Pollin Center East Jerusalem Leaders and the Pandemic

Quarantine.  Limited gatherings.  Isolation.  The past six months have been a great challenge for society worldwide and for disadvantaged populations in particular.

The graduates of the Pollin Center Leadership Training Program in East Jerusalem have become recognized community leaders, doing all that they can to promote their friends and neighbors.  They did not let the pandemic get in the way of their commitment to their community.  A group of our leaders contacted their mentor, Pollin Center’s Dr. Maha Nubani and requested her assistance in crafting a method to continue impacting their community.  Their initiative and Maha’s enthusiastic ongoing mentoring triggered a transformation –   The zoom community health promotion program was born.

Stage one was to introduce women to Zoom – What it is, how to download and how to use it. Zoom does not have an Arabic version- and the instructions are not readable to many.  Our youngest community leader produced a short video that explained how to use this resource.  The video coupled with the comradery of the graduates brought the group together again while upholding social distancing.  The problem-solving skills of these leaders continues to amaze us!

Stage two was back to the community.  Woman contacted neighbors and friends and offered them the opportunity to continue learning and advancing.  Under Dr. Nubani’s ongoing guidance the Leaders developed presentations on a variety of health-topics;  they recruited health professionals to join sessions and got out the information that the community needed.   And these efforts have digitally-empowered community women far beyond the health information.

It will take a lot more than a pandemic to hold back Pollin Center leaders!