Effective Activism | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

MiniActive Women – Intensive and Unrelenting Activism for Change

Unrelenting Creativity – that has been the modus operandi of the MiniActive network since its establishment in 2012. And today, three years on, MiniActive women are continuing to find original ways to deal with a challenging situation. Garbage collection in East Jerusalem, always a sore spot, has become even more problematic over the past few months. The women still call the 106 municipal hotline, but many garbage piles remain.

Refusing to give up, the women changed their tactic. Since October, MiniActive women have engaged in a “We Don’t Want to Live in Garbage” campaign on their Facebook page. Each day several pictures of overflowing garbage ticks and makeshift garbage dumps are uploaded to the MiniActive Facebook page.

Original Garbage Receptacle

These are often shared by the 0202-A View from East Jerusalem Facebook page, that translates Arabic-language Facebook and Internet posts into Hebrew, which reaches a number of prominent journalists and local politicians. While collection has improved somewhat, we will continue putting pressure on service providers to provide fundamental services to East Jerusalem residents.

MiniActive Anti-trash Campaign, from January 19

May future news bring pictures of Jerusalem’s beauty – and not of its filth.

Naomi Roff2016-01-31T20:19:23+00:00January 29th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

Fighting Racism through Neighborhood Tolerance Committees

On January 21, the house of Professor Yaakov Malkin, provost at the International Institute for Humanistic Secular Judaism and himself an atheist, was vandalized, and the perpetrators left a note with a knife. In response, the “Neighbors Tell Their Stories” team in Katamon and the German and Greek Colonies immediately decided to act and show their support of the traumatized family. The women wrote a letter of support and visited the family the following day, bringing with them the letter, signed by dozens of neighbors, wine, and flowers. Diana, a founding member of the “Neighbors Tell Their Stories” team, wrote about her experience here.

Letter sent to Prof. Malkin and his family

Letter sent by the “Katamon-German-Greek-Colonies Tolerance Group” to Prof. Malkin and his family

The “Neighbors Tell their Stories” team is part of a growing network of neighborhood ‘tolerance teams’ that we are setting up all over Jerusalem as one way to fight racism and xenophobia in the city. It is part of a larger program, Grassroots Campaign for Tolerance, which is supported by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jerusalem Foundation.

“In the multiply-divided city of Jerusalem, where difference is often perceived as more of a threat than a blessing, it’s very hard to recreate that gorgeous variety in a single room. But last Monday night, at our first evening, […] I had the sense of finally coming close.” This is how Diana described the first event, in which neighbors from various backgrounds told their personal stories in order to create a better and friendlier neighborhood, regardless of race, gender, background, or political beliefs. “The audience — drawn mainly by posters on the street and Facebook posts — listened with rapt attention. Their own journeys to this neighborhood began from all corners of the globe — from Persia to Paris, the east coast of America to Eastern Europe, Tunisia to Thailand, and even Meah Shearim. Most people in attendance did not know most other people, or at least not well (a woman who looked familiar jogged my memory: ‘We know each other from the bra shop’). Yet conversations flowed like rivers…”

Neighbors Tell their Stories in German Colony

Diana, along with three other women, has created the series of monthly meetings in order to break down the barriers between the separate ethnic groups who live in Katamon and the German and Greek Colonies. Together, this neighborhood “tolerance team” has chosen to call themselves “Neighbors Tell Their Stories,” and they already have a few other ideas to implement in the coming months…Their monthly meetings bring together 30 neighbors to hear stories of people like Yosef, whose family survived the Holocaust in Hungaria; Nili, who was born and raised in Paris and moved to Israel out of Zionist ideals; Ruth, who works with the Ethiopian community in Israel; and others.

Listening to neighbors in Katamon

Professor Malkin’s family was very grateful, and the meeting sparked a new relationship between neighbors who’ve lived near each other for decades, but have never met or spoken. They decided that Sivan, Professor Melchin’s daughter, would speak at the next “Neighbors Tell Their Stories” event next month.

In addition to the team in Katamon/ Greek and German Colonies, there are six more teams who work in other neighborhoods: Abu Tur, Katamonim, Baka, Nahlaot, Rehavia, and French Hill, which have done some pretty amazing things. The key to this project’s success is that each neighborhood is setting its own goals and objectives, according to the nature and character of that neighborhood.

