|
|
“They prepare us totally for the world out there. They train us well so we will be ready.”
- a senior at the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center in Ramallah
|
|
Institution Spotlight:
Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center offers a promising future for West Bank students
|
|
Even in the bustling West Bank city of Ramallah, opportunities for economic success after finishing secondary school are elusive.
For students who have not succeeded in traditional academic programs, the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center (ETVTC) is a godsend.
Founded in 2000 by its current director Giovanni Anbar, ETVTC offers students two years of hands-on learning in one of two tracks: hospitality and culinary arts or information technology. Upon graduation 94 percent of students move to full-time employment, additional vocational training, or university studies.
|
|
AFEDJ supporters offer hope and opportunity for success by funding scholarships, equipment purchases, and on-the-job training. Anbar explains the vital need for vocational programs for some of the most vulnerable young people living in the West Bank, “Palestinian students struggle to succeed under the pressure of occupation. Many students will not pass the official high school exam and, because of high youth unemployment rates, are left with few options after they leave school.” ETVTC offers a lifeline to a better future to such students.
The school’s leaders and staff continue to find new avenues to help young Palestinians improve their lives and their families’ economic future. In 2018 ETVTC partnered with the Palestinian Authority to offer a three-month pilot program in culinary arts for 12 young men serving prison sentences for non-violent crimes. At the end of the course, they received a certificate from the PA Ministry of Labor that will assist them in obtaining steady employment upon release. ETVTC staff members use their connections in the hospitality industry to help newly-released young men find jobs.
The program was so successful that the prison officials have requested a second program and the next cohort of 12 young men is lined up to participate. AFEDJ has raised nearly all the funding necessary to launch the next course.
Your
generous gift
could put us over the top and make a huge difference in the lives of young men in Ramallah and their families.
|
|
Students at ETVTC deeply appreciate the small classes taught by professionals in the field, Yazeed, a 2018 graduate and first-year university student said, “You have to study wherever you go, but at ETVTC you study and you enjoy it. There are five or six student in the computer lab compared to 25 students at other schools. The teachers are real computer engineers. It’s amazing!”
Another student described the atmosphere of the school like being part of a family. When asked what she would tell younger students considering ETVTC, she said, “I would tell them that you came to the right place. It’s not only the teaching, it's also having fun with the teachers. They are not only teachers but they are like friends, fathers, or brothers.”
A student in the information technology program gave high marks to the practical aspect of the curriculum which requires each student to do an outside placement with a business in order to finish his or her first year. “They prepare us totally for the world out there. They train us well so we will be ready.”
|
|
Customized resources for your next event to support children and families in the Holy Land
|
|
Need resources to help raise awareness of the life-changing work of the Diocese of Jerusalem hospitals, schools and centers for children with disabilities?
Maybe you want to hold a fundraiser for Ahli Arab Hospital’s Low-Weight and Malnourished Children’s Clinic?
Say no more!
We will customize a variety of print resources with your church name and then email the .pdfs and .pngs/.jpgs for you to share and copy.
Click below to see examples of resources we can customize for your church or organization.
Contact AFEDJ Communications Director Heidi Shott at
hshott@afedj.org
or 207.592.7353 to get started.
Stay-tuned for more resource packages to be added over the summer. Or be in touch if you have one in mind.
|
|
AFEDJ’s summer event -
Join American Friends and Bishop Thomas Brown in
Brunswick, Maine, on August 1
|
|
Friends, pilgrims, and supporters are invited to gather on Thursday, August 1, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brunswick.
Join the newly-consecrated Bishop of Maine, Thomas Brown, who has led several pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and the Rev. Tom Mousin, who will lead a pilgrimage in January 2020.
AFEDJ Executive Director John Lent will speak about current conditions in the region and share insights from his recent visits to the ministries AFEDJ supports across the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
Join us for Middle Eastern food, fellowship, and a chance to learn more about the work of American Friends and our partners in the Diocese of Jerusalem.
Click
here
for an invitation to share.
|
|
Partner with AFEDJ for a Sustainable Development Goals/Global Mission Fund grant in your diocese
|
|
We’re looking for churches in the dioceses listed below to partner with us in submitting applications for diocesan grants to support the
Mother Empowerment Program
at Princess Basma Center in East Jerusalem.
So far in 2019 we are working with partner parishes in ten dioceses on similar grant applications.
If your church is passionate about a different Diocese of Jerusalem ministry such as Ahli Arab Hospital’s children’s clinic or Holy Land Institution for the Deaf’s mobile clinics that serve Syrian refugees, we are happy to talk about applications for those projects as well.
Dioceses where we hope to find a partner congregation:
- Central Florida
- East Tennessee
- Florida
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Milwaukee
- Southern Ohio
- Texas
If the deadline for your diocese has already passed for 2019, please be in touch to partner in 2020!
To learn more about working with AFEDJ staff to submit an application for the Mother Empowerment Program, contact Executive Director
John Lent
at 203.655.3575 or Communications Director
Heidi Shott
at 207.592.7353.
|
|
A shoutout to our good friends at
Grace Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Virginia.
They are profiled in this week's online edition of the PCUSA's national magazine,
Presbyterian Outlook,
and also featured in the August print edition
.
Grace has nurtured a long-time partnership with St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Nablus, a city in the northern West Bank. When approached late last year to contribute to the fund to buy a critically-needed ambulance for St. Luke's Hospital in Nablus, the people of Grace did not hesitate to step up in a big way.
|
|
In case you missed it:
We have a new website!
|
|
Transforming lives of the vulnerable and displaced
in the Middle East through support of schools, hospitals,
and centers for children with disabilities
|
|
AFEDJ offers a safe, secure channel to make gifts to support the work of the humanitarian institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
|
|
American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem | 203-655-3575
|
www.afedj.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
