Seraj is one of our Peace Partners that we support with our gifts and with our visits on pilgrimages. Our Peace Partners have similar missions - working for a just peace in Israel and Palestine through education!
By Laurie Salameh
Co-Founder & Director of Seraj Palestine
After months of construction, we have been given the keys!
Seraj's newest library in Kufur Aqab, Palestine will include a first of its kind Story Telling Center!
Greetings from a chilly Palestine! We experienced a bit of excitement last week when a very thin layer of snow blanketed much of Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. Many people sought to “brave” the storm by staying together with extended families, huddled around small gas heaters on which chestnuts were roasted and water boiled for sage tea. As always, family stories are remembered and retold. Stories from snowstorms of the past, when kids didn’t have to worry about losing electricity to charge their phones or attend their Zoom classes. Stories from a time that is remembered as a simpler one.
We talk a lot about the importance of storytelling at Seraj. In fact, all of our work and activities are born out of stories…rediscovering the lost ones and preserving both the significant and seemingly insignificant ones, then bringing them to life through the interpretation of various kinds of artists, so the stories come alive again, in our communities. Stories tell us where we’ve come from and can guide us where we are going. They should tell the truth about our past so we can begin to heal as we face the future. They connect us to those who have come before, those around us, and those yet to come.
This is why we continue to be excited about Seraj’s Storytelling Center, the first of its kind in Palestine. Some of you may have seen the photos we posted on social media… as you know, we worked with the municipality of Kufor Aqab and Riwaq Center for Architectural Preservation to renovate two 150 year old houses in the village of Kufor Aqab. Riwaq completed the renovation beautifully and gave the keys to Seraj, so that we can begin the work of furnishing and stocking the insides. These two homes will house a library, a cafe/study center, a small office for Seraj, and most notably, our new Storytelling Center.
The space is charming and inspiring, well-lit and full of delightful little nooks and crannies. Each stone seems to hold untold stories of the generations that have come before. We envision the Seraj library and storytelling center to be a place to gather, dream and inspire. A spark of light and hope in the middle of settlements, checkpoints and overcrowded and underfunded schools and apartment buildings.
We have begun developing a curriculum to train people in the collection, preservation and telling of stories. We are working with like-minded organizations to share expertise and resources. The work on the library and storytelling center was slow this past year due to Covid, but we are now back on track to open this summer. We can only hope that the spread of Covid will be significantly slowed or stopped by then so that we can launch our activities by the start of the 2021 school year.
As always, none of this is possible without the support of all our friends in the U.S. Your commitment to establishing libraries in Palestine, your belief that Palestinians deserve the right to live with dignity, and your generosity to communities living across the globe is both astounding and humbling. We continue to be thankful for each of you and look forward to sharing our updates on our progress.
