Words from Palestinian Counselors and a Healing to Hope Board Member
Watch Our End-of-Year Fundraising Event
Our end-of-year gathering on December 15th was a deeply moving event. It was an honor to hear first-person accounts from Anar counselors Dara Rafeedie, Jiana Isead, and Sahar Mohammad Shadfan, as well as Anar Executive Director Rami Khader. We invite you to read more about these remarkable Anar team members on Anar’s website. At the event, we also witnessed videos and photos of children served by Anar and heard much more about the obstacles that the Anar team faces as they offer vital community-based psychosocial support and arts-based healing to Palestinian children and caregivers. If you weren’t able to join us, you can watch a recording of the event to learn more:
Help Us Purchase a Vehicle
As 2025 comes to a close, we are still fundraising towards the cost of a vehicle for Anar to run its mobile clinic. This vehicle is essential given the scope of Anar’s work and the perilous situation at checkpoints. It will allow Anar to serve the entire West Bank by mid-2025, expanding the reach of healing work with Palestinian children and caregivers.
If you contribute at this time, you will have the option of giving in the name of a loved one during the holiday season. Email info@healingtohope.org with any questions.
Reflections from a HtH Board Member Returning from a Recent Visit to Palestine:
I return from Palestine, after a month with Anar, humbled, moved, and inspired. Witnessing Rami and his staff in action was powerful confirmation that a small, committed group of people can, with the right approach, vision and skills, impact their communities in profound ways. What was also clear to me was Anar’s very real need for a vehicle in order to continue and expand their work across Palestine.
I had the chance to travel with Anar counselors to a number of their sessions with children and young adults, and was able to witness and learn about some of what they face on the road.. Every trip, we passed through military checkpoints, where Palestinians often face tension, humiliation, interrogation, hours of delay, or violence. On one trip, there were settlers shooting at Palestinian cars on the road we planned to take. Luckily, we were alerted before we traveled it. We had to reroute and take a longer way home. On another trip the military set up a roadblock on the road, causing us to have to slowly wind our way through the tiny streets of a refugee camp in order to get back to our destination. They told me of another time recently that the military closed the roads out of the town they had traveled to. They were unable to get home, and had to find a place to sleep that night,
Anything that we can do to make their travel safer and less exhausting would be a great support to them and the critical work they do. Having their own vehicle to carry training and session supplies, negotiate emergencies and unexpected changes, and reduce their travel time and exhaustion is a tangible way we can help Palestinian children and their caregivers.
Thank You
Thank you for supporting the work of Anar and Healing to Hope to advance the well-being and resilience of Palestinian children and caregivers impacted by violence and oppression. We appreciate our entire community for committing to the movement for justice and healing in Palestine.
