At its 5th Annual National Convention in Irvine, CA on Sept. 30, 2000, the American Muslim Alliance presented its "Service to Humanity" award to Barbara Lubin, director of the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA). The award cited Lubin's "inextinguishable love for fellow beings, children in particular," and her "capacity to transcend religious boundaries."
MECA advocates and supports the wellbeing of Middle Eastern children, particularly the children of Palestine and Iraq. Its highly impressive advisory board includes such luminaries as Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Clark, Maya Angelou, John Conyers, Angela Davis, casey Kasem, Riyad Khoury, Alice Walker and Maxine Waters, and the recently deceased Edward Said.
Along with other humanitarian organizations, MECA is reaching out to Iraqis and Iraqi children. Iraqi civilians continue to endure a great deal of hardship despite the end of "major hostilities" declared by President George W. Bush on May 1. Poverty, hunger, disease, looting, death and disruption of normal life are the order of the day. As one Iraqi child put it, "In Iraq, every day is 9/11."
MECA has delivered more than $4.5 million worth of life-saving medicine to the children of Iraq, according to Lubin.
Another MECA project is building "playgrounds for peace," in Palestine. These are based on the theory that opportunities for play are very important in a child's life. If children instead grow up experiencing only anger, hatred and the horror of violence and deprivation, they will have many problems adjusting to life in a later peaceful environment. Therefore MECA is working to build not just playgrounds for Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank towns of Nablus and Al Bireh, but entire parks/play areas with recreation and learning centers, sports fields, fountains, pools, mazes, amphitheaters, miniature villages, orchid gardens, infant areas, climbing structures and more. These parks will be patterned on the best U.S. designs and child development theories and technologies, but with full consideration for Palestinian culture and tradition.
One such community center exists today in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank. Called the Ibdaa Cultural Center (Ibdaa means "to create something out of nothing"), it was established in 1995. Today it serves over 1,500 children and youth annually, and employs over 60 families. The center includes a nursery, kindergarten, computer and Internet service, women's cooperative, sports center, guesthouse, income-generating projects, and many other organized cultural and educational activities.
On June 5 of this year another Ibdaa cultural center under construction in the Gaza city of Beit Hanoun was demolished by the Israeli army to create a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel. Undeterred by the setback, MECA continues its work.
To learn more about MECA call (510) 548-0542, fax (510) 548-0543, e-mail <meca@ mecaforpeace.org> or visit the Web site <www.mecaforpeace.org>.
-Mariam Saeed
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