Introduction to Hope Flowers
Hope Flowers is a project oriented toward peace education, trauma reduction, development of democracy and community and the furthering of human rights.
 |
It is based in Bethlehem, Palestine, a small historic city well-known as a holy place, nowadays severely affected by the world's longest-lasting conflict.
Fine guiding principles, high educational standards, dedicated staff and parents, the pressure of need and an innovative response to ongoing facts in Palestine have made Hope Flowers a worldwide leader in its field.
This is the observation of outside observers more than a claim of the management and staff. They mainly preoccupy themselves with the matter of getting through each day in the midst of a tricky situation.
The main focus of Hope Flowers is peace-building, rights-based education and dealing positively with the wider social effects of conflict.
Life in Palestine is challenging and, even today, Hope Flowers School is under threat from the possible forced demolition of its neighbourhood and even of its own buildings.
How it all started
|
Watch an 11-minute video introducing the Hope Flowers School:
|
It all started in 1984 as a kindergarten founded by the late Hussein Issa.
It served refugee and disadvantaged children in Bethlehem area, starting, as Hussein once said, from 'below zero'. It scraped through its first few years with little more than good intentions and hard work.
By 1994, following the first intifada (uprising), it had become a secondary school in a new building in al Khader in the west of Bethlehem. It began attracting interest and support from the world over.
Challenges
Things were greatly set back during the second intifada of 2000-04 and the wider social effects that arose from it.
Children were withdrawn from school, the economy collapsed, there were troop incursions and road closures, and overseas support declined. But this also brought a rebirth too at Hope Flowers.
Breakthrough
By 2004 the Hope Flowers Center for Education and Community Development was started, focusing on adult education, professional training and community development.
Hope Flowers now trains teachers from UNRWA and other schools elsewhere in Palestine and the Middle East, and its knowledge and experience are increasingly being spread internationally.
This website gives full details about the Hope Flowers School and the Hope Flowers Center for Education and Community Development.
 |
It is an online resource providing insights into this kind of education, aimed at reviving a damaged society and healing the deep effects of trauma and conflict.
Our approach
As Hussein Issa once said, every act of violence begins with an unhealed wound. This is the basis of the approach of Hope Flowers to education and community development.
This approach works well, and we suggest it is an effective, economic and all-round approach to 'resetting' the social agenda in any society scarred by war and hardship.
The founder
Hussein Issa was a refugee born in 1947 at the time of, to Palestinians, the Nakba or Disaster of 1948. His family came from Ramle near Tel Aviv, in what is now Israel. They lost all their property and fled to the Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. He grew up in poor conditions, educated himself, studied social work and education at Bethlehem University and then evolved into a social visionary and educationalist. After founding Hope Flowers and running it for 16 years, he died in 2000, aged 52.
How we survive
The school relies on donations big and small from people, trusts and institutions worldwide. The recent global economic downturn has made this difficult, and we are renewing our efforts to keep going and find new funding sources.
Otherwise, we rely on the dedication of our staff and supporters, who believe in what we're doing and want to be a part of it.
We invite you to join our mailing list or even to
visit Bethlehem and stay at the school as a guest.
NEXT: Key Points in our educational approach
OR: proceed to the Hope Flowers School
or the Center for Education and Community Development