Please Help Our Orthodox Christian Brothers and Sisters in the Holy
Land.
Fundraising in the Middle of the Wilderness
By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.
As the Christian population continues to fall below 2% of the three million
Palestinians that live in the
The fight is
not just physical but also an entire economic occupation and strangulation of
the Palestinian territories due to checkpoints, closures and complete siege on
towns and villages under Israeli military control in the
As a Greek-American of Orthodox Christian faith living in the middle of Judea
on top of one of the highest mountain ranges in Palestine surrounded by
hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements, I overlook Jerusalem from my living
room window and grateful to be alive each and every day the Lord grants me in
the middle of the bloodshed. My husband’s village of Taybeh is one of the only
all-Christian villages left in Palestine. As members of the St. George Greek
Orthodox Church of Taybeh we want to work very hard to maintain this Christian
presence that has been here since the time of Christ. At least we want to keep the
1300 residents that live in the village because today there are more people
from Taybeh that live in Detroit, Michigan than this little Christian village
itself.
We have five
churches and one small chapel in Taybeh. The first Greek Orthodox Church of St.
George was built in the fourth century and now remains as ruins and a place of
worship. Our current church was built in 1931 after the original Orthodox
church was destroyed twice since the early centuries. A church committee
including my husband’s grandfather, Fr. David C. Khoury who was the village
priest at that time collected money abroad and helped build the church we pray
in today. The other two churches are the Greek Catholic (Melkite) and Latin
Church (Roman Catholic) and one small chapel with retreat facilities built by a
French monk. Taybeh is the modern name for the Biblical village of Ephraim. It
is best known for the time Christ came to the village to escape and rest with
his disciples before his crucifixion. (John 11:54).
Since 2000, I began to volunteer my time at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in
order to help preserve and maintain the Orthodox presence in this little
village. We are trying to help
fundraise for a critical housing project to help minimize the Christian
immigration to other countries; to help young married couples have their own
home at a reduced cost; to help create temporary jobs due to economic hardship
from the siege and closures and to help maintain an Orthodox Christian
population and encourage local residents to stay with the Orthodox Church
instead of converting for housing opportunities. The last hundred years, the Catholic church and other Christian
denominations have build many housing projects and maintain quality Christian
schools, thus many Orthodox faithful easily convert for free or low income
housing or free education.
In l998, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch allocated land to the Taybeh Church in
order to help thirty families build their homes by providing the land without
cost. A committee was formed to search for funds and manage the housing project
licensed under the Orthodox Youth Club of St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church
registered with the Palestinian Authority.
The funds are managed by the six member housing committee approved by
the late Patriarch Diodoros I of Jerusalem and include Fr. Daoud P.Khoury
(Jerusalem Patriarchate Representative); Dr. Grace C. Muaddi (Administration);
Mr. Naseem Fqier (Treasurer). I am
currently serving as the chairperson for the housing committee since the
passing of my father-in-law Canaan David Khoury who is the founder of the
housing project and very instrumental in initiating the project. I have asked Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos to
also assist us in overlooking the process of the housing project.
We are grateful to Father Nicholas and Nancy Tentzeras for helping us construct
the website for the church and bring awareness to the housing project and the
fact that there are Palestinian Orthodox Christians living in the Holy Land
that trace their roots back two thousand years.
The housing
project hopes to help thirty families, all members of St. George Greek Orthodox
Church acquire their own homes at a low cost.
Each family must agree that they will not sell their unit except to another
needy Christian family or leave it to their own children. In addition, each
family must contribute monthly to a building fund toward the total cost of the
project. Our initial fundraising hopes to cover building the skeleton
structure.
Since fundraising
has been very difficult we decided to initiate the first phase by building
twelve houses as soon as at least $350,000 are raised. All funds currently
raised will help only the first twelve families. Fundraised money will equally be shared among the twelve families
and homes cannot be sold for profit only what individuals put out of pocket.
However, due to the tragic situation in the Holy Land, we have more than 60% of
the people currently without work. None of the members have made payments in two
years.
Can your church help? We are seeking
twelve churches, organizations or private donors that would like to help the
first twelve Orthodox Christian families build their first home sponsored by
the housing project for St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Taybeh. Raising
money has been difficult. We have only raised $20,000 as of July 2003. One
option is if we could find 12 parishes or private donors that would sponsor the
twelve families at $50,000 each home it is the only alternative to continue this
project. If you know of anyone that wishes to support Christians by helping
them build their first home, we would be so grateful if any church community or
organization that you know consider us for a special collection or sponsorship.
The church would have one year to conduct fundraising through bake sales,
Sunday School projects, car washes, philotopchos or ladies society activities,
youth activities, etc and can express their solidarity by collecting funds
during the Lenten Season.
Another option
is making an appeal to all Orthodox Christians in American and Europe to
contribute just one dollar during the Lenten Season through their local
churches with permission of their boards, priests and bishops. If 100 churches participate with one
thousand dollars each church, that would encourage a new set of 100 churches to
possibly join the one dollar campaign in the following Lenten Season. The One
Dollar Campaign for the Holy Land Housing will run from 2003 until Pascha
2006. Donations to help Taybeh can be
made out to Metropolis of Boston Holy Land Housing, and mailed to Metropolis of
Boston, 162 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA
02445.
Contributions will than be managed by the housing committee in Taybeh and
held in an account at the Arab Bank-Ramallah, Al Balad Branch. Taybeh
O.C. Housing Project, P.O.Box 867, Taybeh, Ramallah, Palestine VIA ISRAEL. Or
by electronic transfer to Arab Bank-Ramallah, Swift code ARABPS 22090, Al Balad
Branch Account # 9090-662656/4/510 Taybeh Orthodox Club Housing Project, Via
the Arab Bank New York, swift code US33. Please notify by email if there is a
check in the mail/money transfer for better tracking: Khourymaria@hotmail.com
Don’t forget about the sacred land of Christ’s birth and get your church
involved with this important housing project to express your solidarity and
support to Orthodox Christians of Taybeh. One day you may have the gift of
visiting the Holy sites and it would be rewarding to meet the living stones,
the local Palestinian Christians, who have maintained the Mother Church for
over two thousands years.
Note: Maria C. Khoury is the author of Witness
in the Holy Land, a collection of articles depicting life under
occupation since September 2000 and seeks to sell her rights to this
publication for direct support of one home in the housing project.
For more
information about the Christian Community of Taybeh, see the web site of the parish of St. George
in Taybeh.
Donations
to help Taybeh can be made out to:
The Metropolis
of Boston Holy Land Housing
Please
send your check or money order to
The
Metropolis of Boston
162
Goddard Avenue
Brookline,
MA 02445.
You can
also e-mail Maria Khoury for more
information.