Al-Shurooq Newsletter

SPRING 2005

Dear friends,

It is a bitterly cold and cloudy Thursday morning that comes after nearly three weeks of glorious sunshine. This is nothing unusual for us; for ever since my childhood, I remember that nearly always on Good Friday, the weather would be sultry and humid just as it was when our Lord Jesus was on the cross bearing the sins of the whole world.
During this Holy Week, when Christians all over the world have their minds and thoughts focused upon Jerusalem, a new scandal has been made public, which has shocked and saddened the whole Christian community in Palestine. The alleged selling of a whole quarter of East Jerusalem by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch to the Jews. If such rumours are true, it will be a real blow to both Moslems and Christians, who are desperately trying to retain and preserve their presence in the Holy City. We hope it would all be solved soon before it is too late.
The news has casted a deep shadow on our Easter celebrations, thinking that the Christian quarter has been robbed and we are slowly being left with nothing.
Work in both school and library has been going on smoothly. Continuously, volumes of books in Braille are being printed and given out on loan to our clients. Books including school textbooks, novels and scientific articles.

Good News

With great delight and profound gratitude to God Almighty and to our loving friends and supporters, we announce the wonderful news; we have managed to completely pay for the whole plot of land, two hundred and forty-six thousand US Dollars. It was all paid for through the generosity of individuals, churches and organizations mostly in Britain, Holland and Germany. When we first embarked on such a huge undertaking, we never thought we would be able to raise such an amount. But as always, we put our trust in the Lord, and again He has not failed us. It is only through your help and kind efforts that we were able to do it. I am particularly grateful to those of you who made genuine efforts fund-raising for our benefit by holding coffee mornings, concerts, football matches, bazaars and even cycling across Europe. We value and greatly appreciate your endeavours immensely.

Swimming Lessons

As you know, we make it a point to give our children good opportunities to assist them lead normal lives, particularly those opportunities that enhance their confidence and self-esteem. From the frequent visits to swimming pools, we came to realize that some of our children thoroughly enjoy the water, and if given the chance, could become good swimmers. On Monday the 31st of January, ten of our children went for their first lesson at the YMCA in Beit Sahour, a city to the east of Bethlehem. The swimming course is of twelve hours, once a week. One course would be quite insufficient for proper learning. The children would need four or five courses to reach an acceptable standard.
Thankfully, we got the cheapest possible rate from the YMCA, US$ 40 per child per course, excluding transportation. This, to us, is still quite expensive. We were encouraged to embark on this costly venture by a friend who visited the school in September, and assured us she would be able to find funding for this purpose. We are afraid that if we do not hear from her soon, we would not be able to continue. So far nothing has come through, but we are quite certain that the Lord will provide someone willing to sponsor this unique opportunity. We hate to disappoint the children for they love their swimming lessons and anxiously wait for it week after week.

Six of the children embarking on their first swimming lesson

Al-Shurooq School

The children are doing quite well, enjoying spring and the lovely walks they take in the neighbouring fields, picking and admiring the colourful wild flowers of the Holy Land.

The new block of flats close to us is speedily increasing in height, five stories so far and a probable sixth soon. Something that is making life at Al-Shurooq most difficult to endure. Very soon we will have neighbours living almost on top of us, a true nightmare. Our children will not be able to play freely, even in the tiny space they have as playground. The sun has been shut out of the building, making the school terribly cold, and privacy lost completely. If it were not so difficult to find alternative premises, we would probably make the effort to move out.

Blind Children for Peace

This project, which has been totally funded by the European Commission, is coming to an end. Doris, Samira and eight blind children (always the same eight) went to beautiful Rome from March 20th -27th. They had a wonderful time sight seeing and exploring history. They visited the Vatican and Capitoline Museums, St. Peter's Basilica, went to Pompei and to Ostia Antica. They also took a wonderful walk in the old city of Rome, to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, via del Corso and wished for better luck at the Trevi Fountain. The final day of the trip was spent at Tivoli and the beautiful Villa d'Este.

What a beautiful country! They all exclaimed. We are extremely grateful to the European Blind Union, for conducting such a project that provided a unique opportunity for our children, widening their scope of experience and understanding. An opportunity, they might have never had otherwise.

Wishing for better luck at the Trevi Fountain

School Building

The planning for the new building is gradually picking up. We received offers from five architectural firms in response to our publicized bidding document. A technical committee was formed to evaluate the proposals submitted. Hopefully by next week, the contract will be awarded to the winning firm. It should take around three months to prepare and submit the architectural and construction detailed plans, then the hard work will begin.

Approaching several possible donor institutions with the plans takes a long time, but as always, we are putting our needs in the hands of the Almighty, knowing He never failed us.

Again, we would like to deeply thank all of you out there for your love, prayers, friendships and constant support.

God bless you all.

At St. Peter's Square