CHATHAM TWP. — Joyce Ajlouny, director of the historic Ramallah Friends School (RFS) on the West Bank in Palestine, will speak at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at the Chatham-Summit Quaker Meeting in Chatham.

The event is free and open to the community.

An alumna, parent, and now in her sixth year as director of Ramallah Friends School, she will speak about the important impact that RFS has had on the community throughout its history and describe the challenges which lie ahead.

A member of the Ramallah Monthly Meeting, Ms. Ajlouny is one of the very few Palestinian Quakers left in the country. She is a graduate of RFS and also a parent of three boys who attend the school. Her job involves oversight of the functioning of both the lower and upper school campuses, including ensuring the rigorous academic program meets modern-day challenges; fundraising; community building, and administration.

The school currently enrolls 1,175 children, in pre-kindergarten through grade12, from around the occupied territory.

Originally focusing on the education of Palestinian girls, Friends (Quakers) have been educating children in Palestine since 1869, and the school has survived many wars and occupations, including a period of being used as a hospital during the First World War. Throughout its history, the staff and families of the school have remained resilient and dedicated to their mission to offer a rigorous education to Palestinian youth guided by the principles of the Religious Society of Friends.

The program will be followed by dessert and coffee. Donations to Ramallah Friends School and to Joyce’s ministry account are welcome.

For directions or more information, call 973-635-2161 or visit chathamquakers.org. Chatham-Summit Quaker Meeting is located at 158 Southern Boulevard in Chatham. It is a Quaker community in the unprogrammed tradition of the Religious Society of Friends.

More information about Ramallah Friends School is available at palfriends.org.

