SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AREA:

Abstract

       Zababdeh: a Palestinian village one and one-half hours north of Jerusalem in the West Bank North Region.

       POPULATION: Region -400,000; Commuting Area -200,000; Zababdeh vicinity - 15,000; Zababdeh -2,500.

       CONFESSION: Zababdeh is 75% Christian (1,875 people); Area and region exclusively Muslim {There are a total of 2,300 Christians scattered across a population base of 400,000 people}.

       NORTH REGION considered poorest sector in the West Bank.

       Majority of Zababdeh-ians are unskilled and working poor.

       ZABABDEH SCHOOL largest direct employer of townspeople, offering the highest standard of education in the region; Indirectly, Zababdeh School employs many others.

       Zababdeh-ians forced to leave home to pursue better life opportunities elsewhere (currently 2,000 former residents or "exiles" live outside of Palestine); Many long to return home

       Zababdeh Latin School provides the strongest base for community/area relations.

       'The New Zababdeh School & Resource Center': Holding out hope to thousands of Palestinians in West Bank North Region.

       Zababdeh is located in the poor, under-developed, often overlooked Northern Region of Occupied Palestine, ninety-minutes by car from Jerusalem to the south and just under forty-minutes drive from Nazareth, inside the boundaries of the state of Israel to its north.

       Zababdeh is a central location in an expanding West Bank sector: A village of 2,500 people1 it is the future planned "center" of a developing village area comprising ten local villages numbering 15,000 people; increasingly Zababdeb is becoming a focal point for a burgeoning regional populace of 400,000 Palestinians.

       Zababdeh is a "Christian" village; 75% of its resident population, or 1,875 people, are Christian. In the area and in the region, however, people of the Muslim faith predominate.

       From Zababdeh Schools current school roster of 550 students, 300 are Christian and 250 are Muslim.

ECONOMY:

       Zababdeh's resource is rich fertile land, yet inaccessibility to enough water makes it virtually impossible to tap the potential of the area. Because of this, land has little bearing on Zababdeh's economic and social struggle. Agricultural output is derived principally from olives through a local abundance of oliv6 trees, but these only bear fruit every two years. There is some local small industry9 such as farm produce for sale, and a sewing shop serving Israeli clientele. The most successful developed industry in Zababdeh is "advance standard" education, produced solely by Zababdeh Latin School.

EMPLOYMENT:

       The majority of Zababdeh citizens are unskilled. Unskilled employment opportunities come mainly in the agricultural sector, primarily at planting and harvest times. A small number of skilled men and women work in the nursing profession in the larger centers of Jinen, 15 km away, and Nablus, 45 km away. Trained elementary and primary school instructors are employed by Zababdeh Latin school, and in other area schools. Most Zababdeh-ians fortunate enough to be employed in the workplace work outside of Zababdeh, again, generally as unskilled and low wage laborers.

       Zababdeh School is the single largest steady employer in Zababdeh, currently with a total of thirty teachers and workers on staff. Zababdeh School is most arguably the largest indirect employer in town: for instance, the Zababdeh Bus Company1 with eight full-time drivers during the school year1 ferries 275 students daily in and out of Zababdeh from the surrounding and outlying areas; while a number of local village shops and trades owe their existence and prosperity to the residual benefits Zababdeh Latin School provides.

SOCIAL:

       The average Zababdeh family has eight members. Average family income is less than 400 NIS per month ($130 U.S.) Zababdeh is easily classified as a poor village. Surprisingly, perhaps, most residents are educated and literate, many having received their "Tauwjihi" high-school graduation certification. This is due to the fact that the Latin Patriarchate has in the past and today continues to wave tuition fees for Zababdeh's poorest families.

EXODUS:

       A tragic reality of the second half of this century is the uprooting and encouraged exodus due to imposed hardships, of many Palestinians off traditional lands. This is true of Zababdeh and its people. Sadly, many Zababdeh-ians leave home after finishing their schooling (in Zababdeh School) for better continuing education and life opportunities elsewhere, across Palestine and beyond. According to reports, many of the now estimated 2,000 exiles would like to return to the village, but shifting politics have yet to improve existing conditions to a point where former residents inside and outside of Palestine feel confident that they can come home again.

