Identity

FIELD UPDATE

Hello dear friends, I am Salam, the Director of the Springs of Hope Art Academy. I have been with Springs of Hope since the start of our journey here and have taught over 1,200 students.

I found myself touching up our logo on our blue entrance gates this week. Our logo carries our identity as we serve our communities, both in the camp and those who come from the village. As I was painting, several of the tent dwellers approached me and began to chat, asking as many have done over the years, “What does your organisation’s name mean and what do you do?”

The Springs of Hope means just that: in the same way that water flows from a natural spring, the Springs of Hope is an inexhaustible source. It provides the joy and hope necessary to persevere and overcome.

This logo is a portal for many doors, offering diverse services to the individual, the family and the community, each a key to progress, learning, healing and love, spreading hope, creativity, achieving dreams and enjoying life under dire circumstances.

Springs of Hope is a spring whose waters never dry up and who reach everyone who is thirsty.

We are approaching 12 years here in the very complex Land Between the Two Rivers. A land which can be breathtakingly beautiful yet home to incomparable evil and baseless hatred at the same time. It is true that our Spring has never failed, has never run dry, and is there in abundance and purity for those who want to drink.

The nature of our work has inevitably changed and evolved over the years. Our core team remains with us after twelve hard years because they have learned to live in the source, that place as Salam said, that is the source of hope, joy and determined perseverance.

We are so grateful for each one of you who has embraced this journey into the unknown, into the unfamiliar. We are grateful for your support, both in finances, encouragement and in prayer. Without you none of this would be. We would be left with a vision and good intentions. Your role in our life, in helping us to maintain our identity, is crucial.

I was recently talking to a Sheikh in the UAE, describing our work and the members of our team. He commented that there must be some “special dynamic,” some “magic ingredient” to sustain over 20 staff members, and all of our students and patients for twelve years. My reply was, “Yes Sir, it is an unshakable HOPE.” One in which we live, we move, we have our entire being. A Hope that has directly impacted and touched the lives of 240,000 people.

–Lisa