Belgian Volunteer Forms Team Work to Plant Trees in Tamun Village
20 March 2005
Over the past three years, Hari Mekhelis, volunteer from Belgium, continued his efforts in the Community Service Center, CSC, in order to offer his solidarity to the Palestinian people in Nablus and its villages, he has worked in different fields of the charitable and humanitarian spheres, working with deprived children and students in need or passing medicine to the families under fire during the Israeli invasion of April 2002.
Hari is devoting much of his time to make the lives of others better, or at least to encourage them to continue to live life while enduring such unbearable conditions that have affected the city of Nablus over the past five years. The old city especially, has been constantly shelled by the Israeli occupation forces.
Hari's current project is aptly entitled Nablus: The City of Flowers, the City of Peace. Hari is well known inside the Old city of Nablus; he has many friends and will often be invited into people's homes for tea or coffee. His project aims to 'brighten' up lives by bringing beautiful flowers and pleasantly scented plants to the balconies of the Old City. This provision of beauty has a great emotional impact on the citizens there.
His latest volunteering work is in Tamun village where he has established a tree planting project in children's schools. Using a committee of students from An-Najah National University to assist him, Hari believes planting these trees as siblings that will grow big and strong symbolizes the hope of Palestinians for a brighter future.
This village was selected for two reasons, firstly Hari has many friends there who he visits and it is home to many of An-Najah students. Secondly, because the village of Tamun is one of the most deprived in the area and so it was seen as the perfect place for regeneration. The team started with five members but has grown rapidly since.
Mr. Sami Alkilani, Director of the CSC commented on how much time Hari devotes (now in his fourth year of such work) to sympathize with the pain and suffering of the deprived Palestinian people. He happily funds some of his projects through his own pension and works tirelessly to find contacts that will provide finance for this work, including working with the Embassy of Belgium in Jerusalem. Along with his compatriot Prof. Robert Lafaelli they constantly press the Belgian embassy for donations.
Hari said 'after four years volunteering in the CSC, I feel that the voluntary work I do adds something, however small, to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom. The best appreciation I get is the children's smiles and the friendship and spirit of the innocent people in Tamun and the Old City of Nablus.
Hari is devoting much of his time to make the lives of others better, or at least to encourage them to continue to live life while enduring such unbearable conditions that have affected the city of Nablus over the past five years. The old city especially, has been constantly shelled by the Israeli occupation forces.
Hari's current project is aptly entitled Nablus: The City of Flowers, the City of Peace. Hari is well known inside the Old city of Nablus; he has many friends and will often be invited into people's homes for tea or coffee. His project aims to 'brighten' up lives by bringing beautiful flowers and pleasantly scented plants to the balconies of the Old City. This provision of beauty has a great emotional impact on the citizens there.
His latest volunteering work is in Tamun village where he has established a tree planting project in children's schools. Using a committee of students from An-Najah National University to assist him, Hari believes planting these trees as siblings that will grow big and strong symbolizes the hope of Palestinians for a brighter future.
This village was selected for two reasons, firstly Hari has many friends there who he visits and it is home to many of An-Najah students. Secondly, because the village of Tamun is one of the most deprived in the area and so it was seen as the perfect place for regeneration. The team started with five members but has grown rapidly since.
Mr. Sami Alkilani, Director of the CSC commented on how much time Hari devotes (now in his fourth year of such work) to sympathize with the pain and suffering of the deprived Palestinian people. He happily funds some of his projects through his own pension and works tirelessly to find contacts that will provide finance for this work, including working with the Embassy of Belgium in Jerusalem. Along with his compatriot Prof. Robert Lafaelli they constantly press the Belgian embassy for donations.
Hari said 'after four years volunteering in the CSC, I feel that the voluntary work I do adds something, however small, to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom. The best appreciation I get is the children's smiles and the friendship and spirit of the innocent people in Tamun and the Old City of Nablus.
