PROJECT 26
The Church of Scotland has a long history of being a church which reaches out to its ‘parish’ or the ‘community’ surrounding it. Our two churches in Jerusalem and Tiberias are no different and have long worked with a number of local partners to support both new and continuing projects. The Friends have committed to support two particular pieces of work with two of our long term partners. We encourage every member to give what they can to help raise £5,000 this year for the two projects below.
Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN) is an organisation which undertakes small scale humanitarian projects in the southern West Bank and Gaza, particularly to support beneficiaries at risk of displacement. A major focus of HIRN’s work is education. As well as capital projects such as school buildings (one with a grant from the Church of Scotland), equipment and transport, they also have provided support for university students by enabling access to university fees for those in financial need. Currently they are sponsoring students at nine universities in the West Bank, at a cost of £500 per student per year.
The Friends have committed to continue our partnership with HIRN during the coming year, and we would like to raise at least £2,500 to allow HIRN to send 5 more students to University – your donation would help HIRN make students' dreams come true.
This project has supported two groups of apprentice beekeepers, made up of equal numbers of Arab and Jewish Israelis. They first learn about the amazing life of bees, learning to overcome their fear of them and at the same time, of each other. Then each participant is given a hive to look after. Participants are generally from more traditional households, and beekeeping becomes a source of income. More importantly, learning beekeeping together helps them overcome their fear of each other. One participant who had been part of cross-cultural dialogue groups for many years said, ‘This project has helped us go further and deeper than ever before, in learning to trust one another.’
The project aims to help women gain financial independence and to use the learning in other areas of life such as, family food security and ecology. The learning gained in being part of the bee project becomes stepping stones to developing other cottage industries such as candle making and new interest in growing and biodiversity.
Financial support of £2,500 from The Friends of St Andrew’s Jerusalem and Tiberias would contribute significantly to the costs of the next beekeeping course.
How you can help us make a difference
Make a BACS donation
Account Name: Church of Scotland
Account No: 00134859
Sort code: 83-06-08
Reference: FriendsProject
Donate via the Church of Scotland website
Visit the website here www.churchofscotland.org.uk
or Click here
Scroll down and select Donate to a congregation;
Insert Jerusalem – and follow the prompts.
Thank you for your continued support of the work of The Friends
Any questions?
Contact Carol Miller, Secretary of The Friends of St Andrews Jerusalem & Tiberias, on 07874 024309 or at secretary@friendsofstandrews.com