Melkite Pastoral Center, Ramallah

The Melkite Pastoral Center was established in 1988 in the city of Ramallah during the first Infitada (Palestinian Uprising) by the Greek Catholic Melkite Center. The Center was created as a response to the need and the wishes expressed by women to earn income to supplement their household budget at a time when most of the men in the community were either imprisoned or unemployed. The Melkite Church provides material and facilities where 300 women from Ramallah and 8 nearby villages can obtain fabric and thread, which thy take home to embroider and sew, in exchange for wages. As the villages suffer from high unemployment, poor infrastructure and a lack of social services, the women's income from embroidery work means a great deal to impoverished families. Their work affords schooling for the children, medicine for the elderly, and daily needs such as food and clothing.