“This is my home; not coming here is like not breathing,” says Laurice Matar about the workshops at the International Center in Bethlehem (ICB) and Dar al Kalima College (DAK), where she has spent a lot of time during the last seven years.

Laurice is a Christian and among the youngest of six sisters and brothers. Her father is a carpenter and as such had to struggle hard to feed the large family. She comes from Beit Jala, the town next to Bethlehem, where she attended a governmental school while growing up.