By Maureen Moore/TWN Staff Writer
Section: Lifestyle

“We want clean drinking water” was the answer from Palestinian children when asked what they wanted for their school. The Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance decided to give them just that, and started the MAIA (“water” in Arabic) Project to fundraise with citizens around the world to build water filtration systems so clean water will be available for anywhere from 150 to 2,000 children.

Two of Willits’ own–brother and sister Omar, 13, and Nayema, 11, Sisemore–heard about the efforts of the MAIA Project and decided to help the cause.

“My brother and I started our fundraising after we attended a peace march in San Francisco when Israel invaded Gaza in 2009,” explained Nayema. “We saw people carrying pictures of babies and children being killed for no reason at all.

“We also saw on TV a lot of bombing of schools, homes, hospitals, and many people dying. This made us very sad to see these pictures and we wanted to do something for the children of Gaza. So we asked our mom if we could place a donation jar in our store, Earth’s Treasures, and we started collecting money for the children of Gaza. We raised awareness in our community. When people asked what the project was about we explained to them about the situation in Palestine.

“Initially we raised about $1,560 dollars. We were trying to find a way to send it to a school or hospital in Gaza, but found it difficult to get the money to them. We heard about the MAIA Project through the MECA, bringing clean water to the children of Palestine, and we decided to donate and put our efforts towards that project.”

In April of the following year, Nayema attended an Arab Woman’s Conference and gave a speech about the two’s fundraising efforts. A donation jar as was also passed through the conference, raising an additional $360. The following month, another $970 was raised at a U.S. Palestinian Community Network meeting where the siblings presented information about the project.

That summer, Omar and Nayema held another fundraiser in front of the family shop, selling lemonade, hot dogs and cookies to passers-by. By the end of the year, the two had raised $4,000, contacted MECA and mailed them the check, allowing them to build a water project for a school in Gaza.

“Again, we want to thank everyone who contributed at the events we attended, and all the individuals who donated at our business,” said Nayema. “We are looking for individuals or businesses to match our contribution in building additional water systems for schools in Gaza.”

To learn more, or donate: www.mecaforpeace.org or call 510-548-0542.

Caption:
Omar and Nayema Sisemore.
(Maureen Moore/TWN)
(c) 2011 The Willits News. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.