Moderators Mission Project

Our Moderator, Rev Doug McRoberts, at Al Shurooq School for Blind Children, in Bethlehem, as featured at our June Presbytery meeting… Doug has asked that churches throughout Clèir Eilean Ì consider supporting this school, and Jeel al Amal orphanage and school in Bethany, with prayers and fundraising. Both work with disadvantaged children – including some from Gaza – almost entirely through voluntary donations.

Both, of course, are beyond the Separation Wall from Israel. And both depend on the direct support of McCabe Educational Trust (MET) – the charity arm of McCabe Pilgrimages. Until the 7th October atrocity, and the war in Gaza which followed, MET was funding Christian-led care and education of children (of any faith) in the West Bank and elsewhere, children who are blind, deaf, orphaned or poor – and sometimes more than one of those things, spending about £250,000 a year, all of it raised through charity donations. But there is now an urgent need; a recent report from MET said:

Up until October 75% of McCabe’s pilgrims were visiting the Holy Land; for the last ten months this has been impossible… The income of MET has halved virtually overnight; we are fast running out of money. But the needs of the children we have been supporting have more than doubled.

At Jeel the MET has recently financed two projects which have greatly cut costs and improved life; we have fitted a solar power system that has brought down their monthly energy cost from 7,000 shekels to 200 shekels; and we have installed a water cistern that is now providing them with clean water; until then water was delivered once a week and had to be paid for by the tanker load. Their biggest problem now is the salaries of the staff: the Palestinian Authority has run out of money and most staff are accepting half a salary or no salary at all until funds are made available. Funds are also needed for food, new mattresses, medicine, stationery… MET have guaranteed Jeel £4k a month, but their costs are more like £20k a month, and other funders have had to reduce or cancel their contributions.

The same is true for Al Shurooq. Their new sensory room, funded by the Trust, has to be seen to be believed. There are real problems getting blind children, some from Gaza, to school in these trying times, and staff there too are working for half pay or less.

Doug says: “Please pray – and consider whether your church, or group of churches, could help financially, particularly during the next year when the funding crisis is at its peak. These children are part of the future in the Holy Land; but they need our love and support right now. Thank you.”

Here are the links you need for more information:

McCabe Educational Trust: McCabe Educational Trust, click --→ McCabe Pilgrimages (mccabe-travel.co.uk)

Make a donation: Make a Donation - click HERE