Take Abu Tor / A-Thuri, for example, which is concentrating on Jewish-Arab relations in these adjacent neighborhoods. This is extraordinary, since Abu Tor is one of the places that the Israeli army and police set up makeshift roadblocks when violence flares up, and these areas are sources of particular tension. Despite this, at the beginning of January, in cooperation with the Metropolitcan Baka’a Community Council, Jewish and Arab residents held a most productive evening based on Open Space Technology. The positive energy that infused the 50+ activists that met in Beit MICHA, Abu Tor starkly contrasted the roadblocks that had been temporarily placed just down the street a few months ago. Some of the initiatives presented are already being implemented: an Arab-Jewish team of women walkers in the public sphere, meetings over coffee between the Arab and the Jewish neighborhoods in a different home each time, and the continuation of neighborly Arabic and Hebrew classes, resulting in meetings to practice speaking together. One of the Arab children who attended the meeting drew this, as a sign of hope for a better future of living together. Other ideas that will be implemented in shortly in Abu Tur include a Jewish-Arab soccer group, a Jewish-Arab community garden, a street festival, and more.

At the Open Space Technology Meeting in Abu-Tor

The French Hill group also focuses on bringing Jews and Arabs together, and works in full cooperation with the local community center. As the neighborhood is made up of many young families, the group decided to focus on activities for children of all ethnicities to work together, creating art, learning about traditions, and celebrating holidays together. During the joint Christmas/Mawlid (Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday)/Hannukah celebration, a neighbor commented that “it was incredible meeting everyone – Arabs and Jews, young people and old, Ashkenazi and Middle Eastern Jews – and warmed my heart to see all the children playing together, and hearing their parents talking together. We filled the room with light, happiness, love and fun.”

Playing dreidle alongside a Christmas tree at the French Hill

Both Baka and Katamonim teams are currently organizing their first events, both aimed at a series of events to meet the neighbors. The Baka events will empower the elderly and enrich the young by coming together to hear stories from veteran neighbors about their personal histories in the neighborhoods. The Katamonim team events will bring together Ashkenazi and Sephardi, religious and secular, young and elderly, by creating evenings with traditional music and personal stories, and local, home-made Kubbeh!

Poster advertising the Baka’a event

Matan, a member of the Nahlaot team, is initiating of the Political Coffee idea. Matan wants Fridays at the Machane Yehuda Market to look a bit different: he wants to put up signs and bring coffee to the Strawberry Garden which is next to the market, and use Effective Dialogue (a special method of dialogue with a non-compliant ‘other’ that was developed by the Speaking in the Square initiative) to encourage people to hold complex political conversations in a fashionable and tolerant manner. He’s already gotten some friends together to learn about the Effective Dialogue technique from Speaking in the Square activists, and they plan on hosting the first Political Coffee day in the beginning of February!

And, inspired by the Nahlaot team, we found this graffiti sprayed around Nahlaot this week: Simple words and phrases, such as: ‘What’s up?’ ‘See you later’ ‘You’re right’ – painted in Arabic, French, Hebrew, and transliteration.

Seen in Nahlaot! – pro-tolerance Graffiti for a change!

The Rehavia team has just gotten started and is made up of Ultra-Orthodox, religious, and secular residents; men, women; parents, students. They are interested in breaking down the barriers between the groups through neighborhood tours told by different residents with varying perspectives, joint Shabbat dinners, creating a Street TED Talk Day about ‘What Rehavia means to me,’ and by hanging large banners between porches in the neighborhood, displaying messages of tolerance in various languages.

Two special groups that are also getting started today are a Facebook talkback (comments) group that will work in the all-pervading ‘neighborhood’ of the Internet and social media, and an English speaking group that will work in breaking down the walls between the Anglo community in Jerusalem and the rest of the communities here.

Naomi Roff2016-01-30T07:24:14+00:00January 25th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

First Ever Arabic-language Horticulture Therapy Course through MiniActive Women

We’ve been excited about the opening of the first Horticulture Therapy Course to take place in the Arabic language, in cooperation with the David Yellin Academic College of Education, for awhile. We’ve had to make some changes adjust to the ‘situation’ – the course was originally supposed to take place at the College in the west Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hakerem. But because it was difficult for many participants to leave their neighborhoods in general, and to leave their neighborhoods for west Jerusalem neighborhoods was even more difficult, we moved the course to a school for special education in Beit Hanina – the largest school for special education in East Jerusalem.

