Visit to Gaza October 12 And 13, 2010

Fr. Thomas and I, Sister Susan, made good time arriving and entering. Sabah was there to meet us and we headed south to Magasse and Musaddar. It was great to see the children busy with their letter or numbers in these two village nursery schools. While there we saw each school serve the meal. Some schools have fewer children than last May and other have more. Hopefully you will have the pictures we took while visiting.

Some new events in the Strip are that the farmers are now able to export some products via the tunnels. Eggs and chickens are now cheaper in Gaza than in Egypt. Seven individuals were helped this month with surgeries or medications. Doctors will be examinating the children in our schools to see who needs glasses. They will be receiving free glasses as did the 46 children who received them last year.

Gaza: the parish of hope

by Andrea Bergamini
They are few, isolated because of the embargo and caught up in the society’s islamization carried forward by Hamas. But Catholic people are anyway a lively community, a sign of peace

We have heard it talked about many times because of its drama. But there could also be another point of view from which to look at Gaza: the one from the Holy Family Parish, the only Latin community in the Strip. An uneasy presence which is somehow the whole Middle East’s icon at the centre of the Synod which will be held in Rome this month. Andrea Bergamini, a religious of the Families of Visitation, reports.