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.

The Salesian Technical School offers 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. 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.

The Salesian Bakery is a historical institution in Bethlehem. The purpose of it being threefold; it 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.

“Starting as an orphanage for young boys, the Salesian program has grown substantially to meet the growing needs and demands of its local community,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Because Salesian missionaries live within the communities they serve, they are able to create programs to best meet the needs of the populations they are serving.”

Sources

Salesians in Bethlehem

UNICEF – Bethlehem Poverty

The post BETHLEHEM: Salesian Missionaries Provide Diverse Programs and Assistance Including Arts Center and Bakery first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Inspired by the education he received at a Salesian-run school, Dr. Giacomi is donating his dental expertise, along with 11 other Italian volunteer dentists, to the Dental Clinic at “La Crèche” run by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. These dentists work during their vacation time while funding the trip to and from the clinic in Bethlehem themselves.

“There is an enormous inner satisfaction which is hard to describe when looking after these young Palestinians,” explains Dr. Giacomi. “Often they don’t understand us; not even in English but they smile and thank us. They say it endlessly, invite you home, and in the most miserable of poor homes tell you this is your home too.”

The offering of free dental care has come about through a partnership between three groups. The dental office was built by the Sisters of Charity at La Crèche, the dental equipment was donated by UNITALSI (The National Italian Union for Transporting the Sick to Lourdes and International Sanctuaries), and the volunteer dentists were recruited from all over Italy under the leadership of Dr. Giacomi.

“There are currently some 1,700 patients who benefit annually,” says Dr. Giacomi. “It is quite a financial outlay for us volunteers but we manage brilliantly.”

According to the World Bank, poverty in this region varies by district and ranges from three to 55 percent of the local population. Poverty is highest in the Gaza districts and lowest in Jerusalem. Half of the Palestinian poor live in three districts – Khan Yunis, Gaza City, and Hebron. Three of the top five poorest localities are in the West Bank and all are from different districts – Al Jiftlik, Yatta, and Ya’bad, with poverty incidence rates ranging between 40 and 51 percent of the local population.

The Dental Clinic at “La Crèche” is housed in the Vincentian complex in Bethlehem and follows the best practices in dentistry standards. The complex also includes an orphanage that houses 55 children ages six and younger as well as a school with 120 day students. In addition there is a social center for the unemployed and a Pilgrim Hostel. Next to the complex is the only hospital in Palestine that offers free services. The hospital is an ultramodern building that provides obstetrics and gynecology services as well as a neo-natal unit that oversees around 300 births a month.

“The children at La Crèche are not just poor, but have never known a mother or a father. For them any man or woman who comes here could be a father or a mother,” concludes Dr. Giacomi.

Sources

ANS – Israel – Past Pupil helps Palestinian orphans

World Bank – Poverty in West Bank

The post BETHLEHEM: Orphans Receive Dental Health Services Thanks to Former Salesian Student first appeared on MissionNewswire.