Silwan Tikra – Community Library and Internet Room

The Netherlands Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah (www.holland-pal.org) has granted us a donation in order to populate the shelves of the library in our community center, hire a librarian, prepare an Internet Room, and offer classes in creative writing and journalism for the youth of Silwan.

On December 5 2009 the library and Internet room opened their doors. Children and adults are welcome every day to read, lend a book or surf the Internet for educational purposes or just for fun. The library includes more than a thousand books in Arabic and English, periodicals and an archive of major newspapers weekend edition.

Click here to browse/search our catalogue.

The creative writing and journalism classes will start in February 2010.

We would like to thank the American Book Center (www.abc.nl) for their generous donation of hundreds of English children books. The books paint our shelves with colors and fill the library with laughter.

We are collecting donations of books. If you wish to contribute to our effort to expand our library please contact us.

History

The library in the community center started with twenty children books on one shelf.

In May 2008, a workshop for women took place, in which they were taught how to read to children. In June 2008, the library was opened for weekly reading hours where the children of Silwan gather and listen to stories read by their mothers.

In January 2009, thanks to a donation received from Prelude Foundation (www.preludefund.org), we have renovated the library and turned it into a fun space to read and play.