Our activities are open for everybody and they are for free. So people now know us. They know that if they want to participate in the activity, they can come and participate.

Today’s Good People, Good Works will be presented in Arabic and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Welcome, good-natured viewers, to today’s edition of Good People, Good Works featuring the first in a two-part series on Project Hope, a Palestinian non-profit volunteer organization that provides educational and artistic opportunities for Palestine’s less fortunate young adults and children. The group also conducts practical training sessions in humanitarian relief work to empower the younger generation with hope and skills for the future.

Project Hope, as you can see from the name, is an initiative that tries to give hope to children in this area. Project Hope has been in existence for the last six years. We provide different kinds of activities for the kids.

Project Hope’s programs are varied and include “Bridge to the World,” where children create a blog in a foreign language to connect to people in other nations, workshops on human rights and conflict resolution, English and French language classes, creative arts classes, and musical workshops. Many of these activities involve international instructors.

I think it's important to bring the world to the kids, especially to show them that there are other people that are living here that they can communicate with. And I think part of the thing that gives hope to the children is to see that there are other people in the world that care about them, that care about their situation, and when they come here, it's like giving them energy and giving them hope, and I think that's important.

Because, when you see the people that come here, they come to help, they come from Korea. They come from Japan. They come from Canada or from France and they come to help you. This gives you hope that there are these people who want to help you. They care about you and this gives you energy to continue. And so, it's important to give the kids this positive energy and these hopeful circumstances and atmosphere.

Palestinian young people are keen to learn English because to qualify for many university scholarships, one must be able to speak the language and English fluency opens many doors in terms of employment opportunities. Let’s learn more about Project Hope’s English as a second language courses.

Basically, in these courses we want people to learn English because it's a global language now and it's needed by the community. For other courses, for example, even with English, like when an international (organization) comes to give a class in the (refugee) camp, in one of the camps here in Nablus, they would be able to talk to the children or the women to learn more about their lives, and the students could express themselves through these courses or through drama or arts classes.

So it’s a changing experience for them. It's both a teaching and learning process because not only does the student learn something, but also the teacher learns something from these students.

Yes, I’ve been volunteering with Project Hope for two years. I graduated in 2007, and I came here as a local volunteer as a start, and I was working in another organization. Afterwards SCI International, which is Service Civil International in Europe, they chose me to participate there, and when I came back here three months ago I officially was employed in Project Hope as the English coordinator.

With the help of volunteers, Project Hope is making a wonderful contribution to the welfare of the communities north of the West Bank, particularly the city of Nablus and its refugee camps.

We are now working in the district of Nablus and there are around 330,000 inhabitants. That's a lot of people. South of the West Bank, Ramallah, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, they have a lot of NGOs that are based there. So the northern West Bank, we think, is more in need of our activities. So we try to focus on the north of the West Bank. Now we have started doing activities in other cities like Tulkarm, Jenin, and the villages north of Nablus.

In Nablus you have four refugee camps, including the Balata refugee camp, which is the biggest in the West Bank. Most of the people that are refugees in Nablus come from the area of Jaffa, which is now part of Tel Aviv, and they come from the rural area. So they come from the villages around Jaffa.

And the villagers, their wealth is the land. Because they used to own land, orchards with plants and things like that. So when they came here, they lost everything that they owned. So they came here with nothing. And so, they became refugees without income.

So this is why the refugee camps now in Nablus are the poorest areas in the city. And this is why we think that it's important for us to work in these areas, these poor neighborhoods now, the refugee camps and to try and help them with the different kinds of activities, which can range from language courses, to art, to drama, to music.

When we return, we’ll hear more about Project Hope, which is greatly benefitting Palestinian communities. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Good People, Good Works here on Supreme Master Television. We now continue our interview with the dedicated staff of Palestine’s non-profit, volunteer-based organization, Project Hope. Mr. Hakim Sabbah, director of the group now discusses how Project Hope makes its constructive programs available to a diverse population.

We have activities throughout the year. In the summer, of course, it’s from the morning to the whole day. We hold our activities every day in the winter and the summer until 8:00 PM. During school days, we work with the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) schools, the United Nations schools in the refugee camps, and we have activities in the morning and during school hours.

The schools here stop at about 12, 1 o'clock. So we have the whole afternoon for activities. In the mornings sometimes we start as early as 7:00 AM in the schools. And then, during the morning until 12 o'clock, we mostly have activities for housewives. And then after 12 o'clock, we have activities for all the different segments of the public. So we try to have activities throughout the day for different categories of people.

We have language courses as well for housewives so that they can help their kids with their homework, when the kids are back from school, so that they have better command of the English language. Right now, we have 16 different groups for adults going a week for English, especially conversational English.

A fascinating Project Hope initiative is the publication of a graphic novel in English about the life experiences of the Palestinian people. The book, called the “West Bank Graphic Novel Stories” is made up of 12 tales, some fictional, others autobiographical, and is meant for locals and the international community.

