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“When I go to to university next fall, I will be confident. I will not be afraid to compete with males, not like other girls who do not go to mixed schools.”
Nura, a senior at Saviour's Episcopal School, a progressive, co-ed K-12 school in Zarqa, Jordan
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Institution Spotlight:
Arab Episcopal School
Irbid, Jordan
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Before 2003 blind and visually-impaired children in Irbid, Jordan, had no options for education besides traveling an hour each way to Amman. That’s when the Rev. Samir Esaid and Mrs. Sabah Zurikat founded the Arab Episcopal School in Irbid, a city of about 1.7 million people.
Since its founding, with Esaid and Zurikat still at the helm, AES has expanded greatly, offering Kindergarten through grade 10 with 259 seeing children and visually-impaired children learning side by side. “We're so thankful for the ways the school has grown, and the support we've received both from our community here in Irbid, to communities in many parts of the world. It is only through the dedication of our staff and the support of friends that we're able to continue teaching integration and peace education,” Zurikat explained.
In addition to offering a full academic, integrated program, the Arab Episcopal School works to develop its students’ character by offering a peace curriculum that is built on democracy, respect of human rights, an emphasis on volunteer work and being good stewards of the environment.
To learn more about donations to the Arab Episcopal School in Irbid, please contact AFEDJ Executive Director John Lent at
jlent@afedj.org
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AFEDJ Trustee Barbara Boehm to lead “The Holy Land and the Arts” at St. George’s College, October 3 -14
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Barbara Drake Boehm, the Paul and Jill Ruddock Senior Curator for The Cloisters of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and an AFEDJ trustee, will draw upon Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions in a course called, “The Holy Land and the Arts,” offered by St. George’s College in Jerusalem.
(Barbara is pictured here with students at St. George's School in East Jerusalem.)
Participants will engage with the Holy Land through a focus on media such as architecture, icons, inscriptions, mosaics, olive wood, sculpture, and stained glass windows. The course will also address chosen themes, including Jerusalem in the three traditions, Abraham, Annunciation and the Nativity of Jesus, Holy Week, Crucifixion, Resurrection, the Jordan River, and Wilderness.
Dr. Boehm along with co-editor, Melanie Holcomb, published,
Jerusalem, 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven
, a comprehensive and timely exploration of the key role Jerusalem played in shaping the art and culture of the Middle Ages.
Click
here
for more information about this course and other offerings of St. George's College.
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AFEDJ supporters gather at St. James Cathedral in Chicago
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On April 12, about 90 people gathered at St. James Commons in Chicago to learn more about the work of AFEDJ and the ministries of the Diocese of Jerusalem.
AFEDJ Chair Bishop Barry Beisner of the Diocese of Northern California, spoke movingly of his visit to Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza last October.
Greetings from AFEDJ trustees
The event was held in conjunction with AFEDJ's spring board of trustees meeting. Bishop Jeff Lee of Chicago and Dominic Barrington, dean of St. James, both welcomed guests and spoke about the life-changing experience of pilgrimage. AFEDJ Executive Director John Lent, (pictured at left) gave an overview of the ministries of the Diocese of Jerusalem in the context of the current political and economic climate of the region.
He ended his talk by describing an encounter with a teacher at Schneller School in Jordan. “Each time I visit, just as I’m about to leave, he takes my hands in his and says, “Don’t forget us, John.”
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Watch a new video debuted in Chicago. Suhaila Tarazi, director of Ahli Arab Hospital, talks about the challenges faced by the people in Gaza as the humanitarian crisis deepens.
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Your Spring newsletter is in the mail
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Here’s what’s in store in AFEDJ’s spring newsletter soon to arrive at your door:
Our cover features an interview with a West Bank mother who, with her young daughter, is about to complete a three-week residency at Princess Basma Center’s Mother’s Empowerment Program. AFEDJ Trustee and rector of St. Alban’s, Newtown Square, PA, Matthew Dayton-Welch, talked with her about the benefits of the program for her, her daughter, their extended family and their wider community.
“We want you to support Princess Basma in order to let the Center be able to continue to give services as a resource for parents in the community. We need for the therapists to be updated [on new therapies] all the time in order to be able to open new therapy rooms, buy new equipment so that it will benefit the children. And because Princess Basma is the only center where they offer every treatment.” — a mother of a child with cerebral palsy on the importance of supporting Princess Basma Center
Also inside:
AFEDJ Trustee Nicholas Porter writes about the confidence and positive attitudes instilled in Palestinian young men by Diocese of Jerusalem schools.
Updates on Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza and St. Luke’s Hospital in Nablus.
Your impact in 2018: When challenges abound AFEDJ supporters rise to meet them
Holy Land Institute for the Deaf: A safe haven in Salt and far beyond
“We are the safety net for these children,” explained Archdeacon Luay Haddad, director of HLID. “This is our ministry to the community. We cannot say ‘No.’”
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Transforming lives of the vulnerable and displaced
in the Middle East through support of schools, hospitals,
and centers for children with disabilities.
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AFEDJ offers a safe, secure channel to make gifts to support the work of the humanitarian institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
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American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem | 203-655-3575
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www.afedj.org
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