After a year and a half, an Easter Beacons of Hope package finally arrived from Ain Arik in the West Bank for the children of the Atonement Academy in San Antonio. The difficulties were due to the loss of the Ain Arik coordinator, Mirvat Shomali, to Ramallah. The checkpoints have made life extraordinarily difficult, and Mirvat had to take a position in her hometown just to have a semblance of a decent home life. The new coordinator is Abdallah Fawadleh, the new vice principle and English teacher of Ain Arik. He too had to do some adjustments for his new position. Abdallah is from Aboud, and he tried commuting to Ain Arik but the checkpoints made this impossible. Thus he has moved with his wife and three children down to Ain Arik. Since housing is suffering during the Intifada, Abdallah was only able to rent a small apartment.
After a year and a half, an Easter Beacons of Hope package finally arrived from Ain Arik in the West Bank for the children of the Atonement Academy in San Antonio. The difficulties were due to the loss of the Ain Arik coordinator, Mirvat Shomali, to Ramallah. The checkpoints have made life extraordinarily difficult, and Mirvat had to take a position in her hometown just to have a semblance of a decent home life. The new coordinator is Abdallah Fawadleh, the new vice principle and English teacher of Ain Arik. He too had to do some adjustments for his new position. Abdallah is from Aboud, and he tried commuting to Ain Arik but the checkpoints made this impossible. Thus he has moved with his wife and three children down to Ain Arik. Since housing is suffering during the Intifada, Abdallah was only able to rent a small apartment.
This is the first Beacons package that Abdallah has managed. He sent a cover letter to both Dr. Steven Hollingshead and the students and teachers of Atonement Academy. After proper introductions of himself and his family, Abdallah wrote: .The situation is very hard in our country and the children are facing very difficult circumstances especially in the last three years. I hope that this program, the Beacons of Hope, will help them to know that there are other children in another country who try to make them feel they are not alone and share with them their happiness and sadness. I am looking to strengthen this relation between our children in the two schools&
.Nowadays we are living the Lent, therefore, we hope that through lent we can stay living here in order to keep Christianity alive in the country of Jesus Christ. But in order to do so, we need the help of the believers who did not see Him and yet believe in Him. Help does not always mean giving money but prayers and friendship relations also& I wish that many Christians in the US will read this letter and know that the living stones in the Holy Land need their help. We would like to send to those Christians our great wishes for Easter..
Lent is a time for self-sacrifice in order to draw us closer to Christ. It is the time of putting on the virtue of poverty in spirit. For the people in the West Bank, every day of the year is an externally imposed sacrifice. Our Christian friends there face this sacrifice with Christ by assuming their load of carrying the cross. They complete that which was unfinished by Christ; for the Divine Logos endures in His beloved every affliction, every blow, every evil act across humanity for all time. He, and we, shoulder that cross in love of God. He reciprocates with unconditional and intense love. Let us now hear the love and the cross in the letters of the children.
The Kindergarten children sent their counterparts in San Antonio three large pages of colorings with their names over what they drew. Two are drawings of Ain Arik, and the other includes handprints. They show birds overhead, children playing in the yards, the school and homes. Flowers line the roadsides, and a blue bubble seems to be a swimming pool with children playing in it. They are all smiling for their friends in America.
The First Grade colored in Xerox cartoon copies of Easter eggs, bunnies, and chicks.
The Second Grade did the same as the First but with a different and more complex cartoon of two bunnies dancing. They also printed the salutation: .Dear friend, I love you and I pray for you. Happy Easter.. This is a very big thing for them to accomplish. As a comparison, imagine the American children learning to write the same thing, but in Arabic script.
The Third Grade did the same as the First.
The Fourth Grade is the first level that the children were able to write letters in English. They addressed each letter to a specific child in Texas. They were letters of introduction telling of their families, friends, school and favorite things. Ja.ad wrote to Mary, Nathan, Thomas, and Morgan: .I.m very happy when I read your letter and thank you very much. Love, Ja.ad.. One letter was generated on a computer, and little Yacoub was suffering from a recent family tragedy. He ended his nice letter with: .I.m very sad and very angry this day, because the occupation was kill my uncle.. Calvary is never too distant.
The Fifth Grade letters were major projects in their own right. All were varied and individualistic. Aham.s letters to Elizabeth, Anna and Jaclyn also included pages of Disney and heart stickers along with one small olive wood cross. Jacoub couldn.t seem to get enough space to write in his letter. Jwana sent Natuli religious cards, a small olive wood cross and hair berets. Sofia sent Aspen, Christine and Mariana her picture along with cards with Arabic necklace charms.
Johnny Awad sent Danny, Gabrielle, and Victoria automotive stickers with his letter. Nasser sent Natalie, Shayena and Liam balloons with his letter. Mira sent an immense envelope with two small letters.
The Sixth Grade letters are all hand written and speak of normal and hopeful things concerning family, friends, favorite subjects and church. They all express love.
That is the final fitting expression for Easter: love — God.s splendor of love for us, and our diminished attempts to reflect that love toward each other.
