SUMMER 2006

Dear Friends,

This morning 28^th June, we were awakened by the awful news of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Yesterday was the last day of school; all the children went home for the summer holidays with the exception of the three children from Gaza. They too were supposed to have left via the International Red Cross as usual, but a day earlier they called, apologizing for not being able to take the children home, since all borders had been closed. They promised to take them at the earliest opportunity. Of course that was an awful shock to the three children, who were anxiously waiting to go home after six months. The seven-year-old Ahmad, the most attached to his family, was pleading to his sisters yesterday on the phone saying "Tell my father to go round the whole city of Gaza asking the men to return the imprisoned Israeli soldier, so that roads may open and I can come home, for I miss you all very much". We pray this siege will not last long, and these three children can join their families soon. We are outraged how the plight and sufferings of Palestinians are totally ignored by the whole world. We denounce all forms of violence; yet people hardly mention that there are approximately ten thousand prisoners in Israeli jails, women, children and babies included. On the other hand, one Israeli soldier imprisoned and the whole world fights for his release. Power appears to conquer justice.

Camping in Tabgha 

We were fortunate again this year to take twenty-four children and nine members of staff for a six-day camp at the Benedictine Monastery in Tabgha, located directly on the Sea of Galilee. Through strenuous efforts made by a Jewish friend, we were able to obtain permits for the staff a day prior to our departure for Tiberias. We had booked our stay from the 20^th until the 25^th of June. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves swimming in the fresh water spring, one of the seven springs of Tiberias, that runs through the camping site. The children had the chance to experience a walk through orchard of bananas, mangos and palm trees that surrounded the monastery area and were introduced to various fruits on trees, the leaves, barks and trunks. They also had the opportunity to examine with their fingers some marine animals like crabs and wobbling fish.
On our last day, we decide since it was one of the very few times to be allowed on the other side of the "Apartheid Wall", to make the most out of it and take the children to Acre for the day. Acre is a beautiful city overlooking the Mediterranean; it still has parts of its huge wall that one day prevented Napoleon Bonaparte and his fleet from entering Palestine. The boat trip on the Mediterranean was definitely a must for the children that day. We praised God that everything went smoothly, except for what turned out to be a problem on our way from Beit Jala to Tiberias. After almost three hours driving, we arrived at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Bisan. We were stopped and our identity cards checked by two young Israeli women soldiers, who came on the bus and saw us with the children and then totally refused to allow us to pass through, the reason being that we were simply Palestinians. We argued with them for a while but with no avail. Once again, we had to telephone our Jewish friend and asked for her help. After two hours of negotiations, we were allowed to pass through. Otherwise, we would have been obliged to return all the way back to Jerusalem to use a “Palestinians Allowed” road and that would have taken us at least another five hours.
A friend once wrote: “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it, or perhaps lessons have been learned from history and it’s convenient to repeat them.”

The children dancing on deck

Integration into Local Schools

For those of you who remember, last year and as a transitory step, we decided to integrate four of our blind and visually impaired children in the local schools in Beit Jala to allow proper and intense follow-up. In September, these four, in addition to another girl, will be integrated back in their own local community, as they are ready to attend local schools and live independently with their own families. They will remain in our outreach programme, in Hebron, Ramallah and Bethlehem. 

Raising Awareness

In our attempts to promote awareness of the abilities and talents of blind and visually impaired children, we presented an end of school year performance, to which parents and friends were invited. Our children sang in English and Arabic, and presented a play in English entitled "The Justice of King Solomon". The children did well and the attendants were most impressed, especially with Lara, the lovely girl from Gaza, who managed to attract everyone’s attention with her self confidence, presence and beautiful English accent.

Performing “The Justice of King Solomon”

Replanted Olive Trees

Farewell to Dear Friends

We were deeply saddened to bid farewell to the Minister of St. Andrew's Church in Jerusalem and his dear wife, Clarence and Joan Musgrave. For the past six years, they have been wonderful friends and great supporters of our work. In times of trouble, they were always there for us. During the Nativity siege 2002, in the midst of curfews and shelling, Clarence always managed to come once or twice a week, to bring food, drinks, and whatever was needed for children in our care. Joan very kindly and generously gave all the proceeds of the sale of her beautiful paintings of the olive tree and the wild flowers of the Holy Land to our school. We were privileged to have them for a quiet dinner at the school a few days before they departed. It was our pleasure to have them that night, yet I think everyone was shedding tears inside. They will always be remembered with much affection and sincere gratitude. Palestine will miss them. 
To all our friends we say thank you from the depths of our hearts for the prayers, love and support you give to our work.

Quiet farewell dinner at Al-Shurooq

May God bless you all.

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