Refugee Week Festival Sat 21 June 2014

Only one week to go!
The Refugee Week Festival starts
12 noon in Leichhardt Town Hall, next Saturday, 21st June.
More about the Festival…

The 2014 Refugee Week Festival will support a school transport programme to help teenage girls in the remote community of Dkaika  finish high school. Currently the students have to walk for almost an hour, must walk 7km along a rough 4WD mountain track  to  the nearest high school

The situation in Dkaika
The students have to walk for almost an hour to reach the nearest junior high school and even further to a school where they complete year 12.This has lead to high dropout rates, especially for girls.

Chidren study in front of their classroom – demolished by the Israeli occupation forces.

The solution identified by the community is a school transport plan and with your support, we can help them achieve this.

You can help support the students of Dkaika by coming to our Refugee Week Festival, which will be held on Saturday, 21^st June, in Leichhardt Town Hall. The money raised will pay the wages of a driver and we hope, the running costs of the vehicle, to take students to high school and university.

To read a full report about the village and our proposed project to support education access to the community click here.
For Festival details, email hebronleichhardt@gmail.com.
Donations are welcome and can be made here.

Leichhardt Friends of Hebron have been successful in supporting the establishment of three kindergarten facilities in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills. Through our partnership with the Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN) we are working with some of the most impoverished, vulnerable and threatened communities in the area.

Dkaika is one of these, an isolated and vulnerable community in the far south of Palestine, only metres from the boundary with Israel. Sadly, the community faces a targeted campaign of isolation and destruction from the Israeli Army.

The Israeli authorities are threatening to demolish 35 homes and buildings, including at least one classroom. At least 4 homes and one classroom have already been demolished.

They also prevent the community from accessing the most basic services, including electricity and running water although these are provided to Israeli residents of nearby illegal settlements. Despite the hardship this causes, people feel able to remain on their traditional lands as long as their children have access to education, which is highly valued in Palestine people.

Since 2009, Leichhardt Friends of Hebron have been successful in supporting the establishment of three kindergarten facilities in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills. Through our partnership with the Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN) we are working with some of the most impoverished, vulnerable and threatened communities in the area.