The charity of the month that we will be supporting for the month of May is called Lajee (Lajee is Refugee in Arabic) which is a grassroots creative and cultural centre near Bethlehem.

The Lajee (refugee in Arabic) Centre is a community-based grassroots creative cultural centre that works with new generations of Palestinians as they continue their ongoing struggle for justice and rights for Palestine and all Palestinians. Projects range from Holistic, Health Support, a Gym, many summer camps for children and international visitors, a Hydroponic Garden and of course they host the kindergarten in their building.

Education is another essential resource that refugees in the West Bank struggle to access. Schooling options are underfunded, extremely overcrowded, out of reach, or do not meet a child's learning needs. Often children must pass through armed checkpoints just to get to school, with all the fear, trauma and humiliation this entails. The first phase of Zahrat Al Yasmeen is (Jasmine flower) Kindergarten, opened in 2021, was designed to address this.

They are raising funds to build a new classroom for Zahrat Al-Yasmeen Kindergarten, a community-run safe place for 3-5 year olds in Aida Refugee Camp, near Bethlehem. The Zahrat Al-Yasmeen approach is built around coping skills and working with the high stress and trauma levels Palestinian children have due to living under an illegal military occupation and suffering regular chemical weapons attacks from the nearby military base. The new classroom will offer 25 new places for teachers to guide and support children via a trauma-informed play-based programme centered on nature, art, drama, music, storytelling, cooking, dabke dancing, olive harvesting singing and puppetry.

if you’d like to contribute there is a go fund me link just below that will go directly to them

https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-new-classroom-for-zay-kindergarten

We are raising funds through this event to support the amazing work done by the kindergarten and its team.

We have partnered with the talented Menna from IAR Studios to help make this a fun and unique experience. She has created a workshop to teach you how to make a dry print using recycled tetra packs, it will follow by a pizza buffet and a pint of your choice.

Get your creative juices flowing there’s a link below to grab a ticket or two!!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pint-pizza-print-tickets-627246550317