We have arts for example, for university students. We are preparing the printing of the first graphic novel, which has been created by 12 young local Palestinian artists, university students. Graphic novel is an art form that is not known in Palestine, so we want to introduce this to the Palestinian community. And it's a means for them as artists to express what they want, to express their feelings on paper and so on.

Project Hope is deeply involved in the community life of Nablus and truly reaches a great number of the population through its programs.

We work in 40 different locations in the city, the four refugee camps, the old city, the city of Nablus, and some villages as well. And we touch the lives of between 700 and 1,000 beneficiaries of our activities a month.

In the summer we have more activities, during the yearly school vacation. And the number goes up to between 1,000 and 1,500 beneficiaries of the activities each month. The programs that we have developed throughout the years are the English teaching program and French as well. We teach other languages as well to their kids so that they would meet other cultures.

We think that it's very important for the children to meet people from other cultures. We had volunteers from the Far East. We've had volunteers from South Korea and from Japan. And we’ve taught Korean and Japanese over the past years as well. As I say, especially in this part of the world we think that it's important that they have hope and that they would live peaceful lives.

Project Hope is one of the NGOs that help Palestinians, like any other NGO in Palestine. We're not a very big NGO, but we try to give something with the resources available to us here at Project Hope, like giving free courses in English or other things for children. So any applicants who come to take an English course here don't pay any fees, only the exam fees, and it's not that much.

So we have lots of people coming here and I love the place here because everyone has an understanding between them and they are sharing wonderful experiences here. I think that Project Hope is really an important place. It's an important NGO and gives a lot to the Palestinian community.

I definitely would love to see peace here in Palestine, and definitely with the help of the international community, we're going to get there.

We thank all the staff members and volunteers of Project Hope, including director Hakim Sabbah, Janet Salah, and Haneen Masri for their dedication and commitment to bringing hope and peace to the Palestinian people! May your fine work continue to uplift the hearts of many more Palestinians.

Honored viewers, please join us again next Sunday on Good People, Good Works for the second part of our two-part series on Project Hope.

For more details on Project Hope, please visit www.ProjectHope.ps

Thank you for joining us today on our program. May harmony and love always be with you.

Today’s Good People, Good Works will be presented in Arabic and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Welcome, forward-thinking viewers, to another edition of Good People, Good Works. Today’s show is the conclusion of a two-part series on Project Hope, a Palestinian non-profit volunteer organization that provides educational and artistic opportunities for Palestine’s less fortunate young adults and children. The group also conducts practical training sessions in humanitarian relief work to empower the younger generation with hope and skills for the future.

Project Hope, as you can see from the name, is an initiative that tries to give hope to children in this area. Project Hope has been in existence for the last six years. We provide different kinds of activities for the kids.

To accomplish its mission of serving those who primarily live in the city of Nablus, which is north of the West Bank, Project Hope welcomes both local and international volunteers, who are encouraged to share what they are passionate about with the Palestinian youth.

These spirited souls from abroad may lead activities that range from photography classes to volleyball matches. One French volunteer taught a year -long theater class which culminated with the children putting on a short play in French.

We have 200 international volunteers that come to Project Hope a year. And we have more and more demand, more and more people want to come. Most of them come from the English- and French-speaking worlds. So we have a lot of people from the USA. We have a lot of people from Canada, England, Britain and in general, France. So most of them come from these countries.

We have a very small percentage from the Far East. So, I would really like to have more people from the Far East because for Palestinians it's very rare for them to see people from the Far East. It's very important for cultures to meet and for people to know about each others’ cultures as well. And this is one of the dimensions of our work as well.

Through its presence online, Project Hope lets the world know of its laudable initiatives and this helps attract people interested in furthering its work.

I think that now we have solid websites. When you search the Internet, and you want to volunteer in the West Bank, you want to volunteer in Palestine, our website is one of the first to appear.

And we have a second website called NablusGuide.com. So it's a guide to the city of Nablus. And anybody who wants to know information about the city, about the North or the West Bank, logs onto this website. So it's very easy for people to find us and the website is both in English and French.

People find our website and then there is an application where you can volunteer and come here to the West Bank to volunteer. Most people stay around three months, and they come here, and they get enrolled into all our activities. Some people stay six months. Some people want to stay longer.

And so, I think that we give them a good opportunity to know about the culture, to know about the society and Nablus and it's something that is available, and people in Palestine are welcoming, and they like to host people who are coming from the outside.

Indeed, the experience of working and learning at Project Hope has transformed the lives of many volunteers and children.

It's when you see the reaction in the kids’ eyes and how happy they are to be part of the activities it gives you energy and it gives you a motive to want to do this and continue to do this. When you see the people appreciate what you are doing and saying, "Thank you."

