WUNRN
UNRWA
Following
the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established by United
Nations General Assembly resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 to carry out
direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees. In the absence of a
solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the UN General Assembly has
repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June
2008.
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Palestine/Gaza - Mother Aysha
Meet
Mother Aysha Hamid, an extraordinary 65-year old woman living in Gaza. Aysha
supports a family of 26 by making traditional Palestinian embroideries and
dresses, and by working the markets of Gaza, buying and selling clothes.
Aysha defied the male members of her family when, as a young woman, she first pursued a career as a tradeswoman. "They tried to stop me, but they couldn’t," she recalls. "I’m like a smoking addict. I have the cravings for it. All the patterns are stored in my head. Even though I can’t read, I copy beautiful patterns from pictures in magazines."
Aysha first became a client of UNRWA’s Microfinances and Microcredit Programme in 1994. She received a loan of 1000 shekels. Eleven years and sixteen loans later, her business keeps expanding, and her most recent loan was for USD3000. "If you take a loan, you have to pay it back," is the advice Aysha gives to other women wanting to start their own businesses.
Mother Aysha , directed by Johan Eriksson won the Best UN Short in ‘Stories
in the Field; The First United Nations Documentary Film Festival in Cooperation
with the United Nations Department of Public Information and The New School’ in
2006.
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