Monday, October 3, 2011

Pilgrims away!

Hi all:
AFEDJ has launched a blog specifically for pilgrims traveling in the Diocese of Jerualem.  We hope you'll keep all our readers up to date on where you've been, who you met, how you felt about it and what you'd like others to know about your experience.  This is the chance to encourage others to visit the Holy Land, share your joys and frustrations and above all, your pictures! 
So jump in!

5 comments:

  1. Please join me, Phoebe Griswold, and 17 other pilgrims as we travel to visit the Diosese of Jeruselem and the holy sites in Israel, Palstine and Jordan. Visit this blog over the next 2 weeks for a fresh and on the ground experience.
    Phoebe Griswold
    President AEFDJ

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  2. We have all arrived here at St. George's; done brief introductions, had dinner and now most are going to bed early. Excited to start tomorrow! Kate Smith

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  3. WITNESSING THE GIFTS OF AMERICAN FRIENDS TO LIFE IN PALESTINE

    Since I just signed my final 2010 federal tax documents, I’m delighted to be here in occupied East Jerusalem to witness firsthand the “return” on my tax-deductible “investments” to enable the humanitarian work of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

    I walked with fellow AFEDJ trustees through the Princess Basma Centre for Disabled Children, an educational, rehabilitation, training, and advocacy nonprofit serving Palestinian children with special needs and their families. The schoolrooms, occupational therapy spaces, and play rooms are filled with disabled children and their young, smiling mothers - and, importantly, working with their children under the friendly supervision of highly trained, credentialed staff and managers.

    We board members are in Palestine, Israel, and Jordan on a two-week visit to see hospitals, schools, churches and other aid projects that we and our wonderful donors support.

    The Centre serves as the essential hub of a network of small community centers and health care clinics throughout occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian Territories. In these areas, there’s no government-funded health care safety net for disabled children. Yet despite the privations sustained by decades of attempting to build a professionally superior organization under military occupation, and with its West Bank patient families largely impoverished and forced to navigate checkpoints and apply for permission from the occupying power to visit to receive services - despite all of these obstacles, the Centre seems to be doing much more than thriving. We see evidence of success and confidence, though there still exist growing financial challenges as the donor community struggles with the worldwide economic downturn.

    To connect with the heartbreaking and heartwarming sense the Trustees felt as we witnessed life-changing services being provided to children at Princess Basma, please visit the Centre website, www.basma-centre.org.

    The Centre's success with the neediest of children, Deputy Director Maja Yasmineh made clear to us, is being achieved thanks to God, to cooperation with the Israeli medical establishment, and to a network of generous donors around the world.

    Ms. Yasmineh singled out the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem for its donations and commended American Friends for taking the time to tour the Centre and spread the word about its accomplishments.

    She noted that "very few of our children are Christian, but we serve them all. We work with a Christian soul."

    10.19.2011
    Eileen White Read
    AFEDJ Trustee

    ReplyDelete
  4. WITNESSING THE GIFTS OF AMERICAN FRIENDS TO LIFE IN PALESTINE

    Since I just signed my final 2010 federal tax documents, I’m delighted to be here in occupied East Jerusalem to witness firsthand the “return” on my tax-deductible “investments” to enable the humanitarian work of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

    I walked with fellow AFEDJ trustees through the Princess Basma Centre for Disabled Children, an educational, rehabilitation, training, and advocacy nonprofit serving Palestinian children with special needs and their families. The schoolrooms, occupational therapy spaces, and play rooms are filled with disabled children and their young, smiling mothers - and, importantly, working with their children under the friendly supervision of highly trained, credentialed staff and managers.

    We board members are in Palestine, Israel, and Jordan on a two-week visit to see hospitals, schools, churches and other aid projects that we and our wonderful donors support.

    The Centre serves as the essential hub of a network of small community centers and health care clinics throughout occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian Territories. In these areas, there’s no government-funded health care safety net for disabled children. Yet despite the privations sustained by decades of attempting to build a professionally superior organization under military occupation, and with its West Bank patient families largely impoverished and forced to navigate checkpoints and apply for permission from the occupying power to visit to receive services - despite all of these obstacles, the Centre seems to be doing much more than thriving. We see evidence of success and confidence, though there still exist growing financial challenges as the donor community struggles with the worldwide economic downturn.

    To connect with the heartbreaking and heartwarming sense the Trustees felt as we witnessed life-changing services being provided to children at Princess Basma, please visit the Centre website, www.basma-centre.org.

    The Centre's success with the neediest of children, Deputy Director Maja Yasmineh made clear to us, is being achieved thanks to God, to cooperation with the Israeli medical establishment, and to a network of generous donors around the world.

    Ms. Yasmineh singled out the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem for its donations and commended American Friends for taking the time to tour the Centre and spread the word about its accomplishments.

    She noted that "very few of our children are Christian, but we serve them all. We work with a Christian soul."

    10.19.2011
    Eileen White Read
    AFEDJ Trustee

    ReplyDelete
  5. Full day yesterday: Western Wall, Temple Mount, pools of Bethesda. Bethlehem in the afternoon. Long wait at Curch of the Nativity. Festival in the square and a parade to celebrate the release of the prisoners! We ended our day at the wall encircling the whole town. No more need be said.

    ReplyDelete