As a fledging network, Joining Hands for Justice, Palestine has benefited from much growth over the summer months, especially in terms of working together and supporting one another. As we near completion of our first six months of programs, we celebrate the successful conclusion of some short-term activities, while feeling gratified that ongoing programs are moving ahead smoothly.

Embroidery Pilot Project

One program that has shown great promise is an embroidery pilot project, which was designed to empower a select group of women who have been thrust into the workforce as their family’s only breadwinners. Various circumstances have placed them in this position. But what these women share in common is life behind a wall of separation that robs them of access to their land, family members and friends, health services, free movement, and even the right to worship in the holy places of their choice, to name a few.

Palestine is famous for its beautiful embroidery work - often on tablecloths, towels, framed pieces, jackets, dresses, scarves and more. The various colors and patterns represent specific villages and can be used as a symbol for identifying where a product’s designer lives. It is an art often taught at home and passed from generation to generation. So in present times of increasing joblessness and poverty, embroidery production and sales is one of the marketable skills on which a woman can depend.

Bader Elna’am, one of the six women chosen for the embroidery pilot project, comes from Bileen Village behind the wall. Bader lives with her husband, her mother-in-law, two sons and four daughters in a one-bedroom apartment. With the confiscation of their family’s land, they have become destitute.

One of her daughters is in her second year of university—a bright girl who has done very well in school. Her education is a priority for the family, yet the tuition, books and other associated costs are slipping beyond Bader and her husband’s reach. Another daughter will graduate from high school this year. Bader finds herself almost wishing her daughter would not receive the necessary high marks that would make her eligible for university, because the family can’t afford to send her. Additionally, one of Bader’s sons in presently in an Israeli prison and the family is not able to send him needed clothing and other necessities.

So for Bader, the embroidery pilot project is a godsend, as it provides her the materials with which to work, pays for her transportation every Thursday to gather with the other women in the project, offers her a meal, companionship, and an instructor who helps her improve her products as well as assist her in the finish work.

With other network member organizations serving as agents to sell the finished pieces, the Christmas season is expected to provide greater sales at exhibitions and bazaars. A portion of the profits will then be returned to the project to select another group of women who will be provided with the opportunity to become wage earners and help their families.

The women in the project have expressed their concern regarding the limitations of local sales. Developing relationships with organizations and our U.S. networks that encourage and participate in providing an avenue for sales would help Palestine’s network to find greater potential in alleviating hunger, joblessness and poverty. And so, as the project grows, the network has identified international sales of these women’s products as the next step to assisting in their economic empowerment.