Learning Practical Part of Horticulture Therapy

Learning Practical Session of Horticulture Therapy

At the end of the course in May 2016, participants will practice what they learned by starting a therapeutic garden with the children. The course has been meeting for just over a month – and it was definitely worth the wait! Thus far they’ve gone from the beginning stages (above) to planting (below) –

Planting

To composting as well.

Composting in the course

We can hardly wait to see the fruits of their labors – as well as their work with the children afterward. Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its continued support of MiniActive.

Naomi Roff2016-01-31T20:20:55+00:00January 15th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive Professional Development – Hebrew Courses

An integral part of the MiniActive network is to be in touch with municipal workers and officials. Much of the initial contact (calls to the 106 municipal hotline) is in Arabic, but the women found very quickly that in order to ensure that their complaints are followed through they must also have written and verbal contact with Hebrew speakers. This was no small obstacle, since many of the women knew very little or no Hebrew whatsoever.

Enter the ‘Speaking Hebrew’ project, a group of volunteers who seek to teach Hebrew to Arab women from East Jerusalem, with the classes taking place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Mount Scopus campus. We began working with the project last year, and this year we’ve reached record numbers! Four classes – 130 women – are studying Hebrew in 3 levels, and there is an additional class taking place in Sur Baher.

In class

It is sometimes challenging to enable the groups of 15 – 20 Palestinian women to pass the security guards at Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, but we – and they – have been undeterred by these temporary obstacles.

At the University gates

Naomi Roff2018-09-01T07:30:36+00:00January 8th, 2016|Blog, Courses, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Language Center, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive – Empowering Arab Women by Cultivating Community

The MiniActive network of over 1,000 Arab women in East Jerusalem has made a name for itself in empowering the community to demand services (see here and here). At the same time, empowerment is building community in a variety of ways, including enriching and fun activities. The MiniActive network has an abundance of those as well. Here are just a few examples:

A group of 20 women has been participating in a baking course. They’ve been learning a wide variety of decorating techniques, from whipped cream to fondant and its multiple possibilities. Nothing like a Spongebob Squarepants cake – Yum!!!

Sponge Bob cake and emoticons

There is also a crochet group, as well as a makeup class.

Learning to Knit & Crochet

And finally, the women have also been able to enjoy trips outside of Jerusalem. In November, we took 100 women on trips up north, to Acco and Rosh Hanikra. Just look at the views they enjoyed…

Group picture Rosh Hanikra

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its continuing support of this program.

Naomi Roff2016-02-01T17:44:13+00:00December 31st, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive Youth, Striving for Normalcy in Abnormal Times

The past few months have been difficult for us all in Jerusalem, with its uncertainty, violence, increased army and police presence. For the Palestinian population, add to this riots, police raids, roadblocks at entrances to Palestinian neighborhoods that severely limit movement, including extreme difficulty in getting to work or school, especially if they are outside of the neighborhood. In short, life in East Jerusalem these days is quite far from being a bed of roses.

Through it all and despite it all, our MiniActive network for Palestinian women continues to be a ray of light. Throughout the despair, MiniActive continues to empower women to stand up for their rights and create change. Throughout the trials and tribulations of this difficult time, the MiniActive network of women has stayed strong, continuing to fight for cleaner streets and other services, continuing to educate women in practical skills from leadership to the environment to Hebrew language that will help them to gain access to critical services, continuing to provide enrichment activities for its members, from exercise to dessert making (hmm, interesting correlation…) to computers to trips to Acco, Haifa, Tiberias.

MiniActive Facebook campaign – “We don’t want to live with garbage!”

And remarkably, MiniActive Youth – our new extension for teenage girls from all over East Jerusalem that meets at the Abna al-Quds Community Center – has continued as well, and flourished. When things really started getting difficult, we thought that this might be time for MiniActive Youth to take a hiatus. “These girls can barely get to school, they can barely get out of their neighborhoods,” we thought. “How can they come from all over to Abna al-Quds?”

