Prayers and admiration in equal measures for staff members of the clinic at Zaatari refugee camp operated by the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Jordan.
In January when heavy rains inundated the camp, clinic staff continued to offer services.
The clinic at Zaatari camp offers diagnosis, treatment, and support for children and adults with a range of disabilities. It also offers education sessions about disabilities for the wider camp community.
The camp is home to more than 78,000 people, 20 percent of whom are children under the age of five.
Please keep the staff and the vulnerable people they serve in your prayers. Thanks to your sustained financial support this ministry to refugee families continues, rain or shine.
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Institution Spotlight
Jofeh Community Rehabilitation Center
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In the Jordan Valley town of Jofeh, Jordan, just five miles from the Dead Sea, a community center alive with activity offers hope and a future to young people with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Beyond the academic, vocational, and therapy programs offered at the Jofeh Community Rehabilitation Center, outreach workers provide home-based physical and occupational therapy to about 125 patients and vision and hearing screening throughout outlying villages and in 20 public schools.
Opened in 1996 as a satellite center of the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf, the Jofeh Center - known in Arabic as
Beit Saleem
or “Safe House” - serves a population of about 60,000 people across 13 villages.
“We are the only Christians in this area,” explained Yousef Rizik, the Center’s manager, “and we are the only people doing this outreach work. Everyone we serve is Muslim.”
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Vocational training is at the core of the Jofeh Center’s mission, particularly for young women with physical and intellectual disabilities whose options for future success are limited. Workshops for sewing, embroidery, weaving, woodworking, and paper making from recycled paper are offered. A shop at the center sells the many products made by the students. “This training allows them to become fuller members of the local community and offers the opportunity for gainful employment,” said Rizik. The Center also offers a school for children with a wide range of disabilities, English lessons, computer training, and sign language classes.
Beyond the daily programs at the center in Jofeh, staff and volunteers offer free transportation for clients and students to the center, free meals for children under two, a toy library for local children, and educational sessions for community members to learn more about children with disabilities. In 2018 more than 900 local residents attended these sessions.
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Despite its short distance to the Dead Sea and the baptismal site at Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the Jofeh Center is off the beaten path of most pilgrim groups. Its leaders are seldom afforded the opportunity to share the story of the amazing Christian witness demonstrated with love and care to the people of the Jordan Valley at this safe haven, this
Beit Saleem.
Every dollar donated to the Jofeh Center makes a significant impact on the lives of vulnerable children and their families. Your financial support of the Jofeh Center will transform lives.
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This Easter stand with Christians serving our most vulnerable brothers and sisters in Gaza and Jerusalem
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American Friends - individuals and church communities - are invited to take part in an Easter Appeal to support the ministry of two remarkable institutions: Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City and Jerusalem Princess Basma Centre.
In whatever way you choose to participate your gift will have a profound effect on the lives of those served by these two institutions.
Your gift will immediately go to work on their behalf.
Parishes may make a church-wide appeal to members, choose to donate the offering from an Easter service, or offer a gift through your outreach program.
We can help spread the word and build excitement with resources for the Easter Appeal 2020 like a brochure, story cards, a bulletin insert, a letter from AFEDJ Chair, Bishop Greg Rickel, and videos from Jerusalem and Gaza to share.
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"As we turn our eyes to Jerusalem during Holy Week and Easter, please join me and the churches of Western Washington in support of Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza and Jerusalem Princess Basma Centre. Together we can reach our Easter Appeal 2020 goal of $100,000 in support of these remarkable Episcopal ministries in the Holy Land."
The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, Bishop of Olympia
Chair, AFEDJ Board of Trustees
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New England Friends, save the date for an April reception in Boston
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Fr. Wadie Far of the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf
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On Thursday, April 23, the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem will host a reception at Trinity Church, Copley Square, in Boston.
All are invited to gather from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Commons to learn about the remarkable ministry of the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Salt, Jordan. The Rev. Wadie Far, school chaplain and head of the boarding program, will share news of HLID and its students.
Guests will also receive first-hand reports about the urgent need for peace and reconciliation in the Middle East and news of the other humanitarian ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Refreshments and hearty hors d’oeuvres will be served.
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Congratulations and blessings to the bishop-coadutor, Dean Hosam Naoum
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Congratulations and blessings to the Very Rev. Hosam Naoum, Dean of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, upon his election on January 30 as bishop-coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
Here Dean Hosam speaks with AFEDJ trustees at St. George’s School in October 2018.
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Customized resources for your next event to support children and families in the Holy Land
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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.
Here are examples of resources we can customize for your church or organization.
- 8.5″ x 11″ flyers
- Bulletin inserts
- Social media posts
- Institution factsheets
- Story cards
Contact AFEDJ Communications Director Heidi Shott at
hshott@afedj.org
or 207.592.7353 to get started.
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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 |
www.afedj.org
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