Special points of interest:

Wi’am and Pilgrims of Ibillin, a Year of Challenge and Seadfast Hope—p. 1

The Christian School Strike -- 7 months later—p. 2

Empowering Young Women—In the Classroom and Beyond—p. 3

Living Stones Pilgrimages 2016 - please join us!—p. 3

Donation and book order form—p. 4

Pilgrims of Ibillin

Board of Directors

Rev. Dr. Duncan Ferguson President Rev. Dr. Robert Sawyer Vice President Rev. Tom Pietila

Secretary Mr. Donald Liebich

Treasurer

Mr. Christopher Dekki Mr. Billy Ekofo Rev. Dr. Lucy Forster-Smith Rev. Dr. Suzanne Watts Henderson Dr. Giselle Khoury Dr. Brenda Mehos Rev. Susan Mozena Mrs. Jane Settle Dr. Ted Settle Mr. George Shalabi Rev. Dr. Michael Spath

Executive Director and Editor Rev. Joan Deming 1541 Comanche Glen Madison, WI 53704 608-241-9281

Newsletter Contributor Susan Moskwa, participant in 2014 Living Stones Pilgrimage

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April 2016

Pilgrims’ Post

Standing with our Partners through Strain and Challenge

A message from Wi’am’s Director to Friends around the world:

“The Year 2015 has been very challenging, especially in the Middle East. War, extremism, violence, terrorism, and fear have swept the area. For us at Wi’am, we find ourselves at the center place in which kids and youth try to bring change by challenging the occupation with stones. It is as if they are echoing the voice that says: “if people are silent, the stone’s will cry out”. The stones have cried out, but no creative or innovative solutions have been enacted. The Israeli occupation has been more oppressive. Our perfume has been tear gas and our shower has been skunk water. Despite all of this, Wi’am staff and volunteers continue to work diligently, equipped with steadfastness, perseverance, and resilience.

We light candles instead of cursing darkness. This is why Wi’am staff works on Kairos time and not Kronos time. We have responded to the shorttfall in income with more commitment. The lack of resources and funding has been met with more in-kind donations and volunteerism. The harshness of the occupation has reinforced and strengthened our commitment to nonviolence, popular struggle, and our pursuit of justice. Anger is transformed to creative and beautiful

resistance through taking care of Wi’am, the children’s playground, and the garden. We are grateful to all of you who have been with us through your visit of solidarity and support, whether it has been spiritual, social, or financial.” With Agape,

Zoughbi Zoughbi www.alaslah.org

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~ Marcel Proust

Dear Friends in Pilgrims of Ibillin,

Thank you for all you did in 2015 to stand in solidarity with our amazing partners in Israel/Palestine. You paid attention to the stories of the Living Stones; you believed in their peace-building efforts; you gave collectively more than $15,000 extra to Wi’am for repairs and for teaching skills of nonviolence; and you sent generous scholarship funds and wrote letters to help Mar Elias through the Christian Schools’ strike. You are making such a difference!

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An Update: Christian Schools Strike in Israel, Seven Months Later

I f you regularly read Pilgrims’ Post, you may remember that at the beginning of this school year (Sept. 1,

2015), students and teachers at Christian-run schools in Israel went on strike to protest unequal funding and treatment of private Christian schools vs. private Jewish schools. Orthodox Jewish private schools receive 100% state funding from Israel’s Ministry of Education, while Christian schools receive only 29-34% state funding. (For more details, see our Nov. 2015 newsletter on the Pilgrims of Ibillin website: www.pilgrimsofibillin.org/about-us/pilgrims-post-newsletters.) Seven months later, what has changed, and how has the situation affected Mar Elias and its students?

After four weeks of strike and negotiations, the Israeli government agreed to give the Christian schools a total of 50 million shekels (approx. $13.2 million US), of which Mar Elias would receive roughly 1 million, to compensate for their budget shortfalls over the past two years. Future funding rates were not resolved, but the strike ended, and the government promised to send the money by December. However, as of this March writing, Christian schools have yet to receive any of the promised money. (The reason given: the government couldn’t figure out an appropriate way to disburse the funds.) A new delivery date of April has been set, but Mar Elias teachers are skeptical, and frustrated.

For Mar Elias, the lack of funding means continuing to put off much-needed investments in the school’s buildings and infrastructure, and it also puts a greater financial burden on students’ families. Many families already can’t afford the school’s tuition of 1,200 shekels per year ($340 US), so

as long as the funding situation continues unresolved, there will be even greater need for scholarships from sources like Pilgrims of Ibillin.

In terms of its effect on students, the strike has made this school year a tough one, although there have been some unexpected rewards. The strike created a sense of solidarity and shared experience between different Christian schools, who may have previously felt like

rivals. “Now our students feel like they have something in common with students from other Christian schools,” says teacher Emil Haloun. “When they graduate they’ll meet other students at university and they’ll all share this memory of the strike. For teachers, it was an honor to see them standing side-by-side with us in protest.”

The Israeli public high schools’ teachers union also declared a two-hour solidarity strike.

But in order to make up the four weeks of missed classes since last fall, teachers and students have been staying late after school and using their own personal time to catch up (the teachers, of course, without any extra pay). School usually lets out at 2:30 p.m., but these days MEEI students rest for half an hour and then resume classes from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. Many also face a long commute home afterwards. Matriculation exams start in April, and cover material that would have been missed without that extra teaching time, so students are very focused on their studies right now.

