ICB Partnership Blog

Dear Friends and Family:

Today we began our day in Bethlehem.  We visited the Dar Al Kalima School started by Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb.  It is a wonderful school for children age 3 all the way through high school.  The school has a capacity of 350 students and they currently have 294 students.  The director reports that the young classes are full and there are waiting lists.  They have less students that are older.  Their commitment is to create a balance of Christian students with Muslim students, boys with girls.   The students come from the refugee camps as well as the surrounding villages.  Tuition for a family is $1,000 per year which is about 1/3 of the cost to attend.   Jo Lucas reports that our Presbytery and interested people have given over $30,000 to support the work here.  Over $11,000 of this money has gone towards scholarships to help poor families send their children.    One of the important tasks of the school is to sponsor workshops for parents.  They want to educate the people both parents and students about working for peace.  Their 6th graduating class is in 2010 and in 2009 their first  graduates from this school have now graduated from colleges either here or abroad.  I visited some classrooms.  The teens in the 10th grade wanted me to send you a picture of them so it will be attached. 

We then visited the Women’s welllness center located in the same building.  I will attach a picture of Jo Lucas handing hearing aids over to the audiologist of this clinic which they deeply appreciated.  We saw the place where the school, the wellness center and more classes will be added in the future as they receive support.  I hope to also attach a picture of their mission statement so that you can read it for yourself.

Finally this afternoon we were able to visit Hebron and the tomb of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekkah.  A mosque is built over the caves where they believe that the people were buried.   You will see a picture of the Bethlehem traveler women outfitted appropriately so that we could enter the mosque. 

We returned to the Abu Gruban guesthouse tonight.  We will visit Masada and plan to swim (or float) in the Dead Sea tomorrow.  Then we will travel back to the Abu Gruban guesthouse for a rest as we prepare to leave here about 1:00 a.m. in the morning to travel to Tel Aviv to fly home.

It has been a wonderful blessed trip.    Thank you for reading the blog and traveling with us in your prayers.   Our flights should arrive home Wednesday evening.

Blessings

Pastor Peggy and the Bethlehem Travelers

Part of Dar Al Kalima Mission Statement

10th grade teens class studying at the school

Jo Lucas delivering much needed hearing aids to Wellness Center

Bethlehem Traveler Women visiting the Mosque over Tomb of Sarah