October 2013
Pal Craftaid
In This Issue
Campaign for Women Artisans
Reflective Woman
Colorful Melia Shop

 

Founded by the Rev. Elizabeth Knott, 1993

 

Rev Elizabeth Knott  

 

 

Pal Craftaid
is a proud member
of the Fair Trade Federation

 

FairTradeFederation logo

 

Join Our Mailing List
      
Pre-Christmas Sales near you!
                    Mark your calendars!

October

Oct. 27 - New Providence Presbyterian, Maryville, TN

 

November

Nov. 2 - St. Lawrence Catholic Church, Utica, MI

 

Nov. 2 - First Presbyterian Church, Port Huron, MI

 

Nov. 3 - First Methodist Church, Warren, MI

 

Nov. 3 & 10 - Sewickley Presbyterian Church, Sewickly, PA

 

Nov. 9 & 10 - Hope Presbyterian Church, Austin, TX

 

Nov. 9 - Hope Lutheran Church, Farmington Hills, MI

 

Nov. 10 - Bethel Presbyterian, Kingston, TN

 

Nov. 16 - Parkwood Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA

 

Nov. 17 - Northminster Presbyterian Church, San Antonio, TX

 

Nov. 17 - Covenant Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, AL

 

Nov. 23 - St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Pittsburgh, PA

 

Nov. 23 & 24 - First Presbyterian Church, Kerrville, TX

 

Nov. 24 - Highland Presbyterian, Maryville, TN 

 

December

Dec. 6 & 7 - Community Presbyterian Church, Ben Avon, PA

 

Dec. 7 - North Decatur Presbyterian Church, Decatur, GA

 

Dec. 8 - Northbrook Presbyterian Church, Beverly Hills, MI

 

Carol HylkemaDear (Contact First Name),  

With fall in full color, Pal Craftaid sellers are readying for Christmas sales and other events at churches, colleges, community centers.

 

This is our busy season, so remember to check the Pre-Christmas Sales Calendar (left column) to see when we'll be close to you. Bring new friends for us to meet and to learn about the ministry of Pal Craftaid and about the lives of the families it serves in the occupied territories in Palestine.

 

Our annual Board meeting was held in late April in St. Augustine, FL, at the home of one of the Pal Craftaid Board members. During the course of our meeting time, it rained about eight inches with an ugly sky and very strong winds that kept churning the ocean to near hurricane levels. However, this did not deter the Board from its agenda and time of reenergizing ourselves for the year ahead. It really is amazing how our time together is so much more productive than our conference calls; the energy and excitement is definitely the Spirit working amongst us.

 

The annual meeting is the time when the Board receives year-end financial reports and determines just how many funds are available to be shared with our partner organizations, generated through our fund-raising efforts and our sales at churches and other events. This year, the financial news was very good and we were very enthusiastic to determine our allocations at $5,000 more than 2012.

 

Our sharing for 2013 includes:

 

$ 1,500
Dedicated to an artisan visit to the U.S. in 2015 ($1,500 each year for 3 years)
$ 2,000
Dedicated to training and updating skills for the needlework artisans related to the Melia Shop
$ 4,000
Dedicated to the Aid to the Aged (ATTA) program
$ 1,500
Dedicated to the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center (divided equally between the youth, women's and general programming)
$ 5,000
Dedicated to the YWCA of Palestine (divided amongst the three sites in East Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jericho)
$ 1,000
Dedicated to the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children in Gaza
$ 5,000
Dedicated to the enhancement programs at the Rawdat El-Zuhur School in E. Jerusalem
$20,000
Total for 2013

 

As we closed our fiscal year 2012 - 2013, we determined it was time to prepare an Pal Craftaid Annual Report 2012-2013 (click title to open) which puts in one place our activities, partners and financial reporting for all to see. I hope you will take the time to review our Pal Craftaid year.

 

Many thanks to those who sponsored a sale of our inventory at your church, purchased our inventory or made a contribution to Pal Craftaid. Without your help, we could not do this year after year. You have made a world of difference in the lives of many women and children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. God is good!

 

Finally, as fall begins, you may now place orders for wedding gifts, baby gifts or other items through the Pal Craftaid website at www.palcraftaid.org. You no longer have to wait for a sale to come to you! We're always available now online!

 

Peace, Salaam, Shalom.

~Carol Hylkema, Board President

New Pal Craftaid Campaign
Benefits Women Artisans

 

by Alexa Smith

 

EyeGlassCase 1635A tiny shop in Jerusalem's Old City that draws upon the embroidery and sewing skills of roughly 500 women is the focus of Pal Craftaid's 2014 fund-raising campaign.

 

The campaign is a push to generate monies to boost the shop's capacity to sell and to support the lives of the women who market products through its channels. In the next year the shop intends to:

  • Engage a design consultant
  • Hire a part-time marketer
  • Hire a part-time technology staffer

Bookmark 1303Donations to Pal Craftaid's fund-raising effort will help fund these positions.

 

Nora Kort "Melia seeks new markets," says Nora Kort, the shop's founder and link to the Arab Orthodox Women's Society, the shop's backer since 1994 when it opened its doors. "We need to hire a marketer to increase the sales, and, we need to reach out to the Gulf countries, expand our market outlets.

