Arab American University and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Lands started planting some trees in AAUP Main Campus in Jenin. This event that was under collaboration of Jenin Governorate, the Environment Education Center of the church and the Ministry of Media came as part of the campaign of “A Tree for Life” that was initiated by Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azer- the Head of the Church to be in the memory of COVID-19 victims.
The events started by receiving Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azer- the Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Lands, Major General Akram Rjoub- Jenin Governor, Mr. Semon Awad- the CEO of the Environment Education Center and Mr. Abdelbasit Khalaf- the Director of the office of the Ministry of Media in Jenin as in their reception was Dr. Muayad Abusaa- the VP for Academic Affairs, Prof. Mohammad Asia- the VP for Medical Schools Affairs and Mr. Fadi Jumaa- the Public Relations Department Manager.
In his speech, Dr. Abusaa welcomed the guests and talked about the establishment of the university and its academic programs of the undergraduates and postgraduates. He clarified that the university focuses on three main goals, and one of them is serving the local community, and showed that the AAUP is ready to offer its services to the Palestinian organizations to help in organizing activities that interest the local community.
Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azer- the Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Lands expressed his happiness to be in Arab American University, this great edifice that all are proud of, and said that the university was chosen to start this campaign as this institution has a great stature, and he mentioned that the slogan of this campaign “Symbol for life” and the that the tree is this symbol because it gives human beings and birds the life and it will be a symbol for those whom died because of COVID-19 that affected the whole world.
Prof. Asia- the VP for Medical Schools Affairs explained that AAUP focuses with great concern on topics that are related to the local community, including the environment. He mentioned how the green areas are surrounding the university and how the university has many achievements related to the environment including the weather station and the smart green farm house that will benefit farmers and researchers. Prof. Asia also expressed how the university is ready to collaborate with the environmental educational center and the church in any environment related topics.
Mr. Semon Awad- the CEO of the Environment Education Center gave a detailed explanation about the center and its objectives and said that the center focuses on raising awareness in the environment topics in addition to providing specialized researches in this field and ensured that the center is ready to provide AAUP library with the researches published by the center.
Mr. Fadi Jumaa- the Public Relations Manager in AAUP talked about the achievements of the university especially the latest one of the prosthetics factory that will be opened soon, and said the AAUP is about to finalize a medical qualifying city that will provide qualifying and health services to the Palestinian people.
The reception was then followed by the event of planting trees around the university and then meeting the clubs of women's forums and associations that are part of environment education center, as Bishop Azer in his speech focused on the importance of the associations that focus on the children, youth and world love. He also mentioned that no other party will be allowed to take the right from anyone to enjoy life, and that everybody must work together to plant love in all hearts especially children’s.
Major General Akram Rjoub- Jenin Governor said: “This campaign is a message to the Palestinian community that we are people who love life, we just need to search for our humanity as we need a safe environment that we can develop in and get our freedom”. Mr. Rjoub thanked Arab American University for sponsoring this humanity campaign that was launched by the Evangelical Lutheran Church and stressed on the importance of such campaigns in Palestine.
Furthermore, Dr. Muayad Abusaa also ensured that the university and since its establishment delivers three main messages including the collaboration with the local and international organizations in order to serve all society categories, and praised this campaign for enhancing the Palestinian ID and helps in being attached to the land.
