Salwa Zananiri Nurtures Elementary School in East Jerusalem
As a gardener tends the soil so that bulbs may sprout full of beauty and life, so Salwa Zananiri, the principal of East Jerusalem's Rawdat El Zuhur secular elementary school, nurtures her pupils, teaching staff and even parents connected with the school's life. She is person-centered, an intense active listener and an observer who allows the moment to be a teachable one, and therefore, memorable. The atmosphere of a place is a dynamic teacher and Salwa understands this reality well, creating a caring, fun, warm spot in a world that is just the opposite in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Both students and teachers enjoy Rawdat and are challenged to explore ideas, the fine arts, cultural traditions, and the ethics of relationships,
as well as learning English and French.
Principal Salwa Zananiri
(center) | Salwa's teaching is rooted in her bedrock-faith, with its life-giving qualities. She emphasizes the value of each individual, and interacts with love, respect, forgiveness, justice and the freedom to discover your own God-given potential. She brings acceptance and inner peace to situations of conflict.
Read on... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
