$700 will get you a bespoke, hand-embroidered evening gown and a good deed done
At first glance it looks like any of the many thousand indiegogo ventures—part wisps of hope, part ingenuity—that offer themselves up to the availing donor. This one is entitled simply, even enigmatically, “Hand Made 2.”
But quickly, it reveals itself to be anything but regular. “In Gaza youth are often talented and educated,” the opening text reads, beneath a pastoral view of whimsically attired children on a vivid green lawn and close-ups of intricately embroidered artifacts. “They always search for chances to open the doors for their future. We are group of youth (males and females) searching for finding the essential resources to set up our own small projects. This is for achieving some of our targets and participating in the bringing up of our society.”
So, as these projects go, it is both commonplace and remarkable.
The young people of Hand Made 2 have, as of this writing, raised $5,369 from 87 donors out of the $6,200 they require to begin operations, and with eight days to go appear to have a good chance of achieving their goal. Amna Monhammed, the founder of the initiative, hopes to ship her first deliveries out next month.
Not less significantly, the seed money site (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hand-made-2–2#/) has opened them and their talents up to the greater world to which the only access they have at the moment is virtual.
Moreover, in a week in which the Arab world made headlines for the collapse of the Syrian peace talks, the 700 refugees killed at sea and the horrific attempt to sell a sex slave via Facebook, their initiative stands out for its talent, initiative and positivity. (On Facebook, they have called themselves “Hand Made Community” https://www.facebook.com/Hand-made-947000888727140/ and have quickly racked up 730 likes.)
Consider the contrast between their enterprise and the Facebook post that went up May 20 showing a woman of about 18 captioned “For sale.”
“To all the bros thinking about buying a slave, this one is $8,000,” began the post, which was attributed to an Islamic State fighter referring to himself as Abu Assad Almani. “Yay, or nay?” he added to the image of a second young woman (same price) posted a few hours later.
Amna Mohammed, 26, belongs to a different universe. On the same day, May 20, she posted a photo of a young Gazan child in a field of wild yellow daisies, dressed in Palestinian costume, captioned “The beauty of nature in Gaza.”
Other posts of hers offer interactions with fans of her artistic creations, shares of posters for peace projects which involve Israelis and Palestinians, postcard-like images of bucolic scenes or artful posts that showcase the unusual flair of her merchandise: crisp, chic wallets; irresistible leather hand-bags; cheerful, strappy sundresses; elegant, curve-embracing evening gowns: all prominently ornamented with the classic cross-stich commonly found on the traditional dresses that were once worn by all Palestinian women and still remain in the fashion lexicon, though they are rarely seen on the Palestinian street these days.
Mohammed, a graduate in business administration from the Islamic University in Gaza, who has been unemployed since she finished her studies, told The Media Line that a group of Gazan university graduates is behind Hand Made 2, and that “because of the hard economic situation in Gaza and the high percentage of unemployment, we decided to start our own project in order to put our first steps to success.”
“The idea of our campaign,” she said, “is making Palestinian embroidery manually or automatically and marketing it via internet all over the world, for whoever likes this embroidery.”
Every contribution has “a great impact and contributes to a better start in our life,” she added. “The contribution will get us out of death, into life.”
Gaza has been under siege for almost a decade, since the Islamist militia Hamas took power in the isolated strip following a brief period of attempted co-rule with Fatah, the party of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
Gazans live within the almost hermetic borders of the two countries that are their neighbors, Israel and Egypt, and are subject to an Israeli naval blockade which strictly limits any access by sea.
During the past decade, Israel and Hamas have engaged in 3 wars, the first in 2008–9, which Israel designated Operation Cast Lead, the 2012 operation, named Pillar of Defense, and the most recent and deadly operation, Protective Edge, which raged in the summer of 2014, in which about 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed.
The World Bank considers the Gazan economy to be on the verge of collapse, and the “status quo in Gaza [is] unsustainable.”
In a report published last year, the international body said that the Gazan unemployment rate of 43% is the highest in the world, with youth unemployment static at an almost unimaginable 60%.
“Blockades, war and poor governance have strangled Gaza’s economy,” the report said, adding that Gaza’s GDP would be four times higher were it not for conflicts and restrictions.
The project’s supporters include a preponderance of Israelis, including some of the country’s biggest spenders. Gilad Keren spent the highest amount, purchasing a hand-embroidered evening gown, purse and handbag for $1000.
Facebook user Miriam Waltz, another new customer, admiringly said that Mohammed founder her way to Walyz via the social media site and sent her a direct message. “She seems to be very well connected and knows how to use Facebook to the maximum,” she told The Media Line.
Nurit Steinfeld spent $250, which gets you a hand-embroidered purse or scarf adorned with the red, white and green colors of the Palestinian flag. One donor, who gave his or her name as “elinevo52,” donated $700—for which he or she will receive an evening gown.
Laura Wharton, a member of Jerusalem’s municipal council representing the left-wing Meretz party, is among the donors.
“I always try to keep my eye out for what is going on in Gaza,” she told The Media Line. “I feel sorry for the people who live there and have no way out of the predicament they’re in. I also think it is in Israel’s interest to be aware and do everything possible to try to help.”
She became aware of the project through the good graces of the internet, or, in her words, “through common friends, who posted an image that came up on my feed—and I thought it was just terrific. It involves women, initiative, crafts, and also, this offers us the ability to help people who are helping themselves. It’s not just truckloads of food, which of course should also be donated, but this is a way of participating in a project through which young women with initiative are building their own lives and improving themselves.”
For many Gazans, contact of any sort with Israelis is fraught with difficulty and danger. Since the Hamas takeover of the strip, Gazans living along the border have severed ties even to Israeli friends of long-standing, who sometimes live only a few hundred yards away across he border, for fear of repercussions.
“I know that all who respond to us are peace supporters,” Mohammed says. “I support peace and I hope we can live with peace, love and without wars.”
How, with the blockade that is in place and h closed borders, will she be able to send any packages to Israel? “I can send them via DHL,” Mohammed practically replies.