Celebrating Palestinian Resilience!
Author: rayela
Brazil 18years + Chicago 20yrs + Paducah since 2005 These have shaped my path and interests. I spent many years as an active artist (ceramics and textiles) but have focused on promoting the creative community online since 2010. My current projects are Artizan Made and this site, Creative PlaceMakers.
Photo: Handmade Palestine on Facebook
Morgan’s text:
In Palestine, we celebrate life. We rise up against all odds.This beautiful photo captures the joy of students with disabilities at Ma’an Lil Hayyat is Bethlehem during their social time. These amazing people make felt by hand from locally and sustainably sourced wool.
Photo courtesy of Maan Lil Hayyat
— in Bethlehem, Palestine.
Morgan Cooper of Handmade Palestine arrives in Paducah, Kentucky on June 15th and we are so excited! We have the event posted on Facebook where you can share and invite your people.
Morgan runs Handmade Palestine and will have crafts to sell, made by the 25+ cooperatives that she works with. Handmade Palestine supports another effort, Mashjar Juthour, an arboretum and educational center in the West Bank. I wrote another post about Handmade Palestine and included several videos of the projects and people Morgan works with. Morgan will be traveling around the US through August and has a schedule of visits she will make listed on her website. Maybe she will be near you!
Morgan’s schedule in the US
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Resilience
If you meet Morgan or watch her videos, you will see how she shines when she talks about the Palestinian people, their heritage, the artisanal skills that they have, their love of nature and food…. It’s contagious! Here is an example. Recently, Handmade Palestine decided to create a new logo. The process drew from history and design and ended up beautifully!
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I started following Palestinians on Instagram because I wanted to understand what was happening. After two years, I see them as heroes. After so much destruction and death, they continue to create, to laugh, dance, sing, decorate… I just pray that peace comes soon so that they can have a “normal” life. One of my heroes is Ahmed of Gaza Birds Singing. He had a music school which was destroyed. It devastated him, but he brought the music back, teaching kids in their tents, forging their spirits with determination. A few weeks back, he asked the community at large to contribute videos of themselves singing “We will, we will… We will rebuild Gaza”. Such a show of solidarity!
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Another hero is Tayseer Obaid, who is constantly inventing toys and games for the kids, creating “infrastructure” out of debris, planting vegetables and doing so much more! He is a genius and has such a huge heart!
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There is an effort to break the blockade that keeps Palestinians from using their coast for fishing, travel or commerce. This effort has been going on for many years but it has gotten much bigger with many countries participating. In the last one, two of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla‘s organizers were imprisoned. They have been released, but look at how young Palestinians sent a thank you message to them!
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Imagine what they could achieve in a society where they could thrive! That time will come. Morgan and all of the others who are working for a Free Palestine will someday see the fruits of their efforts.
“There are two kinds of strength. Power and the ability to wield it is obvious,
but resilience, the ability to resist power, is the other.”
― Raymond E. Feist, Magician’s End
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