Group at Abna al-Quds Community Center

But in fact, they came, and they continue to come. Despite all the logistical challenges. Despite the fact that they are girls, which means they are traditionally considered weak and ones who must be looked after, making it more likely that their families would not allow them to leave their neighborhoods. MiniActive Youth symbolized for them a structure that they yearned for. It symbolized a state of normalcy that they craved. It was empowering them to be able to change at least their immediate surroundings and beyond – and because of that, they continued to come. We have a total of 25 teenage girls, from neighborhoods that include: Issawiya, Wadi Joz, Ras el-Amud, the Old City, Silwan, Abu Tor, Kufr Aqeb. They’ve already participated in a 6-session leadership course, where they learned how to plan and lead activities, follow-up, interpersonal communication, and more. Just this last week, they began a Hebrew course, to be given at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In class

They will also take part in a course on the environment, and are working on a gardening project, in Abna al-Quds’ community garden. The theme – “Let’s eat locally” – growing vegetables in the garden. We’ll save you some cucumbers.

Working in the garden

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and its donors for its ongoing support of this program.

Naomi Roff2015-12-18T19:13:41+00:00November 28th, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive Women in East Jerusalem – Advancing Horticulture Therapy

The therapeutic effects of gardening have long been widely known. This type of therapy has been used around the world since at least the 1800s.

Our MiniActive program, a network of over 1,200 Palestinian women throughout East Jerusalem who are working on a daily basis to improve their everyday lives, has extensively dealt with environmental issues. Alongside working to improve safety and environmental hazards in residents’ immediate vicinity, MiniActive groups have partnered with women from other parts of Israel to learn about environmental issues; they have participated in a number of other related activities as well.

Young girls experimenting in gardening

In Jerusalem, the David Yellin Academic College of Education operates a special course in horticulture therapy, but it is regularly available only in Hebrew. Now, they will be able to have access to the course, in Arabic. This is the first time ever that such a course will be made available in Arabic in Jerusalem. Indeed, while gardening therapy programs are available in western Jerusalem, there are no programs, and awareness of its benefits is very low.

We came to an agreement with the College in which the women would pay only half of the tuition fee. Classes will take place once a week for a full day, to enable the women to continue to work. 15 women started the course, which is scheduled to begin in mid-October.

The course is supposed to coincide with the beginning of the academic year, and is open to those trained in special education. Participants will learn about the world of plants and the therapeutic garden – principles of planning, establishing and maintaining such a garden. They will also learn the principles of psychology and psychotherapy, as well as how to design a gardening therapy program and practicums and lab exercises in closed areas.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its ongoing support of this program.

Naomi Roff2016-02-01T10:05:38+00:00October 15th, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

Speaking in the Square – Getting the Word Out Beyond

Even more press coverage for the Speaking in the Square group, which we’ve been mentoring since last summer. (See here and here for more information.) This most recent string began with Ossnat Sharon’s August 8, 2015 column on Sichah Mekomit (Hebrew for local discussion). (Ossnat is one of the active core of volunteers who gather in Zion Square in Jerusalem’s downtown each week.) The English version, entitled, “The right-wing group trying to keep downtown Jerusalem Arab-free,” ran on August 21 on the sister site, +972mag.com. It describes the basics of the Lehava organization, an extremist organization whose followers often parade with racist chants in downtown Jerusalem mostly on Thursday and Saturday nights, and their weekly activities in downtown Jerusalem. This column led to an interview with Israel Channel 10’s veteran reporter, Yaron London on Sunday August 9, on the daily news magazine show, London et Kirshenbaum, which airs every weekday at 6 pm. The original column was also translated into Arabic and published on the Times of Israel Arabic site on August 12. Click here for the 5-minute interview, in Hebrew:

In the London et Kirshenbaum studio

In it, like in the column, she describes the people in Lehava. “This is a phenomenon of youth,” she said. They are mostly youth and young people, looking for a meaningful way to, in their eyes, save the Jewish people from destruction. Some are youth at risk, while others are not. Some wear Lehava’s signature black and yellow T-shirts, and others do not (which makes it more difficult to identify them). While social service organizations and agencies are present in the Square to help youth at risk, the youth aren’t looking for their services. “These are youth who are looking do something, to create real change,” Ossnat added, and Lehava is the way that they’ve found to do it.

