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AEI presently works on the development of a full-fledged resource center with educational publications, media equipments, videos, traditional clothes, drama props, musical instruments and games available to local
schools and communities.
AEI is also the publisher of a new book series called
"Culture and Palestine" which documents ways of life, stories, histories, heritages and customs of Palestinians, with a focus on those living in the Bethlehem-Hebron area.
AEI's main local outreach is a network of some ten schools in the Bethlehem and Hebron regions. Some of these schools participate in various ongoing projects:
A Dutch-Palestinian story-telling project in conjucntion with Dutch partners
An AEI-scheme of school fieldtrips in the Bethlehem and Hebron environment and in the near future, an exchange between Palestinian and Belgian schools
A youth exchange programe: at present seven Palestinian youth work for a three-month period in the region of Dordrecht. In the near future, situation allowing, AEI will host seven Dutch youth working as volunteers in the Bethlehem region.
AEI is coordinator of a wishmaking campaign in which we invite foreigners to write a wish on a card or website to be pronounced by a Moslem or Christian school student at a local holy site.
AEI's projects are generally characterized by the following principles:
(1) connecting students and youth with local places, cultures, religions, memories and experiences in a way that values plurality and diversity, and Moslem-Christian living together;
(2) using stories and other imaginative genres as educational tools;
(3) bringing schools and local communities closer to each other;
(4) introducing new methodologies and technologies of active, communicative and outward-oriented learning;
(5) providing girls with opportunities to become active outside the home, and
(6) connecting local educational programs with the needs of foreign audiences, including visitors and foreign school students.
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