We visited Anthony at Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, and Kahder at Orthodox Sports Club and Hope School in Bethlehem. We talked about their requests for funding from the Mormon University.
Anthony requested computers and/or help to restore wells for families in Bethlehem. Thirty-five percent of the water in Bethlehem comes locally and 65% comes from Israel. To get a building permit, people must have a well to supplement the water supply. Anthony started a project to restore wells that have been neglected so they will provide clean water to families.
Jewish settlement across the valley from Bethlehem. The land was owned for many years by Anthony's family. After the 1967 war, Israel confiscated it because his family could not prove ownership.
HCEF owns this building and uses part of it as a hotel. Anthony said the money from the hotel helps defray overhead expenses for the organization. Headquarters is in the United States.
Khader runs a Sports Club for the local community in Bethlehem. He is Greek Orthodox. Christians are less than 1% of the population in Israel/Palestine. He wanted to be a priest for the Greek Orthodox church. They told him he could, but they wouldn't train him. He believes they wouldn't train him because they don't want Palestinians in the church hierarchy. He said of 21 bishops in the land who are Greek Orthodox, 20 are Greek and only 1 is Palestinian.
His Sports Club is open to all including Christians and Muslims. However, only Christians can be on the board. They have a swimming pool, day care nursery, playground, theater, and restaurant.
Kahder is the board chairman for Hope School. Hope School was started by the Mennonites, but has since been turned over to the locals under the umbrella of the Arab Charitable Society. They have requested help to repair part of their roof, which leaks and causes mildew inside the building.
Outdoor playground / soccer field. There are 500+ students in the school and about 16 who live at the school. The school focuses on poor families who are Christian.
Playground on the other side of the school.
It is a beautiful piece of property. The school used to raise chickens. Palestinians and Jews came here because they could buy good quality eggs. When the school started having more severe financial problems, they stopped the egg production - sort of like killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Each year, volunteer youth come from Europe to work at the school for a few weeks.
They want to tar this concrete roof to stop leaks that are causing mildew damage inside the building...
...like this on the walls below.
The school was cold (the heater is broken) but it was cheery inside.
This is the "String Bridge", a pedestrian bridge in West Jerusalem. It was expensive and controversial.
In the afternoon, we visited St. Vincent, where Miriam works. She is a volunteer at St Vincent and a member of the church from Austria. Jan, Linda, and Kendra took her to lunch for visiting teaching, while I visited with Sister Susan at St Vincent about their request for funding a refrigerated walk-in box.
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