Irene and her family live in Beit Jala, a small town on the hills above Bethlehem. She explains their problem: 

“We suffer greatly from the continuous interruption to the water supply in this area. We only get water here every 20 or 25 days!”
They are certainly not alone in this. A constant supply of mains water is not the norm for any home in the West Bank, a situation that is largely unimaginable in the UK.

The only way households can manage the situation is to have large water storage tanks on their roofs which are filled during the 1-2 days when the mains water is on, and then must last until the next time the water flows again.

Installing and maintaining these tanks can be costly but is vital to families meeting their everyday water needs. It is for this reason that Friends of the Holy Land has been partnering with another organisation, Pro Terra Sancta, to help repair and replace water tanks for the neediest Christian families over the past five years.

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Pro Terra Sancta is run by the Franciscan Custos who have over 1,000 years of engineering expertise behind them. They, like us, care deeply about maintaining a Christian presence in the Holy Land, so it was a natural decision to collaborate with them on this project.

Overseen on the ground by the Pro Terra Sancta team, the project not only seeks to help with the issue of water but also provides much-needed employment and training. We use local Christian contractors, generating income for them in a time of scarcity, and we bring in young people from the Christian community as apprentices to learn the trade on the job.

Find out about other ways we improve housing in the Holy Land

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Irene’s family is just one of the 90 families who have received help from the water project so far. “This project will really help meet the needs of our homes," she says. "The country urgently needs projects like this one; thank you for thinking of us.” 

Isn’t it great to know that your generosity can make such an important difference?