Since its founding in 1969, the Association has started several projects, the expenses of which have been covered partly by generous donations but mainly by the income generated from the marketing and selling of the beautiful Palestinian hand embroidered products symbolized mainly by: The Cushion.
Our cushions are exquisitely embroidered with beautiful designs derived from the specific patterns and motifs found on the different villagers dresses, associated with specific Palestinian villages. Just as these dresses, still worn today have acquired a new significance as expressions of a Palestinian National Identity, the cushion, in its turn, has become another symbol of a nation's National Heritage.
In the context of a dispersed and fragmented society, in an era where tradition and culture have become extremely precious, one means of saving some of the values of a nation has become the preserving, reproducing and promoting of the heritage of the Traditional Palestinian Embroidery.
The Association for the Development of Palestinian Camps is a Lebanese social and cultural association founded in 1969 by a group of Lebanese & Palestinian ladies. These ladies foresaw the necessity of preserving the heritage of traditional Palestinian embroidery which would also bring means of financial support to many needy families in the camps. Our current projects are administered by several dedicated employees under the guidance and advice of a group of volunteers who are usually members of the General Assembly of the elected Board of Directors.
The Kindergartens:
Objectives:
Provide preschool education for children between the ages
3-5 years.
Locations: Near Al Jaleel Camp -Baalbeck
Borj El Barajneh Camp - Beirut
Mar Elias Camp - Beirut
Beneficiaries: 276 children
The Revolving Fund:
Objectives:
Helping small skilled artisans with small loans to start a
business on a "pay back- basis".
Beneficiaries: 250 skilled men and women
Mar Elias Cultural Center"
Objectives:
Providing a meeting place for the young generation of the camp to
exercise different cultural and entertaining activities such as
sports, drawing, chess, acting, teaching illiterate people and others.
Also included is a library and an evening school.
Location: Mar Elias Camp, Beirut.
Beneficiaries: 450 young boys, girls and women.
Auto Mechanics Training Center:
Objectives:
Training young men between 18-25 years.
Location: Borj El Barajneh Camp.
Beneficiaries: 30 students every six months.
The Old Age Project
Objectives:
Giving monthly financial support to needy elderly people
in the different camps.
Location: The project is administered from the Ras Beirut main
center.
Beneficiaries: 55 old men and women above 60 years of age.
