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ABOUT US

Bless Your Hands is an initiative which support the socio-economic and environmental well-being of the communities of Israeli and Jordanian women from both sides of Wadi Arava.

The project creates an arena for the women to promote and preserve traditional women's crafts  and serves as a joint platform that connects Jordanian and Israeli women through creating together handcrafts and art, with professional business development and tourism session.

OUR STORY

Following a call from the Israeli Ministry of Regional Cooperation in the winter of 2018, a group of women from the Central Arava region went on a journey to visit different women's cooperatives and organizations in Jordan, and a core partnership was founded. Two groups of 20 women each (one Jordanian and one Israeli group) were established and started meetings and seminars in both Israel and Jordan. The first couple of seminars were exploratory crafts seminars creating in wide art fields and with a variety of materials and techniques: wool weaving, botanic-print, silver crafting, mosaic and more.

These joint meetings and seminars created a new cross-border circle of connections and a vision was born, the establishment of a Jordanian-Israeli women's business at the lowest valley on earth. The joint work, the exchange of skills and the professional knowledge were consolidated together into a work plan based upon cross-border-products, half of which are manufactured in Jordan and half in Israel. The joint manufacturing process is based on traditional techniques with a strict adherence to the use of natural, sustainable materials and processes. We have created a range of products based on wool felting and botanic-prints using only natural materials and sustainable processes. It was also decided at the joint meetings to set up joint women desert art seminars to be held in Jordan and Israel and share to other women from around the globe to experience the outlifting experience among the Jordanian and Israeli friendships. The first project phase was organized by i.Greens in Jordan and Dead Sea and Arava Center in Israel with the support of the Central Arava Regional Council and Community Center.

OUR VISION & GOALS

Bless Your Hands is a women's entrepreneurship project between two countries, making it possible for all decisions and developments to be freely made by the participating women.

The joint meetings and seminars created a new cross-border circle of connections, and developed a vision for the establishment of a Jordanian-Israeli women's partnership in the lowest valley on earth.

Our business model is that of a sustainable community economy, divided into Israeli and Jordanian joint mandates: product development, marketing and branding, rationale, tourism and content team. Our goal is to provide an economic alternative for income for the Israeli and Jordanian artists, and to improve the diversity of employment available to women today in the Arava Valley.

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