Speaking in the Square’s role, as she notes in the column, is “to make it difficult for them to operate unhindered.” With activists that run the gamut of political viewpoints, including secular and religious Jews, they keep an eye on the youth, more than the police, and let them know they’re being watched. They speak with them and passersby, and engage them in discussions that run deeper than one-line slogans. “We initiate a different kind of political discussion,” Ossnat explains in her Channel 10 interview. “We’re ensuring a moderate political presence [from all over the political spectrum], and not a nationalistic one. It has an effect that other kinds of activities don’t have…Something else is created [in the Square]. Something that dissipates the violence.”

Activity in the Square

We believe that the activities of Speaking in the Square have indeed changed the atmosphere in Zion Square, to one that truly enables Jerusalem’s extremely diverse populations to express themselves in a respectful manner. Many thanks to the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jerusalem Foundation for their support, which have enabled us to advance this project. Many thanks to these and other media outlets that have publicized Speaking in the Square’s work over the past several weeks. Join us in downtown Jerusalem on Thursday or Saturday nights!

Naomi Roff2015-09-02T09:47:49+00:00August 23rd, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Speaking in the Square – Continuing to Facilitate Healthy Debate in Jerusalem’s Public Sphere

This past week, Speaking in the Square, a group with members from all over the political spectrum, has been continued to be recognized as a formidable force in fighting racism and xenophobia in the city center, especially in Zion Square. We’ve been working with Speaking in the Square since events exploded in Jerusalem last summer, and are incredibly proud of their influence on the public sphere in Jerusalem. This is also the place to thank the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jerusalem Foundation for their support of our efforts to fight racism and xenophobia in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, the onset of summer has seen a resurgence of demonstrations and racist activity by the Lehava organization, as covered by this article that appeared in Ynet on July 13, one of Israel’s most-read news sites. In addition to a number of other groups aiming to fight racism, the reporter turns to Speaking in the Square (or other literal translations of the Hebrew, Medabrim BaKikar) :

From Ynet article July 13, 2015

While Lehava continues to demonstrate, Speaking in the Square continues its method of engaging these youth in a deeper dialogue, one that attempts to explore the nuances and complexities of the issues they are trying to solve. Over the past few months, Speaking in the Square has also developed a a public debate format, in which participants choose to uphold either the pro or con sides of an issue, right smack in the middle of Zion Square. They debate a wide range of issues, from civil marriages and other issues of religion and state, to controversial news items, should girls and boys be able to sit together or separately in school (in religious schools they sit separately), and more.

Speaking in the Square Debate

Most times the evenings are a success – the debaters speak well and respectfully on both sides of the issues, a diverse (and hopefully large) crowd gathers to watch, enabling members to hammer home their message of respectful dialogue, no matter what your personal views. But once in awhile, things don’t go so well – there are a lot of youth getting out of control, late into the night, fueled by impassioned Lehava leaders – who create public disturbances that even the police struggle to control.

This past Thursday, July 16, was a particularly successful evening of debates. Garnering a large and very diverse crowed, participants took the mike to debate issues such as civil marriage, public transportation on Shabbat, dilemmas surrounding the destruction of terrorists’ homes.

Crowd on July 16, 2015

This activity has caught the attention of Rachel Danziger, who blogs for the Times of Israel:

“Ofek [Birnholtz, a social activist and one of the founders of Speaking in the Square] and other like-minded individuals decided to reclaim the public space. But how do you fight against hatred? The group, which later adopted the name “Medabrim Bakikar” (talking in the square), maintains that counter demonstrations are not the answer. Instead of yelling a different set of slogans, the members of the group decided to offer an alternative to Lehava’s discourse of hate.”

You can read the rest of her blog post here.

Speaking in the Square will continue speaking with everyone in Zion Square each Thursday and Saturday night, and new volunteers are always welcome. You’re welcome to join us in promoting a more tolerant Jerusalem that can celebrate the city’s diversity.

