Palestinian heritage workshop employs 25 women in Ain el Helweh

As Safir published a report on the Palestinian Heritage Workshop located in Ain el Helweh and which is concerned with the preservation of popular Palestinian heritage. According to the responsible of the workshop, Ms.Jamila Al-Ashkar, the workshop benefits some 25 local women all of whom suffering from dire social and economic conditions.
ِAnother official from the workshop, Alia, noted in her interview with As Safir that concern with Palestinian heritage and with the workshop was high before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon which resulted in the destruction of the centre. The center was rebuild with local community support, and following that an important exhibition was organised and which turned out to be quite successful and provided significant income. Encouraged by this success, the group undertook the development of the embroidery workshop.  Alia noted that the most important thing in this initiative aside from the preservation of Palestinian heritage especially amongst the youth, is generating income for women workers who are mostly widowed, divorcee of heads of households and, as such, rely on embroidery work to support their families. It is to be noted that embroidery is considered to be one of the finest traditional Palestinian crafts as every stitch tells the story of a Palestinian town.
Source: Al-Safir 17 September 2013