Global Ministries:
Friends Schools, Ramallah/El-Bireh
Our sorrows, the reason for our loves.
You have seen the children of the land
Cry out with hunger, both of mind and heart,
Their eyes staring at their cruel fates....
--May Mansoor, Ramallah Friend
Ramallah Friends Schools: A Century of Friends Witness
The Ramallah Friends Schools have served the youth of Palestine and witnessed to Quaker values in the midst of conflict and adversity for more than a century. Today, on the Schools' campuses, located 10 miles north of Jerusalem, more than 950 students from kindergarten through grade twelve receive a rich and rigorous education in Arabic and English, preparing them for caring, creative lives and further study at leading colleges and universities around the world.
Many of this generation of Friends students, like those before them, will become constructive leaders of their community, both in Palestine and in the diaspora, whose life-long work and witness will reflect their Quaker education in love, honest endeavor, and service.
The Friends Schools hold a prominent place in their community. The former Friends Girls School, now a coeducational elementary school, is situated on a tree-shaded, three and a half acre campus on the edge of Ramallah Taht (Down), the old, close-built neighborhood of arched stone houses and shops built by the Christian founders of the town. The former Boys School - now the coeducational secondary school - with its gardens, athletic fields, and stands of stately Allepo Pines, occupies ten acres in Ramallah's Muslim twin city, El-Bireh. Graceful old classroom buildings of yellowed Jerusalem limestone, capped with red tile roofs, tesitfy to the benevolence of past generations of Friends, and recent additions, their facades still the stark white of newly-quarried stone, witness to a continuing concern for the Palestinian people and their future.
The social and spiritual importance of the Schools parallels their physical prominence in Ramallah and El-Bireh. Beyond their role in educating leaders of Palestinian society, the Schools are an important meeting ground for different groups of Palestinians; for the Palestinian students who have spent most of their lives in the US; for youth from Ramallah, El-Bireh, and the surrounding villages who have never left Palestine; for the children of the Palestinians who have recently returned from exile in the Arab world; for students from every social and economic background; for Christians and Muslims.
Palestinian Society in all its diversity comes together at the Friends Schools. In an atmosphere informed by Quaker insights and testimonies, an important social dialogue can take place, fostering the freedom, understanding, tolerance, and unity which are so essential to the task of nation building.
Adversity and Hope
The Years following the Israeli-Palestine Peace ceremony on the White House lawn have not brought relief and improved conditions to Ramallah, El-Bireh, and the rest of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza. Although the almost daily clashes of the intifada years are gone, other conditions have worsened. Unemployment levels and poverty are at unprecedented levels. Jerusalem is inaccessible to most residents. Palestinian land continues to be seized for Israeli settlements. Arrests and detentions persist.
And political violence is still a frequent occurence. Yet many Palestinians, supported by people of conscience, continue to struggle for a fair peace with Israel and a just society at home. Many associated with the Friends Schools share in this struggle and the Schools' presence is a source of both support and comfort to them.
FUM Field Staff Serving in Ramallah/El-Bireh
Joyce Ajlouny, Director of Friends Schools, Ramallah/El-Bireh
John Hishmeh, School Counsellor, Friends Boys School
Links with more information about Ramallah Friends Schools:
- First edition of' Behind The Wall‚ an online magazine developed by Palestinian students in the 9th and 10th grade English classes conducted by teacher Doug Hart of the Ramallah Friends School.
- Link to the Ramallah Friends Schools Website
- Suggestions for Action and Response (in process of updating, watch for link)
No comments:
Post a Comment