This month’s Messenger of St. Anthony(January 2012) contains an article recounting in great detail the activities that ATS pro Terra Sancta is carrying out in the Gaza Strip with the support of – among others – St. Anthony’s Charities.
Here is an extract: The [Holy Family] Parishis following with particular attention the plight of young people and poor families, thanks to the aid provided by the Missionary Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of the Rosary. For some time it has been dealing with another emergency as well, one that is aggravated by poverty and the fact no one was previously taking responsibility for it: «The number of cases of physical and mental disability – explains Father Hernandez – is increasing exponentially, due largely to the 46 percent who lack adequate health care from birth.»
And it was to respond to this emergency that during this period was created, with the support of ATS pro Terra Sancta, the shelter for disabled children (from birth to age eleven) managed by the Missionary Sisters of Charity in collaboration with the Parish, and the new shelter for disabled older children managed by the Fathers of the Communità del Verbo Incarnato. These activities in support of disabled children and adolescents are in addition to the general support provided by the Parish through the different congregations to the small Christian community of Gaza, which suffers from numerous problems due to the Israeli blockade, the traumas and destruction brought about by the wars, the risk of fundamentalism, and poverty.
The activities being carried out by the small but tenacious Latin Parish in Gaza represent a real sign of charity in this difficult context, one that must become – the article continues – a light, a seed for all of Palestine (...). But how to do this? Tommaso Saltini [director of ATS pro Terra Sancta] explains that «We have thought of organizing training courses on the theme of respect, on the caring and protection of the disabled in a number of Palestinian cities, with the aim of sensitizing young people in the schools and their families.»
The complete article from St. Anthony’s Messenger can be found in the attachment.
To learn more about the project “Emergency Gaza”, please click here.
