News

A shoutout to our good friends at Grace Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Virginia. They are profiled in this week’s online edition of the PCUSA’s national magazine, Presbyterian Outlook, and also featured in the August print edition. Grace has nurtured a long-time partnership with St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Nablus,...

Even in the bustling West Bank city of Ramallah, opportunities for economic success after finishing secondary school are elusive. For students who have not succeeded in traditional academic programs, the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center (ETVTC) is a godsend. The school’s leaders and staff continue...

AFEDJ’s address – www.afedj.org – may be the same, our new site is full of photos and stories of the people you serve and the ministries you support. And it offers many new resources for people like you who are passionate about building hope in the Holy Land.  Here...

While the leaders of Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza rarely start the day with good news, one morning in mid-May was the exception for Ahli’s director, Suhaila Tarazi. She awoke to word that the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (AFEDJ) was awarded...

The board of the Theodor Schneller School has voted to begin a strategic planning process. The school will work with AFEDJ to apply for a planning grant that will fund a comprehensive study and position the school for a bright future.  Schneller School serves 270 impoverished...

Thanks to AFEDJ Trustee, the Rev. Matthew Dayton-Welch, for taking time during his pilgrimage to interview Ms Sondos, a participant with her daughter in the Mother Empowerment Program at Princess Basma Center in East Jerusalem. A signature program of Princess Basma, this two- to three-week...

Before 2003 blind and visually-impaired children in Irbid, Jordan, had no options for education besides traveling an hour each way to Amman. That’s when the Rev. Samir Esaid and Mrs. Sabah Zurikat founded the Arab Episcopal School in Irbid, a city of about 1.7 million...

Recently-released research on child welfare in Gaza by the Norwegian Refugee Council makes for sobering reading. Researchers studied the welfare of children since the right-of-return demonstrations at the border began in the spring of 2018. The report finds that “68 percent of schoolchildren in areas close to...

A safe haven of peace for 150 children and young people ages four to 25, the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Salt, Jordan, offers a full range of therapeutic services for hearing-impaired, deaf, and deaf-blind students and a K-12 academic boarding program. Each...

Ms Suhaila Tarazi, director of Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, talked with AFEDJ’s John Lent in East Jerusalem on February 27, 2019. She spoke about the dire conditions the people of Gaza encounter each day and, in this video, about the challenges staff of...