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ISRAEL: Salesian missionaries provide educational programming and bakery bringing Muslims and Christians together

(MissionNewswire) Since 1891, Salesian missionaries have been living and working in Bethlehem, initially establishing an orphanage for boys living in poverty and later expanding programs to meet growing local needs. Today, Salesian missionaries provide a range of educational and social activities to support the local community which includes both Christian and Muslim residents. In addition to the orphanage, Salesians now offer a technical school, a professional training center, a youth center, an art center and a bakery.

“Here in Bethlehem, where Christians make up 33 percent of the population (about 12,000 people), our centers are attended by young Christians and Muslims (in the majority) and people of both religions work there. Coexistence has always been good and relationships of sincere friendship have been born,” said Father Piergiorgio Gianazza, vice-provincial of the Salesian Province of the Middle East in a recent Vatican Insider World News article.

The Salesian Bakery is a historical institution in Bethlehem. The bakery, staffed by both Muslims and Christians working in harmony, produces food for the children in the orphanage, teaches baking as a profession and provides food assistance to those most in need through the free distribution of bread to the poorest families. The bakery employs six people and produces close to 3,000 loaves of bread every day. During the Second Intifada the bakery became very well known to the citizens in need during the crises.

“Our bread oven managed to provide bread to everyone, sometimes even for free. I remember that it would work uninterruptedly day and night,” added Fr. Piergiorgio in the article. “Since then, most of the population buys bread here and about 120 needy families (which we take care of) receive our products at a symbolic monthly price. I am pleased that in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means “bread house”, there is a bakery that feeds the population and helps the most vulnerable people. It nourishes the bonds between Christians and Muslims.”

Salesian missionaries also offer a Salesian Technical School. The school has 150 boys aged 15 to 18 who are working toward three-year technical and professional degrees in subjects including mechanics, electricity, electronics, mechatronics and industrial electronics. After graduates successfully complete a program, they are provided assistance finding meaningful employment.

The Salesian Professional Training Center offers 12 intensive courses each lasting one year. Currently, there are 160 young men aged 18 to 30 years attending the training center. The center’s goal is to meet the training needs of a large number of youth who for various reasons have left school prematurely. For young professionals who need to update their specialization, the center offers continuing education classes. Courses include carpentry, auto mechanics, mechatronics, electricity, industrial electronics and ceramics.

“Faculty and staff at the professional and technical schools are open and sensitive to the variety of religions represented in the area and encourage professional training for even the most disadvantaged populations,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Education has proven to be an effective means to break the cycle of poverty while giving the most vulnerable youth a sense of personal dignity and self-worth.”

The Salesian Artistic Center of Bethlehem is the only school in Palestine that offers formal training in the traditional handicrafts of olive wood, mother of pearl and ceramics. Students are urged to invent new and creative crafts and iconography to be produced with traditional materials and instruments. The art center works to create job opportunities for young craftsmen. To help art center graduates enter the job market, Salesian missionaries help with the donation of tools and machinery and the setting up of small workshops and microcredit facilities. For many students, this support has allowed them to overcome traditional obstacles faced when setting up a small business.

Bethlehem, a Palestinian city located in the central West Bank just south of Jerusalem, has a population close to 25,000 people and an economy that is primarily tourist driven. According to UNICEF, poverty in Palestinian territories including the West Bank, Gaza and Bethlehem varies district to district. Along the Gaza strip, poverty rates have risen as high as 60 percent with residents relying on food assistance from the United Nations. Over half of the population of Palestine is under the age of 18 and children in the region grow up amid frequent outbreaks of street violence sparked by ongoing political turmoil.

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Sources:

ANS –  Israel – Bethlehem and that bread oven that brings Christians and Muslims together

Salesians in Bethlehem

UNICEF – Bethlehem Poverty

Vatican Insider World News – Bethlehem and that bread oven that brings Christians and Muslims together