This Eastertide your generosity will restore critically needed surgical care at St. Luke’s Hospital |
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Every suffering family in the northern West Bank city of Nablus knows that St. Luke’s Hospital welcomes everyone. They seek out this Christian hospital, knowing they’ll receive expert care and be treated with dignity, regardless of their ability to pay.
However, in December 2021 the failure of a 20-year-old anesthesia machine in one of the hospital’s two major surgery suites cut its capacity to perform operations in half. Doctors at St. Luke’s are now forced to delay crucial surgeries for people who do not have the means to obtain care elsewhere, placing their lives and their families in peril.
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© 2021 UNRWA Photo by Maysoun Mustafa |
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This Eastertide we ask for your help to raise $42,000, the full cost of a new anesthesia machine. A gift of any amount will expand St. Luke’s capacity to heal some of the world’s most vulnerable families.
Your gift will make a difference in the lives of those who live where Jesus himself healed so many.
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“It is our belief the inability of any member of our community to afford healthcare should not and will not be an obstacle to receiving high quality care, but we need your help to do our job.”
— Dr. Walid Kerry, St. Luke's Hospital
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Grant expands educational technology at Saviour’s School in Jordan |
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Behind the heavy steel gates surrounding Saviour’s School in Zarqa, there’s a remarkable, vibrant learning community of 300 K-12 students led by Dua’a Bisharat. Inside the concrete exterior you’ll find bright colors and sparkling clean hallways and classrooms and teachers working with students, including those with disabilities who are fully integrated into the regular classroom. This spring, thanks to a generous grant from the Sally and Dick Roberts Coyote Foundation, dozens of new laptops, tablets, cameras, and software are enhancing teaching and learning at Saviour’s School.
Zarqa, Jordan’s second largest city and industrial hub, has been hit hard by the pandemic and economic hardship has threatened the wellbeing of vulnerable families. At present, more than 50% of families in Zarqa live in poverty—more than twice the national average. In recent surveys, 69% of respondents in Zarqa reported they had lost all their income.
Donations like the Coyote Foundation grant allow Dua’a and other leaders of schools and hospitals across the Diocese of Jerusalem to expand their offerings and extend the Christian values embodied by their institutions to those most in need. Christian and Muslim parents in Zarqa seek a place for their children at Saviour’s because its staff promotes tolerance, gender equality, equal opportunity for children with disabilities, and the dignity and worth of every person.
Learn more about Saviour’s School here.
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When families can't travel to Jerusalem for care, Princess Basma Center goes the distance |
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For a Palestinian family who lives outside of Jerusalem, obtaining care for a child with a disability is often difficult due to travel restrictions.
But thanks to support from its American friends, the Jerusalem Princess Basma Center (JPBC) is able to travel to six partner clinics across the West Bank to meet families where they live. The outreach team provides evaluation and access to rehabilitation services and therapy.
One of the clinics the outreach team regularly visits is in Yatta, a city of 70,000 that has Palestine's second-highest rate of people with disabilities. The Yatta clinic's director, Ayman Tmaizy, explained the importance of its relationship with JPBC in providing direct services to families and training local staff, “We complete each other. With so many challenges, we cannot stand alone.”
Earlier this week a pilgrim group from the Diocese of Pennsylvania - including two AFEDJ trustees, Bishop Daniel Gutiérrez and the Rev. Cn. Matthew Dayton-Welch - accompanied the JPBC team to clinics in Yatta and Idna in the southern West Bank. Dayton-Welch, who took the photo above at the Idna clinic, wrote, "These kids cannot make it to East Jerusalem to benefit from JPBC's world-class therapies, so the Center is bringing it to them."
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AFEDJ begins search for new executive director |
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After seven years with American Friends, John Lent, executive director, has announced that he will retire at the end of 2022.
“My work with American Friends is the most fulfilling work I’ve done throughout my career,” Lent said. “It’s a great honor for me to lead an organization that is devoted to helping advance the important work of the Diocese of Jerusalem. I am blessed to count so many wonderful Christian sisters and brothers in the Holy Land among my friends and will continue to devote myself to supporting the Christian presence and work in the Holy Land. I am deeply grateful for the friendship and generosity of the thousands of Americans who are committed to our shared mission in the Holy Land.”
Board Chair Bishop Greg Rickel of the Diocese of Olympia said of the announcement, “We have been blessed by the competence, creativity, and dedication John has brought to American Friends.” Rickel added, “Under his leadership AFEDJ has become a stronger and more focused organization that is poised to greatly expand awareness of the humanitarian ministries of the Diocese of Jerusalem. That bright future is possible because of John’s work. We are sorry to see him depart but will remain grateful that he has shared his considerable gifts in support of the remarkable ministries we serve.”
A Search Committee, chaired by AFEDJ Trustee Endicott Peabody of Scottsdale, Arizona, has begun the process to name Lent’s successor. AFEDJ hopes to announce a new executive director later this year.
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AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF JERUSALEM
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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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