Tag Archives: Education

Atfaluna Society: Help 10 Deaf, Needy Children from Gaza

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We have received an appeal for help from the Atfaluna School for the Deaf in Gaza City. Atfaluna (“Our Children” in Arabic) has for many years been one of the main sources of the beautiful Palestinian crafts, including embroidery, ceramics and wood products, that we market in order to support Palestinian livelihoods.

Atfaluna sells these items both to benefit the craftspeople and to support their school for deaf children.

Due to the continuing (and worsening) crisis in Gaza, the school is facing the possibility of having to close some classrooms. They sent MRSCP the following message:

We are writing to you today in hope that you may be able to support our most urgent school campaign which aims to secure funds for the upcoming academic year 2017/2018 for all 20 of our deaf education classrooms. Our school serves 300 deaf girls and boys from extremely fragile backgrounds and in light of the deteriorating situation in Gaza, Palestine we are struggling to maintain our services for the deaf.

We are working hard to avoid ending our educational services for the deaf children in our care and have therefore setup an online fundraising campaign. We were hoping you would kindly circulate, share, contribute to our appeal for classroom 1A which comprises of 10 deaf girls and boys. The link to our online campaign is

Please consider making a donation to this online campaign. These funds do not go through MRSCP but directly to Atfaluna. We are looking into the possibility of doing some direct fundraising for the school, and will let you know if you could therefore make a tax-deductible contribution through MRSCP, but in the meantime we wanted to circulate this appeal.

Finally, you may want to check out these articles about the current situation in Gaza: Continue reading →

Gaza’s Kids Need Your Help

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Rafah Children in the Samira Project at the Rachel Corrie Memorial Library. (Photo: Jeff Bright)

Please Support the Samira Project
for Traumatized Children

The Gaza Strip, one of the poorest and most densely populated places on earth, has been described as the world’s largest open-air prison. For nearly eleven years it has been tightly sealed off by the Israeli/Egyptian siege, which drastically restricts human travel as well as imports and exports. As a result at least 80% of the people live under the poverty line. Unemployment is around 43% while youth unemployment is over 60%. The educational system is overcrowded, unstable and inconsistent. Public services have been weakened more and more, especially psycho-social support and other programs serving mainly women and children. This situation has been made even worse by the continuing conflict between Fatah and Hamas, which means that public employees like teachers often go unpaid.

On top of this policy of imprisonment and siege, the people of Gaza are subjected to frequent Israeli military land and sea attacks, which sometimes turn into full-scale assaults and invasions. In 2014, your US tax dollars helped pay for a 50 day Israeli bombardment of Gaza that killed hundreds of children and severely injured thousands more. Entire families were wiped out, and every child in Gaza knows someone who was killed, injured or made homeless or destitute. The UN estimates that as a result, the number of repeatedly and severely traumatized Gaza children who need psychological support and healing is in the hundreds of thousands.

We’re so excited!

YES! I WANT TO SUPPORT THE
SAMIRA PROJECT FOR TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN!

Continue reading →

February 25, 2017
International Festival

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Overture Center
State Street, Madison
10 am – 5 pm

Take a trip around the world in a day! Experience all the cultures that Madison has to offer through food, crafts and free performances. And join MRSCP as we once again present Palestinian fair trade products at the International Festival. We’ll be selling a brand new shipment of Palestinian extra-virgin olive oil, olive oil soap, embroidery, wood crafts, earrings, ceramics and kuffiyehs. It’s fun, and it’s free!

Your Passport to the Arts

Enjoy more than 30 FREE performances throughout Overture by artists who call Dane County home celebrating the rich cultural heritage within our community. Indulge in cuisines from around the world, browse stunning arts and crafts available for purchase and learn about the many local businesses with global connections.

International Festival

International Festival is on Saturday, February 25, 2017, 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM

CUNA Mutual Foundation    Dane Arts    Dane Arts    

Continue reading →

Hope & Peace Foundation For Children Update

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Anees Mansour, December 16, 2016

Dear Friends,

Assalamu Alaikum & Hello Everyone,

I hope you, your family and friends are doing well.

Special thanks to our old and new donors for your contributions to our winter project “Keep Children Of Gaza Warm.”

Alhamdulillah (Thanks to God) we have achieved our goal within a few days and finally we received the whole donation today. We started the process of delivering the coats as a gift from you to our children – please check the pictures down below.

We also decided to extend the project goal to cover more children of Rafah/Gaza. So please don’t hesitate to support if you can at:

A. Gifts for the kids:

B. The children of Rafah in their rehearsal for the play show “International Criminal Law Moot Court – War Crimes on Trial”

    (please expect our show on you-tube soon)

C. Preparing the Gallery of the Peace City

Please keep your eyes open for:
1. Play show, we expect so many people to attend the Trial on Sunday, the show will be translated into English.
2. Play show, Gallery of the Peace City, also on Sunday.
3. Our new initiative for the new year, I will surprise you with it.

Thank you all for your support

Best Wishes,

Continue reading →

November 20, 2016
Orchard Ridge UCC Fair Trade Fair

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Sunday, November 20
Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ
1501 Gilbert Rd, Madison [Map]

Annual Fair Trade Fair! Come find unusual and beautiful gifts and holiday items from around the world. All proceeds go to the organizations and their artisans to help them become self-sustaining.

MRSCP will have a table offering kuffiyehs and other crafts, and olive oil.