Fun Day, Another Playground, Olive Oil, and more…

 

. . . helping children reclaim their childhoods

 Fall Newsletter
Dear Friends –
We continue to be grateful to all of you, especially in these difficult times, for making it possible for us to bring some joy into the lives of children in very joyless places.
All of us at PfP
 Olive Oil
 Day of Fun: Playground in the Mazin Afifi Park
Houda and Dr. Ali Anaim have graciously given of their time and effort to help PfP by selling olive oil! They moved from California to Philadephia, PA where Dr. Ali Anaim is currently serving as a pediatric surgeon at Temple University Hospital. Says, Dr. Anaim, “When I got the email from PfP asking to help out our children in Palestine, to enjoy and live their innocent childhood like other normal children, I honestly didn’t think twice about it. It is the least we can do. And yes, I would certainly do it again!”
 
Stacy Grossman and the Plymouth Congressional United Church’s Justice and Peace Taskforce in Grand Rapids, MI have been working tirelessly selling olive oil for PfP.  They have done everything from hosting complimentary olive oil tastings for their congregation to selling out of PfP olive oil at their monthly Fair Trade booths. Says Stacy, “Selling PfP’s olive oil at
Plymouth
provides our task force with a rare opportunity for meaningful conversation on a monthly basis about the ongoing situation in the heart of the
Middle East
.  It’s been an eye-opening experience for me and we look forward to continuing to build our relationship with PfP.”
 
From all of us at PfP, THANK YOU! 
If you would like to purchase olive oil or would like to host an olive oil party for your friends and family, please email [email protected]
 

Click on the image below to watch a documentary that reveals the threat faced by Palestinian olive farmers from armed settlers and the IOF. 

 

Nahr el Bared. Saturday, September 12 was no ordinary day for the kids of Nahr El Bared Refugee Camp in Lebanon. Over 200 children gathered in the Mazen Afifi Playground for a fun day organized by PfP partners Bait Atfal Assoumoud and ANERA. The purpose of the event was to entertain the children and at the same time embellish the park established by the Afifi family, PfP, MECA, and ANERA. The kids enjoyed their gifts and a variety of fun activities such as wall painting, trees and flowers planting and other interactive games. Children planted eucalyptus trees and climbing roses. Running races and tug-of-war were held. The children helped paint colorful murals, and over 500 Spider Man and Cinderella stickers were passed out and greatly enjoyed by the children. We are grateful to ANERA staff, donors Mary Afifi, Ellen Siegel and Jane Power, who attended the event and made it possible. Click here to learn more about the Nahr el Bared Camp.

 

 Ein el Hilweh Playground Is Finally Installed

You may recall that last year we shipped a playground for a preschool in Ein el Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon. This playground was made possible through a generous grant from Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) and our partners ANERA and the Najdeh Association in Lebanon.  However, we weren’t able install it then because we discovered that some issues with drainage on the site that would have made it unsafe for children to play there. One year later, thanks do diligent work by our partners, the site was fixed and the playground installed.  And we are thrilled to see so many smiling preschoolers enjoying this playground! Read more about the Ein el Hilweh Camp.

 Updates on Projects We’re Working On…
 Neirab Refugee Camp, Syria
Arroub Refugee Camp, WB
Silwad, WB (Maysoon’s Kids)
 UNRWA has been working to improve the living standard in the Neirab refugee camp for Palestinians in Syria.  However, funds had to be diverted following the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and so the park in Neirab was put on hold.  Recently, work has resumed and we are happy to report that this project is moving forward.  Again, this playground is being made possible thanks to the generosity of our friends at MECA.  Here is more information about Neirab and the playground.
This is the playground for the wedding of Heather Henyon and Armen Vartian. Our friend Ali Saleh has helped us design a playground for this site and a manufacturer has been selected.  We hope to have pictures of this playground in our next newsletter.  Please check out our two stories here and here.
 We’ve been trying for a long time to get a playground in this children’s center.  A few  years ago we actually shipped a playground for this site.  Although we had already gotten permission from the Israeli authorities to build a playground on this private property, they later informed us [after the playground was delivered to the port] that they had made a mistake and we no longer had permission. So, now we’re building our own design using local mateirals and manufacturers.  It has just taken a while to do things from so far away.  So, thank you to Maysoon and to her kids for being so patient with us. It looks like we’re going to build it just after the Arroub playground.
 
 
 

 

 

 

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Phoenix Elementary in Gaza

We are excited to announce the launch of an initiative we’ve been working on for a while. PfP established a school in Gaza for grades 1-5. We’re in our third week now of operation and it’s amazing. The school is a mixture of traditional and non-traditional learning. The first few days were focused on getting

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“After the ‘Cast lead’ attack on Gaza, PfP shared a video of the kids finally able to go outside where there still stood a (PfP) playground.  It still brings tears to think about the joy of those kids swarming the playground…  It really brought home the great work PfP does. “