ZABABDEH LATIN SCHOOL:

       For those who do remain at home, Zababdeh Latin School and its facilities serve as the strongest single base for community relations, open and responsive to the needs of the townspeople. From weekly Boy and Girl Scout meetings, to civil discussions on the ad-hoc judiciary, to Parent-Teacher sessions, the very existence of these facilities continues to promote public access and interchange, and keeps alive many integral forms of community expression and development in Zababdeh.

       HOPE FOR PEACE IN PALESTINE is already bearing fruitful promise in Zababdeh. More townspeople and others from the commuting vicinity are seeking to enroll their children in Zababdeh School that they might later profit from the advance-standard education and instruction it offers in a free (or at least more open) society. Satisfying rising enrollment pleas and other emerging needs in the north requires an expanded base, and construction of 'the New Zababdeh School & Resource Center' supplies the base needed to effectively marshal plans of response to all varied village-to-regional educational, social, and cultural needs currently not being met anywhere in the North Region on the scale now warranted.

       Zababdeh is an ideal location in the North Region at this time for an education based, multi-use facility offering flexible capacity designed on foundational themes of social- renewal, social-integration, and social-progress. A new Combined School/Resource Center for Zababdeh is sure to have powerful, positive, and long lasting impact on the lives of thousands of North Region Palestinians who presently are at a loss and in need of hopeful opportunities Th these areas.

      INSTITUTION BACKGROUND:

       Zababdeh Latin School built by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 1883.

       From inception thousands of graduates have entered into the wider Palestinian society.

       School structure and facilities today in sharp decline.

       Location of Zababdeb School in relation to town; present-day circumstances.

       Enrollment demands exceed availability and speed decay.

       Inadequate water and washroom facilities pose health risk.

       Zababdeh School continues to provide advanced academic standards to its students.

       The first Latin School in Zababdeh was built in 1883. It was founded by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem on the precept of strengthening the community of Zababdeh Christians through education and upon principles of social-conscientiousness (community minded citizenship). Since then thousands of Christians and growing numbers of Muslim children have taken, and are continuing to take their Pre-School, kindergarten, Elementary and Primary (up to grade nine) instruction there.

       Zababdeh School is located at the north end of town on church grounds. On this property, surrounded by a perimeter fence, church and school are nominally connected; in the first instance, the basement area under the church has been converted into classroom space, opening onto an asphalt common; in the second, the two-story school structure is itself adjacent to the church. Over the years Zababdeh School has been renovated and new construction added on to keep pace with growth and demands. This latest incarnation, specifically the free-standing complex adjacent to the church, was built in 1984 to receive an influx of more students than what available space could then handle, raising school enrollment capacity to a new total of 380 students.

       As was the case at the time, limited funds purchased results now proven as temporary and out-dated; poor construction methods and materials used by contractors in the structure are now not sufficient for longer term usage. In fact, costly, chronic repairs are today a troublesome corollary.

       Zababdeh School with a Day School population today of 550 students has been forced to move some classes off school premises altogether. These classes have been instated across the street on the main floor of the home belonging to the Rosary sisters (an order of native Palestinian religious sisters attached to Latin Patriarchate School parishes).

       Maintaining healthy, hygienic conditions is a compounding problem: there are neither proper facilities nor the available capital means to meet these increased demands.

       Already a leader educational institution in the Northern Region of the West Bank, expansion from primary to full Secondary school offerings - to 'Tauwjihi' certification - is in progress. Beginning next year, Zababdeh School will implement "Grade i0~ for a small number of students. This response is rooted in the palpable deficiency of quality instruction elsewhere in the region and reflects an urgent need. Next year and the following year Zababdeh School will attempt to add grades eleven and twelve to its already critically burdened capacity.

       Despite existing and mounting pressures to perform, Zababdeh School continues to provide “advanced” standard education to its students.