And when you see all of these volunteers come from around the world and they come here and they are happy to do the work and then they leave and they are sad because they are leaving. They want to stay longer. And all of this gives you an idea of how important this work is and what you are doing. And it's also about, as I said, bringing people together and closer and all of these issues together give you indications of how important this is.

I’ve seen a lot of people change, whether it's the people that come from the outside or the locals, because we have a big number of local volunteers, people who are university students who come here to volunteer. And as well, in the kids, you see people change. You give people hope There are a lot of things that we are proud of.

We've helped many adults, like university students who came here. When they arrive they thought that they would never finish university, but they finish the university and then that they graduate and they start their masters (degree).

All of this is a success story that we were part of. We have handicapped students as well. And you see how our presence lifts them. You lift them up through what you do, and they come and they say, “Thank you, your presence helped us."

When we return, we’ll learn more about the life-transforming work of Project Hope in Palestine. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Good People, Good Works here on Supreme Master Television for our program profiling Project Hope, an organization that is serving the vibrant Palestinian people of Nablus and the surrounding areas. The Project Hope’s dedicated staff sincerely want to uplift their community and are true shining lights of service to others.

My name is Janet Salah. I work as a translator and English language program assistant at the Project Hope here in Nablus. Basically, I translate from English to Arabic any documents we need or when someone needs to talk to any of the international people that work here or come to visit the city. We’re holding courses in the English language for all levels and all at different ages at the center and in partnership with other centers in Nablus city.

And we have teachers from the United States, Canada, Australia, England, different places around the world. Usually native speakers of English teach English classes and they give other classes like drama, art and sports to children in other centers outside Project Hope. We have people from different sectors of society.

I've been working with Project Hope for two months now, and I love it here because it's a very friendly community inside the center. And we have international people from all over the world who are here to volunteer and help the Palestinian people.

Haneen Masri has been with Project Hope since November 2009. This accomplished young woman from Nablus holds bachelor degrees in English and Italian from the University of Jordan in Amman.

I'm working in Project Hope as the English coordinator. So what I do, basically, is arrange schedules for the international volunteers inside Project Hope for our English classes, activities and French. I'm only responsible for the English classes. So as you see here, for example, we have the names of the volunteers here. We have many volunteers from all over the world. Each volunteer works around 20 hours a week. We have two classrooms.

Others are outside Project Hope. We are dealing with many other centers in the city, in the three (refugee) camps in the old city and also other places in Nablus and the surrounding area. We also have local volunteers besides our international volunteers.

So as you can see here in the schedule I'm coordinating with each international volunteer to have a local volunteer to help him in his classes if they need an interpreter to help them in teaching English, translating, and to help the students, especially at the beginning levels.

Basically we don’t depend on books in our teaching, teachers use their own, experience and they prepare their own lessons. But in case they want some help, we have many books like here, for example, there are some books in French, some in English that stay here. We have those materials also to help.

In March 2010, Safaa, a Project Hope staff member, represented the organization at the Anna Lindh Forum, a gathering in Barcelona, Spain of those seeking to bolster intercultural dialogue between peoples. Safaa made a presentation at the meeting about Project Hope’s “Bridge to the World” program, where Palestinian children create a blog in a foreign language to connect to others abroad.

I’m a French program coordinator. I’m preparing something for French classes. This is related to verbs, to verbs in French. We prepare these things for children. Today we will have a class in the Balata (refugee camp), so I help the volunteers in doing the materials for these classes.

As we look into the lives of people, we see that peace is truly in the hearts of all.

I think it’s all about sharing the culture. We want to show the world that we're just people who are trying to live their normal life, to be part of the globe, to get an education; get a good job, to leave a good future for the next generation.

Here are some closing thoughts from Project Hope’s director, Abdulhakim Sabbah:

The good thing about the Palestinian society is that you have solidarity between people. So, if I have money and my neighbor doesn't have money, I can help my neighbor. And we still have these kinds of ethics of solidarity and people helping the neighbors, people helping the family. And I think that this is what helps us in the difficult times.

I want to say to the people, come here to Palestine if you can come and help in any way. It would be welcome, to help you, to host you.

For transforming Palestinian children’s lives through learning, Supreme Master Ching Hai is honoring Project Hope with the Shining World Caring Award and US$10,000 to further their loving work.

We would like to wish the volunteers and staff of Project Hope, including Director Sabbah, Janet Salah, Haneen Masri, and Safaa, many more joyous experiences in creating an ever brighter future for Palestine. May you all continue to share hope with others in Allah’s eternal love.

For more details on Project Hope,
please visit www.ProjectHope.ps
To learn more about the city of Nablus,
please visit www.NablusGuide.com

Thank you for joining us today on Good People, Good Works. Up next is The World Around Us, right after Noteworthy News. May your days be filled with the grace of Heaven.