April 18, 2018

Earth Day in Palestine and Why We Sell Handmade...

Earth Day. In a country where the Israeli occupation literally dumps its sewage and nuclear waste on the occupied people, where the Palestinian government turns a blind eye to construction waste dumping and allows for uncontrolled development, where the people have been moved into apartments in a city, removed from our heritage and nature, we badly need opportunities to reconnect with and revive our responsibility towards our beautiful bit of this Earth called Palestine.

It all started 9 years ago when my husband and I met. He was non stop talking about wanting to buy land and build an arboretum. It was his biggest dream and he wouldn't shut up or give up. And I love that about him!

Fast forward. We bought the land. We registered as a not for profit. We started planting and growing trees. We hosted families and school groups and hiking groups, teaching and workshopping together. It has been amazing as we develop this space into an arboretum. We have planted over 100 trees between the 110 olives already on the land and the hundreds of oaks, hawthorns, carob and wild pear trees.

It's been a lot of work and mostly volunteer with no funding. We aren't complaining. Challenges make us stronger and more creative. And that's why I started Handmade Palestine: to support artisans in Palestine and to raise money to plant trees at Mashjar Juthour.

So for this Earth Day, we are challenging ourselves to raise 500 dollars profit from sales to plant and care for 12 more trees and plants. That's buying the tree, fertilizer, adding irrigation pipes to it, and a sign with the name! Help us please.

Every purchase on handmadepalestine.com raises money to plant trees. We buy from the artisans fair trade and then sell online, donating 100% of the profit.

Use the code EarthDay to save 15% off site wide. Also please share this message and code with friends.

We're going to have a special Earth Day giveaway! Sustainably sourced olive wood from the north of Palestine is carved into beautiful kitchen utensils! A honey spoon and salad claws are up for grabs.