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Amoun Sleem remembers begging with other youngsters on the Old City streets, a traditional way they earned a little money for their families. But one day she that realized her life, and that of her community, had to change, so she launched a campaign to improve the lot of a group many Jerusalemites still don't even know exists in the city.

"I decided that this was not what I wanted," says Sleem (pictured), whose very name, which means hope, is tied to what she and her co-workers are trying to give the approximately 1,500 gypsies who have lived in Jerusalem for over 500 years, she says. With roots in India, Persia, Turkey and the Balkans, this sect is known as the city's Dom community, most of whom are Moslem, unlike European Roma gypsies who are Christian. There are Dom communities scattered throughout the Middle East.

Of those remaining in Jerusalem - many fled during or after the Six-Day War - almost all live in an anclave near Lions' Gate, like Sleem's family, which has maintained the same home for some 200 years. While previously the gypsies usually moved from place to place, today they have adopted a more sedentary lifestyle, and Sleem says that "being settled down is much better than moving."

Most community members have given up their native Domari language for Arabic. Now Sleem and her co-workers are working to preserve and to empower the community, mostly through its women and children, to overcome poverty and illiteracy, and to keep their traditions alive.

With women leading the way in a society held back by traditions that generally kept them out of the work force, Sleem and her staff first founded the Domari Society of Gypsies in Jerusalem in 1999, and a Gypsy Community Center in 2005, in the capital's Shuafat district. At the center, classes in sewing and other skills are taught and handicrafts and other items sold. Meanwhile, Sleem and her team work towards encouraging their fellow gypsies to improve their lot. Afternoon programs provide tutoring, school fees have been reduced, and new school bags full of supplies are distributed when school starts. "It gives them encouragement when they go to school; they can feel like all the other children," Sleem says.

Gypsy women have been empowered through classes in hairdressing, operating small businesses like catering and producing crafts, and help in handling their usually large families. She dreams that "either the gypsies themselves will open their own businesses, ...perhaps opening a restaurant" offering gypsy dishes like kishk, a dry yogurt containing bulgur, and their own specially-brewed tea. "Right now I feel as though my society is getting slowly back to its roots," she says.

When she does see young gypsy children begging today, Sleem remembers herself at that stage. "It breaks your heart, but also provides a challenge to work that much harder.... We have to keep trying, and nothing will stop us until we reach our goals and hopes," she says. "It's kind of a dream for me, and I won't give up until I feel I have succeeded."

To arrange a visit to the Gypsy Community Center, call 054-206-6210.