This newsletter features a report by Co-chair, Dr. Pauline Coffman, on her trip to Palestine.
Read Pauline's Full Report here. The newsletter highlights just one of six libraries visited and reported in the full report.
My wonderful week with Seraj Palestine!
Taking on the responsibility of Co-Moderator with John Cassel has made me acutely aware of a need to see what we are doing, first hand. So I traveled to Ramalleh, northeast of Jerusalem, and spent a week with Laurie and Estephan Salameh (and their three children) and experienced the special library activity for March - A Children's Festival!
Fida’a, our talented Seraj liaison to the libraries, and Laurie served as an excellent team to educate me on what we are accomplishing with this library project.
There are a number of reasons to hold a festival for children. First, it brings them to the library! We want children to grow up thinking of a library as a place to have fun, dream big, and enjoy books. It is simply a fact of life that the Occupation means there is not much fun in daily life.
Secondly, the festival activities are designed to spark imaginations and stimulate thought. The children, they told me, often do not have room in their villages to play outside.
The libraries are becoming community centers for children and their parents. Mothers often gather there during the day while the children are in school. |