Dear friends,

Caritas attempts to improve every aspect of life by being involved in many projects and programs in the Holy Land.

We believe education is a right for all children; we believe in the power of our youth and their positive impact on their peers and on the society at large. We believe that prevention is better than cure.

But we cannot do all these things without the assistance of our local and international partners and friends.

Thank you for making it possible.

Fr. Raed Abusahlia General Director Caritas Jerusalem

Tony Abdo, in “Our volunteers One man's trash is another feel it is their duty to serve the less man's treasure fortunate.” Giving out of love and not out of duty “We think that old clothes shouldn’t just be thrown out, they should be reused and help support people living in poverty. Our ultimate aim is to collect as many clothes as we can and distribute them to the needy.” Stated Tony Abdo, Caritas Jerusalem’s youth department coordinator.

We are so used to buy new clothes every now and then, using them for a while and then discarding outrightly. A second thought is never given to the fact that the same clothes could be used by someone A local donor from Bethlehem else.

Caritas Jerusalem’s Youth Department has started an initiative to collect old clothes- “Old for you and new for others,” the slogan says.

Since the beginning of April, the Youth Department with 150 Caritas volunteers have been busy collecting used clothes in good condition, washing, ironing and mending them.

The clothes will be distributed inRamallah, Beir Zeit, Bethlehem and the surrounding villages. Caritas Jerusalem volunteers, hard at work in Beit Jala

“I am so proud of the local donors who welcomed this idea; some of them even Today, about one-third of the population bought new clothes to give out to the in Palestine are students of all levels of needy. But I am more proud of our education. volunteers who worked tirelessly day and night. We couldn’t have made it without All through their modern history, the boundless energy of our volunteers!” have always highly valued Said Abdelmasih Younan, Caritas education. There are eleven universities Jerusalem’s youth coordinator. and thirty colleges in the and Gaza Strip. There are thousands of dresses and hundreds of shirts and pairs of trousers to Six years ago we started a partnership with be given to the needy. the Fundacion Palestina Belen 2000 and in coordination with Caritas a “The beauty of this project is not the program to support the education of amount of clothes collected, it is the spirit Palestinian students in the Bethlehem of Caritas which we were able to foster in governorate. the new generation- which is the spirit of love and giving. It is heartening and This year the program was extended to motivating to see so many young people Ramallah governorate. We were able to who have work or school to give their reach 21 schools in Bethlehem; 6 schools valuable time to others.” Stated Father in Ramallah and 2 schools in Jerusalem. Raed Abusahlia, Caritas Jerusalem General Director.

Note: you can find a T.V. interview on this project on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5KOwjhvtkM

Caritas Jerusalem supports Palestinian children and youth education

“The world is a book and those who do not Thanks to the Fundacion we have been travel read only one page.” ― St. able to reach out to many families in Augustine support of covering part of the tuition fees of their children.

This academic year, we have been able to reach 1,030 students with the sum of $250 each.

According to the Human Development Report Office as of 15 October 2012 the Palestinian national literacy rate is 94.9% We at Caritas Jerusalem believe that education is a very important tool for dialogue and peace.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics the percentage of individuals aged from (0-14) constituted

40.4% of the total population at mid 2012. It is crucial to give a good education for the young generation to grow up with hope This year we were fortunate to have among and opportunities. us two guests from the Spanish delegation: Mr. Rodrigo Sáez, the Project Manager for Caritas Jerusalem would like to thank the Middle East countries, Caritas Spain and Fundacion Palestina Belen 2000 for being Mr. Rafael Reinlein, the Senior Program partners in building the future of Manager of the Spanish Cooperation of Palestine. International Development, who walked The Silent Killer with the patients and attended the activity.

In Palestine, hypertension related disease becomes one of the major health problems.

Each year a theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area Dr. Khaled Dhedel, the medical director of of public health concern in the world. The talked about hypertension, its theme for 2013 is high blood pressure. causes and the ways we can prevent or reduce the risk of getting it by reducing Caritas Jerusalem’s health department salt intake, eating a balanced diet, marked World Health Day on the 10th of avoiding harmful use of alcohol, taking April in the village of Aboud (in the central regular physical activity, maintaining a West Bank). healthy body weight and avoiding tobacco use. Approximately 200 chronic patients from the villages of Aboud and Taybeh, the Mr. Jameel Khoury, Caritas Jerusalem medical team, local committee members, Convenio manager, thanked Caritas Spain Caritas volunteers and local villagers and the Spanish government for the gathered in the center of the village and support of our projects in Aboud, Taybeh walked to Caritas Jerusalem’s medical and Gaza and a patient who suffers from center. diabetics and hypertension talked about her experiences and how the Convenio project changed her life. “I was in a dark forest and didn’t know what to do until I medical tests, an X-Ray machine and a started to come to the Caritas medical pharmacy. center in Aboud and had some sessions with the nutritionist, the doctor and the The staff of the clinic is regularly social workers. conducting health prevention sessions I attended all the lectures and this with the local community on women’s program not only changed my life but also health, smoking, road safety and home the life of my children and family. Now, I accidents. cook healthier meals, use less salt and sugar and walk for half an hour every day.

I feel better and happier.

I used to watch T.V. and envy people in other countries which have such projects. Thank you for bringing similar projects to Palestine and for saving my life!” She said in her speech. An Educational Fun Day in

The 8th graders from the Latin Caritas Jerusalem organizes a fun day in Patriarchate School of Aboud entertained the girls' school in Shuqba the audience with a dabke dance.

School fun days are an important part of student educational life at any level.

Allowing students to enjoy a day of fun

activities to break up the routine of school Mr. Rodrigo and Mr. Rafael were very work is healthy and makes school more much impressed and they talked about the enjoyable for students and faculty. long term effect of the program and the good cooperation of Caritas Jerusalem in gathering all these people from the Shuqba is a Palestinian town which is different villages to Aboud. located 17 kilometers northwest of

Ramallah. The program in Aboud is funded by our partners Caritas Spain, the Spanish On the 10th of April 2013 Caritas Cooperation of International Development Jerusalem’s health team in collaboration (AECID) and the Spanish Government with the Ministry of Education/

Department of School Health and the Health Committee of Caritas Jerusalem Caritas is running a primary health care organized an educational fun day in the clinic in Aboud since 1990, reaching out to town’s elementary girls’ school which a population of 23,000 including Aboud targeted 400 students. and 9 surrounding villages. Since 2009, the center offers specialist practices: women’s health, dentistry, orthopaedics, urology and basic surgery. In addition the center has a laboratory for The day was aimed to increase health awareness among the elementary students. Speakers were invited to talk about the importance of primary health care, proper nutrition and physical hygiene. Also, performers were hired to entertain the students.

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Your support is essential to provide long-term assistance to our beneficiaries. Please see below our bank details to make a donation:

Bank Name: Arab Bank Swift Code: ARABPS 22110 Account number: 457793/0/510 USD Credit Account: Caritas Jerusalem

Branch No: 9110 Questionnaires were prepared in order to At Arab Bank in Al-Ram encourage student participation in P.O.Box: 2445-Al-Ram discussions about health issues and Jerusalem cleanliness. The day was concluded by painting a food pyramid on the wall of the school.

This activity was funded by Caritas New Zealand and New Zealand Aid Programme. In 2011 Caritas Jerusalem and Caritas New Zealand signed a three year project agreement on providing healthcare services in schools and health centers in the Aboud area and in the Gaza Strip.

The project includes health awareness programs and activities tailored to each particular group with lectures and presentations on nutrition, dental and body hygiene, psychological and environmental health.