Bethlehem’s first dedicated day-care centre for the elderly, St. Martha’s House, was opened recently by the newly ordained Bishop of Jerusalem, Bishop William Shomali and Dr. Michael Whelan, Chairman of the UK Charity, Friends of the Holy Land, in the presence of the Mayor of Bethlehem and other dignitaries. It is part of a Care & Repair initiative, led by Mrs Laila Asfoura and supported by a group of Palestinian women from Bethlehem. The Centre focuses on providing care for the elderly and repair for their physical environment, through basic health care, hairdressing, pedicure, providing healthy meals, exercise classes, recreational trips, amusement activities and workshops.

The elderly in the Christian Community in the Holy Land are facing particular difficulty as they are losing their traditional family support due to the emigration of their sons and daughters. With no social security and no home-care medical support, the suffering of the elderly is acute.

Bishop William congratulated Laila and her support team as the founders of the Centre, blessed and praised their efforts for the care and special services to the elderly women in the Bethlehem Community and wished the new venture every success.

Dr. Michael Whelan said “A wonderful environment has been created for delivering this service in a very short time and on a very tight budget. I am sure that many will benefit from this excellent facility”.

Mrs Laila Asfoura thanked those who had assisted and supported her in enabling this project to be established. Her thanks were extended to the Friends of the Holy Land and the Catenian Association who had both contributed significantly to the initial costs. Laila said “Today, isolated and frail ladies of our community can at last receive the support and assistance they so desperately need and deserve. Loneliness and isolation is not something that is acceptable. This Centre is an attempt to refuse to simply allow this to be another unrelieved suffering endured by our people. Our project is a small shoot, rich in hope, ripe in need… but fragile and in need of much support and development, Much has been achieved but much more still needs to be done.”

The immediate big need is to obtain a vehicle to enable the elderly to be collected from their homes and transported to the Centre.

Support

If you would like to make a contribution to this work or to know more about the Friends of the Holy Land, then visit our donation area or contact us.

Notes

The Friends of the Holy Land (FHL) was established in England and Wales in 2009. It is a registered charity and assists the Christian Community in the Holy Land.

The objectives are to raise awareness of the difficulties experienced by the Christian Community in the Holy Land, to encourage prayers to be offered for their intentions and to generate and channel financial resources to provide them with a sustainable future.

Financial support is provided to Parishes and Schools and families within the Christian Community to enable them to live a fruitful and rewarding life in their homeland.

This is carried out through funding for Parish activities, assistance to Schools, financing small self-help projects in the community and providing humanitarian aid to the needy.

This is all achieved with the backing and blessing of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England & Wales. The FHL is non-political.

Contacts

Contact us by email at friendsoftheholyland@btconnect.com or call the National Office:

2 Station Road
Kenilworth
CV8 1JJ

Tel: 01926 512980
Fax: 01926 850946

Dr Michael Whelan KSG, KGCHS
Trustee & National Chairman FHL

Peter Rand MBE
Trustee & National Vice Chairman

Sean Higgins
General Manager

friendsoftheholyland@btconnect.com
friendsoftheholyland.org.uk

Registered Charity Number 1130054