Give a gift of hope in wartime
I am Viola Nouhi, and I have been working at the John Paul II Foundation for a few months now, after doing Universal Civil Service in Bethlehem for a year at the Paul VI Effeta Institute.
At this very time last year I was there, cheered by the joy of the children and fascinated by the spirit of Christmas that only the Holy Land can convey. These days I often think back to that time, when the war seemed so far away.
In a few days it is Christmas again, and I am heartbroken reading the news of the conflict that is again devastating that land.
The Dorothean Sisters, who have always run the Institute, tell me every week about what is happening in Bethlehem; unfortunately, fewer and fewer students can reach the school. In fact, most live far away and are unable to travel because it is risky to travel the roads and cross checkpoints. Classes continue online but for a hearing-impaired child progress cannot be the same.
While there were many problems a year ago, the situation has changed for the past few months: families are struggling and can no longer afford to pay school fees. In the cities, many businesses have already closed, workers' permits have been revoked, and getting over the wall is now impossible.
I wonder what will become of Effetà and all the children who welcomed me with smiles. I am afraid that the activities may stop, extinguishing their only hope for a future of inclusion, because in Palestine this is one of the very few schools that allows hearing-impaired children to learn to speak.
In the year I lived in Bethlehem, I saw with my own eyes the impact of donations that turn into food for the girls in the boarding school, into speech therapy sessions, into pencils, which bring a little color there where the wall, only a few steps away, dyes everything gray.
This is why we decided to dedicate the Christmas collection to the Effetà Institute, at such a dramatic time for Bethlehem and Palestine it is important that this school endures and can still be a place of hope and a space of peace, and for that we need everyone.
Viola Nouhi
