Children of Gaza greet the Patriarch - Christmas 2011

His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem visited the Latin parish in Gaza on Sunday, December 18th for an early Christmas celebration. Some children received the sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion.

Mid december 2011 visit

This visit was for two days to catch up on the schools especially. I was able to visit all five schools. The children were hard at work in their workbooks given them by the government after they receive their permit. Yet I found that they had no other materials to work with. The last two years we did not have to provide these things, as two other organizations gave them in September for the entire year. Only one school had a few toys the other schools had none.

Many of the larger providers there have stopped their programs due to government controls. For me it was very hard to witness these schools working with almost nothing.