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First Person

Photo: CHF Internationa/Liesbeth Zonneveld

Opening of the Al Juneid Women’s Center in the Nablus area of the West Bank.

“I am so happy and proud to have a women’s center in our poor and neglected neighborhood. We have so many plans for training and can invite anyone to our place and have lectures on health and women’s issues. We consider this center to be our starting point.”
- Hana Suwan, 27-year-old Community leader

USAID funded the Al Juneid neighborhood women’s center in the Nablus area of the West Bank through a program called Palestinian Help and Outreach for Empowering Neighborhoods and Increasing Excellence (PHOENIX). This highly participatory rehabilitation project aims to create, expand, and/or repair vital infrastructure in the Palestinian Territories. Hana, a mother of three and daughter of a teacher, emphasizes how important it is for mothers to be educated because they are the backbone to a successful family and spend more time with their children than fathers.

Hana has participated in the new center to learn about women’s issues. According to Hana, women should seek education, information and knowledge from everywhere they can get it because this will help their children in the long-run. “Our political situation is very difficult. Husbands get killed, imprisoned, or become jobless for very long periods of time. If we are more educated and skilled, we can take better care of ourselves and our families.”

The women’s center is among twenty-five PHOENIX projects implemented in Nablus where communities have made substantial in-kind or cash contributions to renovate schools, equip classrooms, repair/pave roads, and connect homes to water and sewage lines. Al Juneid’s center is equipped with computers and publications, and will offer workshops and other services to approximately 600 women in the community.

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