Palestinian Women Artisans: Introducing Amal, a project for hope, our newest partners

This summer, I had the great pleasure to meet Mai from the food blog Almond and Fig.  She came to my garden in Ramallah one summer day and she happened to bring along her mum, a woman whom I had yet to realize would become a partner, a comrade, an aunty. Mai's mom Fadwa runs Sunflower Association and in her capacity as director of the Association, she created Amal, a project for women's training and job creation. 

I visited their project in arRam and immediately fell in love with the energy and possibilities. I decided right away I wanted to support their efforts. 

We began working through Amal's identity and branding, product designs, online presence and more. This kind of support has become very important to mission of Handmade Palestine. So many amazing and talented artisans generate designs and create handicrafts but don't have the skills or knowledge to get them off the ground. Working with these artisans, and especially with Fadwa and her team at Amal, is such an honour. They are so skilled and capable and create beautiful products. 

For now we are working on leather and traditional embroidery called tatreez as well as our new kitchen line but we invite you to join forces with us and Amal, because next spring we'll launch a crowdfunding campaign to support them in creating a whole new type of handicraft. 

Amal really does bring hope to the women in the workshop. Fadwa's aim in creating this income generation crafts project was to train women who don't have any employable skills and didn't have the opportunity to access education. She did just that and next year we hope to support Amal in doubling their impact through the crowdfunding campaign and selling on our site. 

It is truly encouraging to be able to support and participate in creating beautiful products with beautiful people. It is our great honor to introduce you to Amal and the women behind the label. Please shop their collection here.