BEI T A L - The Mosaic Rooms

BEIT AL
BAIT AL
The project is a collaboration between
the Non Governmental Organization Nablus Old City Charity (Palestine),
the artist Beatrice Catanzaro and the cultural manager Cristiana Bottigella.
Bait al KARAMA is the first Slow Food Convivium in Nablus.
Bait al KARAMA (house of Dignity) is the first Women’s Centre in the heart of the Old City of Nablus,
and aspires to combine a culinary social enterprise with activities of art and culture.
Bait al Karama will be entirely run and managed by women and will feature a women-run Cookery
School of Palestinian and Nabulsi food tradition.
www.baitalkarama.org
baitalkarama@gmail.com

The Context – The Palestinian city of Nablus is located in the northern West Bank, approximately 63 kilometres
(39 mi) north of Jerusalem, and has a population of 134,000. Once the economical driving force of Palestine,
Nablus has been a central flashpoint of violence between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Palestinian militant
groups. The level of violence dramatically increased from 2000, at the start of the Second Intifada.
Today unemployment in the Old City is estimated to be as high as 80%, and 65% of the population live under the
poverty line. In order to prevent family destitution and aid dependence women have had to step into the public
sphere often challenging the particularly conservative environment. The difficulties the women have faced include
unequal pay in low-status and unprotected jobs, limited education, business inexperience and the restrictions
placed on women in a patriarchal society. Moreover, the Old City of Nablus offers no recreational centres and
places for aggregation for women.
Today, very few opportunities are given to women community to socialise and share psychological and social
struggles.
The project - At the heart of Bait al KARAMA stand three main goals:
° to support the social and economic needs of women struggling in the aftermath of the occupation of the Old
City of Nablus.
° to recuperate, research and make known the highlights of the Palestinian food heritage and culinary tradition.
° to draw international attention to the Old City of Nablus as a place of art and culture.
In order to achieve its goals, the project foresees the establishment of Bait al KARAMA Women’s Centre, a
socio-cultural centre managed according to a social enterprise business model in the Old City of Nablus.
Food-related activities will develop regular income for the women involved as well as will help sustain a social
and cultural meaningful programme.The Centre will be entirely run and managed by disadvantaged women living in
the Old City.
As one of its highlights, Bait al KARAMA will feature the first Palestinian women led Cookery School: a number
of programs offered in order to transfer the peculiarity and traditions of the Palestinian and Nabulsi cuisine to
international food lovers visiting Palestine. The cooking school will use products from the region and aims at
becoming a reference for local farmers and producers. The foreign guests are introduced to the food preparation
by means of workshops and demonstrations as well as will visit the local farmers.
Bait al KARAMA is the first Slow Food Convivium in Nablus, looking at food as cultural heritage to preserve and
revaluate.
Moreover Bait al KARAMA will offer a Cafeteria&Restaurant, a Guesthouse, a Beauty Salon and a Shop, in order
to achieve that long-term financial sustainability to accomplish its social-cultural mission.
Among the activities, we intend to invite artists and researchers (national and international) to explore themes
ranging from history to food, personal narratives and its visual dimension. The cultural programmes of Bait al
KARAMA aim at enhancing the extraordinary tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Old City of Nablus.
Creative and expressive workshops, lectures and presentations, film screenings will be also organised and
offered to the local community.
The Women’s Centre Bait al KARAMA is located in a recently rehabilitated Ottoman building, at the heart of the
Old City of Nablus and will generate employment for around 20 women.

What we have done so far (2011)
Buildings:
> Renovated the areas of the building to host the kitchen, connected services, repaired and changed doors and
metal fences, changed the floor with traditional Palestinian tiles.
> Equipped the new kitchen for the Cookery School (sink, oven, hobs, fridge, marble top, cabinets, table,
kitchen and table ware)
Activities:
> Hold the Terra Madre Day (12.12.11); about 50 women took part in a workshop in nutrition and food habits
given by a professional nutritionist from Nablus and in a learning session for the preparation of Shish-barak, an
old traditional Arabic dish consisting of beef stuffed dumplings cooked in yogurt.
> Implemented the network with Farmers, especially with women-owned ones.
> Hosted the first food researcher and attendant of the Cookery School, a professor from London.
> Catered for two international groups visiting Nablus (about 60 people).
> Presented the project internationally in Lisbon, London (as part of TEDxRamallah), Milan.
> Organised Fundraising Events in Milan and London.
Our ambitions for 2012:
Facilities:
> Continuing the rehabilitation of the building: further equipment for the Kitchen, Office, Toilets, Multifunctional
Room, Beauty Salon, Garden
> We just found a suitable building for the guesthouse: an old Arab house at the heart of the Old City that after
renovation will accommodate up to 16 guests
> To start the works for the roof restaurant on the top floor of the Karama building
Cultural/Social Activities:
> April – Bait al KARAMA will host a researcher from the SOAS Ma in Food Anthropology. The researcher will
complete an anthropological and historical study on some Nabulsi dishes.
> May – beginning of the training programme for the women involved with the cookery school (History of Nablus,
Palestinian cusine, Health&Safety, English...)
> A cultural programme of workshops and other activities will be offered to the local community, women in particular
> October – Participation to the Salone del Gusto, Slow Food international event in Turin twhere Palestine will be
officially represented for the first time
> We want to enlarge and improve our network with local farmers.
> We would like to invite artists to visit Nablus and conceive and develop their projects there. We are already
designing a scheme to involve local and European video makers for creating short videos on local food narratives
Enterprise:
> We will continue promoting Bait al KARAMA as a place to visit and restaurant. We already have groups that
booked for lunches
> In summer we will launch the Cookery School and we will create a promotional campaign for attracting participants.
> From April/May Bait al KARAMA will have a full time secretary in charge of bookings, visits, administration and
a cleaner.

Bait al KARAMA is run by the Women Committee of the Nablus Old City Charity
The Charity was established in 2001 in order to provide support to the local community of the Old City heavily
proved by the siege during and after the second Intifada.
The Nablus Old City Charity Society’s activities ranged from housing rehabilitation to humanitarian aid, in cooperation
with other local organizations as well as international NGOs. Since 2008 the Charity is officially registered a NGO
counting 120 active members, 45 of which are women.
Since its foundation in 2001, the Charity established a Women Committee devoted to a wide range of activities
with the female community of the Old City: counseling and psychological support for women under trauma (“lost
women”) and building capacity program focusing on income generating activities for those women who became
the first resources of income in their family; providing loans to encourage women to initiate small projects.
Partners and supporters:
Niklas Fagerholm Design