Learning to Cook a Palestinian Lunch
What do caring for a special needs child and traditional Palestinian cooking have in common? Our Eyewitness Palestine delegation found out at the Aida Refugee Camp in Occupied Bethlehem.
When Islam Abu Odeh, a lifelong resident of the Aida Camp whose family fled there from her village in 1948 found that her son has cerebral palsy and epilepsy she was devastated but also committed to overcome the culture of silence around disabilities in the Middle East. Sadly residents of Occupied Palestine have limited professional services for people with disabilities and their families and what services are available are on a cash-for-service basis which most people can’t afford. I can only imagine the agony of knowing that if she had basic human rights her son would have world class support covered by health insurance.
Islam started by forming a support group with other women caring for special needs children which became the Noor Society for People With Disability. Slowly by word of mouth more people in the camp learned about the society and they expanded into the neighboring Al-Azza Refugee Camp. After a few years they found over 250 children with various levels of disability who needed their services.
The organization hosted international volunteers to provide services and Islam found that some of the volunteers were fascinated by Palestinian culture and cuisine, so she taught them to cook traditional Palestinian foods in her small apartment kitchen. Like any classic entrepreneur she realized that this could become a profit center to support the professional services that her son and the others in the camp badly needed. The Noor Kitchen is a rare project that aims to provide services for people with disabilities in Palestine.
What became the Noor Center started in two rooms of Islam’s apartment and moved into standalone facilities in 2017 where people with disabilities (PWD) receive occupational, speech and physical therapy and have access to counseling and medical care. They also run a support group for women caring for PWD.
The Center gets some donations but most of the funding comes from the Noor Kitchen Cooking School and a guest house which moved into its own beautiful kitchen/training area/dining room in 2018. Ahmed Abu Odeh, Islam’s husband did the renovations of both facilities
After we toured the Center, Islam, her husband Ahmed and their two daughters, Ibtehal and Sidra put us all to work chopping veggies, cooking and preparing what became a delicious lunch featuring two traditional salads and main courses of Mujaddara (lentils, rice and noodles dish topped with caramelize onions) and Musakhan (thin bread stuffed with chicken, onions, and sumac) Islam explained each dish as we worked on it while also talking about the center’s work.
The fees from the cooking school support the Center making our experience and our delicious Palestinian lunch even more satisfying.
The Noor Kitchen was featured on “Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown” on September 15, 2013 when the classes were still in Islam’s kitchen.
Noor’s Kitchen offers individual and group classes and a wide variety of traditional Palestinian dishes. Be sure to check them out when you visit Palestine and of course donations are always appreciated.