WEST BANK, February 21, 2007 — In spite of continuing difficulties in Gaza, the community development program run by the Bible Society in the West Bank and Gaza is continuing to bring good news to children and women living in refugee camps, according to Simon Azazian, the Information Officer of the Palestinian Bible Society.
The children’s sessions take place three times a week with about 40 children at each one. The program includes songs, stories, puppet shows, handicrafts and games. “We also helped them establish a library for the school by buying furniture such as cupboards, tables and chairs,” adds Mr Azazian.
The Society’s women’s programs are an effort to teach the basic skills of motherhood, how to deal with family situations, avoiding accidents in the home, first aid, and more besides.
Also this year the Society has started supplying fabrics, threads and designs with which women can produce embroidered goods.
“We have tried to sell their products as a means of income for them and their families,” says Mr Azazian. “The program has been very successful and encouraging, but we need outside marketing as well.”
He tells a moving story of one mother the Society staff know who, despite being only in her thirties, has six children, the eldest of whom is 15.
“She attends the women’s program in one of the NGOs we are working with,” he explains. “She is suffering from high blood pressure and the doctors gave her different medicines, but she did not respond. This affected her kidneys and heart. She came to us asking to be part of the small project team. We visited her house and also learned that her husband was not working, so they are unable to buy medicines. Now she is part of th"e small project team. Despite her difficult health situation, she insisted on working to earn part of the cost of the medicine, refusing just to depend on help from outside.
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