The “Trust Your Community, Empower the Palestinian Village” is a student project in collaboration with the Samia A. Halaby Foundation and administered by Dar El Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem, Palestine. Dar El Kalima mission is to build a country, stone by stone; to empower a community, person by person; and to create institutions that give life in abundance. Hanadi Azmy, a graduate of Dar El Kalima, proposed an interactive art and creativity kit to be used by young children.

The children were encouraged to use the kit in creative ways and was particularly valuable during the time of the corona pandemic. Inside is a 70 page book of participatory art instruction, scissors, glue, colored pencils, water colors, lead pencil, chalks. The book contains biographies of artists, lessons in drawing, shading (chiaroscuro), cutting, folding paper, and more. 150 boxes have been distributed.

Because of the pandemic, the early lessons were conducted on Zoom. Hanadi made weekly video lessons with a suggested art exercise. The students would follow instructions to create their own work which they then photographed and sent Hanadi via internet. Later students and Hanadi were able to meet face to face. Hanadi then created a site “Art and Creativity” on YouTube so that children beyond the third grades in the program could benefit.

This project, led by Balqees Othman, gives women a means of independent mobility and transportation by teaching them to ride bicycles. Bicycles and helmets were purchased for some participants.

The bicyclists met for 5 meetings at a playground in Beit Safafa. The group took excursions on their bicycles to Bell Gardens, Ain Aliq, and Ain Yalo.

Future needs of the group include repair and transport of bicycles, storage of bicycles, and purchase of bike locks, spare inner tubes, patches and glue.