Naomi Roff2015-07-24T10:52:13+00:00July 22nd, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

MiniActive Going International – at the GPSA Conference in Washington, DC

We’ve always known that the MiniActive project was on to something special, and that the 1,000 women – and 150 teenage girls – who take part are doing an amazing job. And now we’re getting to share this knowledge with others around the world. Just last week, our own Hagai Agmon-Snir and Intisar Qaraeen took part in the GPSA (Global Partnership for Social Accountability) Partners Forum 2015 in Washington, DC, USA. They presented MiniActive as a case study for empowering Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and enabling the provision of municipal and other services. The GPSA was launched in 2012 by the World Bank, and seeks to help civil society organizations solve critical governance challenges. “Everyone who heard the story of MiniActive was very impressed,” said Hagai. “It was a great experience for both of us.” Click here to see the power point that they gave.

Intisar at podium, GPSA

And indeed, MiniActive’s accomplishments in recent months are quite impressive. Work with the teenage girls has developed well. (More about the groups here.) In late February girls from the Jebel Mukaber High School for Girls took on a project to clean up and beautify the road that leads to their school. Unfortunately, during the summer months last year this street was also the site of unrest and violence, which left the street in not-a-very-good-state. The girls cleaned up the street and painted the electricity boxes and the fence that runs along the road. It now not only looks better, the girls and their schoolmates and families, feel much better about their environment.

Jebel Mukaber girls painting March 2015

Also as part of the program the girls’ groups are taking part in ceramics classes, provided by the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. As part of that course, which will finish at the end of May, girls from the Umm Tuba Junior High School for Girls are preparing a giant ceramic clock for the school. Girls from the Jebel Mukaber High School for Girls are decorating a wall with ceramic tiles, which will have representations of their hopes and dreams. This project will also be finished soon; stay tuned for pictures.

MiniActive Women – Continued Accomplishments and Community Building

Here’s a few updates from the largest project for Palestinians – and largest women’s project – in East Jerusalem:

First – we’re expanding! We recently opened several new groups in Ras el-Amud, and welcomed 100 new women to the project. A few statistics about the work: In March, there were 470 requests for repairs, 150 of which were taken care of; In April, there were 600 requests, 200 of which were taken care of. In addition, 25 compost bins were distributed. These included a safety net in Sur Baher, a handrail along the side of a steep road to help pedestrians, fixing potholes, electrical wires, placing safety mirrors on windy roads, and much more. Women from the Old City toured the neighborhood with the worker in charge of garbage collection in that area, and he promised to place another 10 garbage receptacles throughout the Palestinian areas of the Old City. In the beginning of March 20 women met with a representative of the water company. They discussed different difficulties Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem face with regards to water – bills, meters, etc. – and explored ways to solve problems.

Fixing potholes

We continue to develop the professional skills of the women, especially the group leaders. Monthly regional coordinator meetings (who are in charge of several groups in each neighborhood) discuss issues that the women are facing throughout the city – garbage collection, donations to families in need, how to deal with service providers’ sub-contractors (which is common in East Jerusalem), how to interact with the municipal hotline operators, and more. At the end of March there was a large event in honor of the MiniActive women. We thought – March includes International Mothers’ Day, Women’s Day, etc., it should also include a MiniActive Women’s Day. The even attracted more than 250 women, who enjoyed a comedy act, they shared handicrafts that different groups had made, and more.

Women browsing handicrafts women celebration day

Fifty-two MiniActive women participated in a tour of Haifa in March. They visited the Bahai Gardensand then the Beit Hagefen Arab-Jewish Cultural Center. Beit Hagefen operates different volunteer projects in Arab neighborhoods in Haifa, and this tour was by and large a learning tour. The Jerusalem women heard about a number of projects, such as projects for girls at-risk, an “alternative” youth club and a tour of the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood.

The MiniActive women have also been participating in a number of courses:

Hebrew – they’ve expanded to include both beginning (35 participants) and intermediate (70 participants) levels.
Computers – 16 participants in an introduction to computers course.
Lev Isha (Women’s Heart) – program promoting women’s health and nutrition, in cooperation with the Linda Joy Polling Cardiovascular Wellness Center at Hadassah Medical Center, Ein Kerem. Twenty MiniActive women participated.
Compost instructor – Twelve MiniActive women are participating in a course offered by the David Yellin Academic College of Education in instructing community members in using compost effectively.
Sports – Forty women are participating in a sports class, which meets twice weekly, that opened in April.

Naomi Roff2016-10-22T07:29:24+00:00May 20th, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

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