Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)

Melissa Franklin will join a US delegation of artists in support of the Maia Project, which brings clean, safe drinking water. The Maia Mural Project will design and paint murals on water purification buildings in Gaza in July 2011.

   In support of Melissa's travels to Gaza, several KC groups are hosting a fundraising dinner event on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 6:30 pm. The event will take place at Holy Land Cafe, 12275 W 87th Street Pkwy, Lenexa, Kansas. (87th and Monrovia, which is about 2 blocks west of Quivira; see map below).

   The fundraising event will include brief updates from local residents, who traveled to Palestine recently, including Ann Hayles. The cost for the dinner event is $25, which includes exquisite Middle Eastern food -- a choice of entrees, a salad, side dishes, and Baklava desert. Proceeds from the fundraising event will go to pay for Melissa's travel expenses.

   Members of Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, one of the fundraising event hosts, are proud to support Melissa in her ongoing efforts to support justice and rights for Palestinians.

by Danny Alexander (from "Take Em As They Come" blog)

The singing over the opening bass and synth carried a quaver that sounded a little like American Indian song, but this was clearly hip hop even before Arabic rhymes started cascading one after another. And all of that musical color served as a perfect complement to the slide show Sara Jawhari showed of her trip to the Gaza strip. Yes, these pictures featured a few shots of forbidding walls and wire and rubble, but the spirit of the music emphasize the dominant images, one beautiful child’s smile shining after another.