Dar al-Kalima College Reaches for the Sky and Stares Down the Wall

Geographically remote from the West Bank, and far north of Gaza's recent fury, East Jerusalem, a mixture of some Christians and mostly Arabs now, technically counts as an occupied territory. A year or so ago I shared some things about East Jerusalem’s Birzeit University, the Arab conterpart of Israel's Hebrew University across town, not more than a mile from the site of the territory's newest school, Dar al-Kalima College. 

Multiethnic/multireligious philanthropy has come from a seeminly unlikely source. Borne from of the talents, works, and funding from America's Lutheran Church/MO Synod (LCMS) a completely new college with utilitarian aims shines yet more hope in this occupied territory. Dal al-Kalima College building's are nearing completion and their first new graduating class conducted commencement exercises late last fall. The class size, like the school enrollment, is small. College guarantees absolutely nothing -- except to give money to the college and work hard -- and the same, Americans seem to be finally figuring out, is the case here. At Dal al-Kilima, indingenous (read: walled-in) families endure unemployment that's been in the thirty-percent+ range since before the latest graduating class members were born. Christians and Arabs alike leave East Jerusalem because they can, and when they leave they generally don't return. Enough with the obvious, though.

Dal al-Kalima, currently accredited by the Palestine Authority Council with conference of an associates' degree, is an art school. It's programs are in filmmaking, ceramics, glass-making, all provide, as the course catalog describes, 'alternative endeavors' (Add: tourism development, a stalwart aim in achieving economic stability and sufficiency in East Jerusalem, is taught here as well). I applaud the LCMS, seldom credited for spearheading efforts in the alternative and NEVER credited for their remarkable religious tolerance typified here, with making this crowning contribution. The school plans on becoming university-accredited, passing what Americans would call a 'junior college' to a full-fledged university. Once the LCMS-sponsored construction's completed the student body will rise and the charitable subsidies from sustaining donors will keep things afloat nicely. The site shows tuition and fees--in the currency of Jordanian Diner (JD--I think that's pretty cool because we don't ever see that monetary expression) and adjusting to USD and comparing to US Community Colleges, the cost/credit hour is about the same as would be found here in the Midwest.