Yesterday, 10th of March 2023 four of our boys, George Abu Hanaq, Andre Josh, Jad Hosh and Emil Ghawali participated on Freedom of Movement Palestine in Bethlehem on the part of 10 kilometers. Congratulations on the achievement with the hope that the next year more of our boys will compete and make good results.

Today our boys went to the educational trip to Herodion national park where they got to know a little more about King Herod and his life, as well as his burial place and the castle and the byzantine church that was in this place. The weather was very clear and all the surrounding cities and mountains were all around us.

In our garden our boys this week started to plant new flowers in our garden, with the help of our educator, miss Niveen Hazboun.

Today, on international women’s day, 8th of March our boys thanked all the women staff working in our home. We want to thank them for all the effort and love giving to our boys, and wishing all the best in their lives and their families.

Yesterday, 7th of March 2023, sister Asil from the congregation of sacred hearts visited our home and made activities with our boys that had also message in this sacred time of Lent. Our boys were extremely grateful for this visit and the opportunity for knowing sister Asil with the hope that sisters will continue to visit our home and our boys in the future.

This evening our home visited newly married couple, Matteo and Anna from the Cometa home from Como, which has a similar mission as we have. In the future our staff will exchange experience through coming of their staff in the end of April and going of several of our staff to their home. We are thankful for their visit and support of our home, as well as our boys who were delighted in their visit to the Franciscan Boys Home.

This morning, 3rd of March 2023, we had a pleasure to welcome to our home staff of the Bethlehem Bible College. We were very pleased with their visit, as well with the promise of future collaboration in aspect of having activities with our boys and workshops that our boys have usually on Fridays.
May God bless their work and effort!

Parts of activities which were done for the boys of the Franciscan Boys Home by the Palestinian Bible College about how to communicate with others at the time of fasting.

23rd of February our boys went for a walk in the nature and village of Battir. This antient Palestinian village is very famous for it’s Roman aqueduct and agricultural terraces where the same water from this aqueduct is flowing after passing the Roman bath. After visiting the Roman Bath, we went for a walk next to the old railway.

The journey of giving in the Franciscan Child’s Home continues to reflect the mission and the vision of the Franciscan Boys Home in Bethlehem. There were several sessions included a series of diverse activities aimed on building a good person, despite all the challenges and different circumstances in this Holy Land. According to the children’s part, we implemented an individual counseling meeting by the social counseling department. In addition to, there were spiritual meetings and daily prayers. The aim of working together is to feel as one family dominated by love and peace.
We hosted specialized local institutions to work with our children to focus on their emotional and on their social aspects, which would support their personalities and their daily life. The meetings were held weekly with the parents to aware them how to deal with their children. Each meeting was started by reading the Bible to relate it to the topic of the meeting and was started by father Sandro’s blessings. This program strengthened the relationship with the parents and with the family of the home, and provided the parents with some skills of problem-solving, and of modern ways how to deal with their children. On the other hand, we worked to make a suitable sports environment for children, by modernizing and turfing playgrounds to play in safe areas and to have healthy bodies. We look for better future for our beloved children.