Folklore: Stitching Heritage, Hope, and a New Beginning

Before the war, Ola built a life through law. With a Master’s in International Law and years working on women’s rights cases, she believed in justice – until, as she says now with quiet irony, “I learned it’s all a lie.” When her family’s 24-unit apartment building and three homes in northern Gaza were destroyed, she and her family (14 in all) had to spend over $100,000 in border fees to reach safety in Cairo. 

Unable to practice law in Cairo as a displaced person, Ola turned to what her hands could still do: Tatreez, the centuries-old Palestinian art of storytelling through stitch. Passed from mother to daughter, Tatreez is both living art and inheritance – a matrilineal language through which Palestinian women have preserved their identity and collective memory for generations. Each design reflects the maker’s origins, community, and experience, carrying forward a lineage of artistry and indigenous resistance.

In Cairo, Ola began gathering women like herself – each rebuilding from the ground up – into a small collective. Together, they sew to sustain their families, to remember home, and to keep this cultural language alive. Through Folklore, Ola reimagines traditional Tatreez for modern life. With SafeGrow’s support, she expanded her materials, refined her products, and reached new markets.

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