Dear friends

SPRING 2004

Dear friends,

It is a beautiful spring day, the weather is getting warmer and the chillness in the air has diminished considerably. The fields are colourful carpets, spread with pretty anemones, cyclamens and tulips. Our children are delighted to be able to play outdoors, go for long walks, observing the wild flowers, knowing that most of them are protected and are not to be picked.

Unfortunately, with all the trouble and unrest that surrounds us, one is unable to enjoy the blessings of God in nature to the full. Hopefully one day, violence, hatred and revenge would be substituted for kindness, love, and forgiveness. Our living conditions continue to deteriorate; only God is able to put an end to all this suffering. There is nothing that we can do, except to take our troubles to the Lord in prayers.

Al-Shurooq School
We spent considerable time in March, preparing for a reception to be held at Al-Shurooq on the 22nd, to honour a delegation from the European Blind Union, headed by the President Mr. Colin Low. It was planned that they spend the day in Bethlehem, visiting the Church of the Nativity and other holy places, then a reception at the school followed by a typical Palestinian dinner at a local restaurant. Invitations were sent to fifty friends and dignitaries. Plenty of food had to be prepared, drinks, extra plates and glasses had to be bought. Everything was ready, when on the morning of the 22nd, we woke up to the terrible news of the assassination of the Hamas leader Ahmad Yaseen. That was the end of our planning. The West Bank was sealed off immediately, no one was allowed in or out. The whole event had to be cancelled. The Italian consulate in Jerusalem was kind enough to help bring in four members of the delegation in an Italian diplomatic car. They could only spend an hour with us visiting the school and the children because they had already spent long hours at the checkpoint in Bethlehem negotiating with the Israeli soldiers to let them in. Although glad to receive them, we were all terribly disappointed.

New additions

During this term, two children have been introduced to our programme. A five-year-old girl called Haneen and a seven-year-old boy called Kais. They both come from Hebron.
Also Sharihan, a young lady from Beit Jala, has been coming in three times a week to take lessons in Braille and computer. She tragically lost her sight completely whilst in the eleventh grade a year ago. She comes from a very poor family and lives at a very short distance from the school. Initially, she rejected the idea of having to learn Braille; she could hardly accept the fact that she had lost her vision. Coming to Al-Shurooq and meeting all of us especially the children, made her realize she was not alone and that we were there to help and support her.

Munawar quits school

Sadly, Munawar who is nine and joined Al-Shurooq two years ago, had to be rushed into hospital, a couple of days after she returned from her Christmas holiday. She suffered a stiff and swollen leg, later diagnosed as deep thrombosis. It started when she was home with her family. She had been to a doctor in her village that misdiagnosed the condition and gave her the wrong medication. Upon her return to school after the holiday, the lump was getting worse and the medication did not help. We rushed her to hospital, where they gave her the right diagnosis and treatment. At present, she is staying at home with her family, still undergoing treatment, after spending a whole month in hospital. We are quite uncertain whether she will ever be able to return to school. Please remember her in your prayers as we always do.


Kais Abu Saymeh	Haneen Abu Mayaleh

Botanical garden

As part of our environmental awareness and learning programme and with the cooperation of The Palestinian Ornithology and Biodiversity Society (POBS), the school embarked on a small project, which involved the 7-9 year olds. They participated in the establishment of a botanical garden. The children had to plant and look after the various herbs provided for us by POBS. The idea is to set up a garden with different species of herbs. Due to the lack of space and because we will be moving out in the near future (hopefully), the children planted in large pots instead, that will later be moved into the garden once we have that.

Fida’ planting different herbs

Creation of a building fund

Being able to purchase a plot of land was not at all easy. We spent almost all our savings in the process. Resources are becoming scarce, as donor institutes are concentrating on the emergency state in the West Bank rather than development.
We are working on convincing some donors to help build a school and a resource centre for blind and visually impaired children, particularly as it is unique in this area and without it talented young blind children would be deprived of an equal opportunity for a good education. Soon we will be setting up a building fund, to make construction possible. We will tell you more in the next issue.
As I have come to the paragraph, about the children's visit to Milan, Doris, my deputy, will write about it, particularly since she was on the trip herself.

Trip to Milan

Going to Milan for a week with eight of our children was a memorable experience. It started with issuing visas and then permits to be allowed to leave the country. As we cannot leave, not even the blind children, without the consent of the Israeli Government!
The children were so excited about flying as they all have not done it before. As we boarded, they all took their seats, buckled up and got ready for take off. When the plane was taking off, I had the pleasure of looking at their faces and observing the different expressions. They were all expressions of contentment. But for me seeing them in such high spirits was truly rewarding.

Upon arrival at Malpensa Airport, Mr. Masto, the President of the Milan Institute for the Blind and Mr. Catani, the Chair of the Commission on Liaising of the European Blind Union were on the plane to greet us. We were then escorted to the VIP lounge, where we met other people from the Milan Institute for the Blind and EBU. We were treated with enormous generosity and tremendous warmth.
For a whole week, the programme was full. We started at nine in the morning and finished around nine in the evening, by then the children were completely exhausted.

They spent hours in both the computer and creativity labs, went to museums and castles, visited the famous Duomo of Milan and surely enjoyed a lovely Italian ice-cream every day. Our hosts always made sure our children enjoyed every minute of every day.

The week went by very quickly and before we knew it, it was time to come back home again. I must admit I found it a bit difficult to convince some children to get on that plane!!
They made new friends and got to learn new things, everything to them was a new experience and now they are looking forward to our next trip to Paris in August.


In front of the Castllo Sforzesco	Celebrating Mardi Gras at Cremona

Thank you all for your encouragement and support.

God Bless.