Hope Flowers is a charity that helps educate children traumatised by conflict and who are exposed to poverty, malnutrition and lack of perspective.Across the four Weekends the following amounts were raised:
- Poland - 643 Euros
- Leicester - £1000 (plus a £500 private donation)
- Canada - 2118 Euros
- Lisbon - 2240 Euros
The Hope Flowers Foundation has three pillars of activity: Hope Flowers School for elementary education; Hope Flowers Center for community development; and Radio Zouhour for providing information mixed with culture.
The School:
Hope Flowers School has been a pioneer in constructive peace education for over 30 years. The school focuses on children aged 5 to 14 who have been traumatised by conflict and who are exposed to poverty, malnutrition and lack of perspective. The mission: “we are educating for the well-being of humanity”.
The school’s mission becomes extra meaningful when you look at the immediate surroundings. Because the school is located in the occupied Westbank, pupils are regularly confronted with the consequences of occupation: the separation wall that runs through Bethlehem, military checkpoints, agression, road blocks, soldiers in the streets. Many pupils have some form of trauma in various degrees of depth, that influences their behaviour and academic results. Many children also are affected by poverty, malnutrition and lack of perspective.
Hope Flowers School offers these children education and support in a safe environment, and has been doing so for over 30 years. The school’s mission is explicitly humanitarian, and is realised via the curriculum and care for the children. The approach is holistic, it’s a mix of education, physical care, psycho-social support, and a building that is also accessible for handicapped children.
The fact that this approach has been taken for over 35 years is a clear sign of continuity. And now sustainability is coming into the picture with plans for water recycling and solar energy, even as these developments are not obvious in the context of Westbank economic restrictions imposed by occupation. For Hope Flowers School, sustainability is linked to self sufficiency, thus enhancing independence.
The Community Center:
The Hope Flowers Community Center works to strengthen the local community with professional training and activities that focus on ’empowerment’.
The key concept is ‘post-conflict recovery’. The Center is here for the needs of people living under the pressures of occupation by another country.
The Radio Station:
Radio Zouhour broadcasts practical information mixed with culture, in line with the philosophy of Hope Flowers.
So on behalf of the band a big thank you again to everyone who bought raffle tickets, crochetted hearts and otherwise contributed to these fantastic totals.
For more information about Hope Flowers click on the logo below.
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