 

"And we want to develop the skills of women embroiderers by training them on new designs, colors and the use of new fabrics."

 

Nora Kort March2011
Nora Kort

Kort says the number of women who sell to the shop go up and down with the economy. In good financial times, the shop's has 550 producers. In hard times, 40 to 50.

 

CoinPurse 1261Melia's seamstresses are teachers and marketers. Groups of women visit small towns in the Palestinian territories to either locate already gifted artisans, or, to teach women the traditional art of Palestinian embroidery, an intricate form of cross-stitch that is often done on black fabric in bold reds, greens and yellows.

      

TulipClutch 1214Newer pastel colors are now being introduced to the shelves in the Melia Shop. Sales from the shop enable women - many of whom are the family breadwinners because of the Israeli occupation- to support their lives and to get training necessary to be good businesswomen.

 

 "Pal Craftaid is excited to work with the artisans associated with the Melia Shop. As we attempt to increase our U.S. market for our sales, we look to the artisans to continue to upgrade their skills and designs that we have more to offer our customers. New items and designs give both the Melia Shop artisans and Pal Craftaid an opportunity to build bigger markets," said Carol Hylkema, a longtime seller of Pal Craftaid goods who is now president of the board.

   

CoinPurse 1262Kort feels the shop provides more than badly needed economic support. It is also a gathering place for women to voice their concerns, needs and aspirations amongst colleagues and friends. "Solidarity with these women enables them to cope with life challenges and difficulties," she said, adding "in-kind help is sometimes necessary for food, clothing and electric bills."

 

"But the moral support is at times much more effective than the financial support."

Campaign for Melia Shop

c/o Virginia Priest

3520 North 30th St.

Tacoma, WA 98407

 

 

Reflective Woman carved from olive wood


ReflectiveWoman-Olivewood 158 by Alexa Smith

 

In an issue that deals with women who daily reflect on how to better their lives and the lives of their families, it seems natural to promote the olive sculpture that Bethlehem carvers have named the Reflective Woman. She is found on the Pal Craftaid website, www.palcraftaid.org, under 'For the Home' and the category of 'Sculpted Figurines'. She is a purchase that will enable all of us to remember our ties to women around the world, and particularly in Palestine.

 

She is carved fluidly in olive wood: a lovely gift for a graduate starting out her life, for a woman-friend in transition in her own life, and, for birthday celebrations.

 

Melia Shop Artisans Experiment with Color

 

by Alexa Smith   

Hala Jahshan March2011
Hala Jahshan seen in the Melia Shop.

 

Hala Jahshan says that the roughly 300 women who embroider regularly for the Melia Shop, are experimenting.

 

It is a team effort. Someone has an idea. Another one comes up with a pattern. And then the stitching begins.

 

It is producing tulips - not a plant you see much in Jerusalem's dry, rocky terrain. There are colors that defy description. Lush blues. Sparkling pinks. Bright yellows. And greens, light greens, that is. Not only the traditional patterns or deep reds, greens and yellows that you'd see on Palestinian shawls and purses a decade ago. But pastels.

 

"I love this. I love the women," Jahshan says, from the shop tucked inside one of the Old City's gates that give entr�e to the Palestinian Quarter, where churches and mosques sit virtually side-by-side and nuns, tourists and schoolgirls dressed in plaid uniforms scurry down the narrow ancient streets that are, largely, impossible for cars to pass.

 

MeliaShop 808"We go over ideas, designs ... and sell the products. We put everything into place."

 

That's quite a feat in a world that keeps falling apart.

 

Any clerk that answers the phone at the Melia Shop - with its Fair Trade sign tucked in the window - will tell you that business is dwindling. There are plenty of reasons why, given the occupation, and the stark economic consequences for families living in the West Bank. But once again, the troubles in Syria are scaring off tourists that are the mainstay of the shop's business.

 

Rural families are supplementing their incomes by raising chickens and rabbits for food and for sale.

 

But the product goal at the Melia Shop to go more global: Tending to a tourist market, yes, but cultivating a new one simultaneously. It has contacted a marketer to help broaden its reach.

 

MeliaShop 806"Nora (Kort) says the market is full of traditional items. We want new colors. New items. We want to bring some competition to our sales," says Jahshan, speaking of the shop's founder, a dynamo personality who is constantly looking for ways to improve the lives of people in her community.

 

The shop takes custom orders if an idea seems do-able. Women search for inspiration on the Internet. What colors are popular for fall in Europe? What are the new cuts for jackets? And what accessories can be produced with a distinctive Palestinian flair?

 

No one wants to leave the tradition behind - but to bring it to life in new ways. So there are hangers, fit with embroidered covers. Make-up bags. Purses that burst with fall color. But traditional items will always be on the shop's hangers and shelves.

 

"Some of these women are really good at creativity with their cross-stitch... So every month we introduce a few new items," she says, adding that the new push encourages experimentation - both with new products and the design of old ones. "We're always searching."

  
Your Gifts to Pal Craftaid Are Appreciated
Your donations are used to support Pal Craftaid ministries. To donate online, click the link below.

Click here to donate to Pal Craftaid online

You may also mail your gift to Pal Craftaid, 520 N. 30th Street, Tacoma, WA 98407. Pal Craftaid operates as a 501(c)(3) organization. Gifts are tax deductible.