ARCHISMILE

The idea for ArchiSmile first began in 2014 when Lina Abojaradeh and Eman Abualfailat, Architectural Engineering students from the University of Jordan, decided to use their art and design skills to better their community. By rallying other architecture students to help, we painted our first murals in the public school Lina graduated from. The experience was magical, and from there, we began painting murals in hospitals, orphanages, and underserved schools with the ultimate goal of painting smiles on people’s faces. What started off as a volunteer initiative with 20 members, is now a registered social enterprise that has trained 170 youth volunteers, and reached over 15,000 youth and young adults in 8 governorates, including a thousand living with a disability or are refugees. In 2018, we began implementing artistic workshops and programs in underserved Jordanian schools, youth and refugee centers. In October 2021, we were finally able to make our dream into a reality by opening our own art center where we can give paid art courses to support our charitable work in marginalized areas in Amman.