On behalf of MEEI’s leaders, Emil Haloun states, “We believe that pressure and support from Americans made a difference in the negotiations in the fall, and could help again.” He asks us to consider writing to our elected officials or to the Israeli Ambassador to the US, The Hon. Ron Dermer asking for equal treatment for the Christian schools. (Sample letter and suggested addressees are available on Pilgrims of Ibillin’s website: www.pilgrimsofibillin.org.)

Father Chacour also appreciated and carried back to MEEI with him the solidarity and support that he received while touring and speaking in the US during the strike. How else can friends help? As always, donations through Pilgrims of Ibillin designated for MEEI scholarships will go 100% to provide financial aid for students in need of help that their school can’t provide. ~ Susan Moskwa

Bouran Okal, MEEI Teacher: “Christian Schools are not for sale”

Students of all ages joined teachers and parents to ask for equal support.

Page 3 Mar Elias Empowers Young Women for Leadership and Success

O ne reason the Mar Elias schools continue to be Pilgrims of Ibillin’s primary partner and beneficiary in

the Holy Land is because of the strong progressive values imparted to the students. Anyone who visits the school and speaks with teachers or students will soon hear, unprompted, how great it is to work or study with others of all religions, and to become friends with kids who aren’t always their demographic duplicate. Of course, in Israel, religion and ethnicity are the first categories that come to mind when one thinks about barriers that need to be broken down. But Mar Elias schools also foster a less often-highlighted value: gender equality, and the empowerment of female students.

Despite progress on women’s rights, there’s still a significant difference in society’s expectations of men and women in many parts of the Middle East. Traditionally, Arab women are not encouraged to study beyond high school.

When they turn 18, they often face strong pressure from society and from their family to get married; and once married, their time gets consumed with the social and household duties of “the angel in the house.” The fact of a girl’s gender often has more impact on people’s expectations of her than her level of success, or interest, in her studies; so even smart, engaged young women often drop of out the educational pipeline without making it to college.

Take the example of a student who recently returned from a study trip to the USA. She later told a teacher that it had completely changed her idea of what was possible for her after high school; she now wants to pursue her dream of studying at Harvard. The trip had shown her a world very different from her own, but one which she could imagine being a part of.

Mar Elias accepts students regardless of skill or income, which means that students from all social strata can come study, mix, be exposed to new values and new opportunities, and then go back and share these with their community at home. “We’re trying to show them a different way of life,” says teacher Emil Haloun. “And we’re a big high school—over 1200 students—so we’re sending a lot of students out into the Galilee region who are influenced by Mar Elias’ philosophy and environment, including young women who are well educated in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math).” Recently while Mr. Haloun was at a travel agency buying plane tickets for an upcoming student trip abroad, an employee at the agency asked him if it was still possible to register her child at Mar Elias, because when she learned who the tickets were for, she wanted her child to have that kind of opportunity—one that’s rare in the region.

Sometimes Mar Elias passes these values on through overt decisions, like encouraging female students to perform in poetry, dance, or theatre; in an upcoming theatre workshop about Galileo, most of the actors are girls, which would be taboo at other schools. But often it’s through simple actions: a daily demonstration of equal expectations and equal treatment, employing teachers who believe in feminism, exposing students to cultures different from their own. In turn, parents trust teachers to shepherd students through these experiences because of Mar Elias’ excellent reputation and educational track record. Pilgrims of Ibillin is proud to be a part of supporting this type of educational environment!

~ Susan Moskwa, part of the 2014 Living Stones tour group

Mar Elias women students share a moment with visitors during the October 2015 Living Stones Pilgrimage

Living Stones Tours: May 20-June 2 - or - October 18-31

Please join us for one of these eye-opening, life-changing visits to the people working on the ground in the Holy Land for Peace with Justice? Registration is open for both trips!

This is a listening tour: Visit the “Living Stones” and peace-builders of Israel/Palestine. Meet Pilgrims’ partners in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramle, Ramallah, Zababdeh, and Ibillin. Call or email Joan Deming with questions on either trip. Or for more information or brochures, visit http://www.pilgrimsofibillin.org/living-stones-pilgrimage/.

Mar Elias, however, strives to give girls the same opportunities as boys—opportunities that may change how they see their future or their place in the world.

Newsletter Address: 1541 Comanche Glen Madison, WI 53704

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March 2016 Pilgrims’ Post

Pilgrims of Ibillin

My Gift for Tuition or Peace-building Programs — Opening Doors, Hearts, and Minds

____$35 _____$60 ____$100 ____$340* ____$500 ____Other $________

*$340 = cost of one year’s high school tuition at MEEI

To give securely by credit card, visit http:/www.pilgrimsofibillin.org

or complete the following:

Amount of gift or payment: $________________________________

Name as on card: __________________________________

Credit card #: ____________________________________________

Expiration date___________________________________________

Phone #, if questions arise__________________________________

BOOK & DVD

ORDERS:

Indicate #

of Copies

________ Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour w/ David Hazard, Foreword by Lynne Hybels & Gabe Lyons, Afterword by James A. Baker III

________ We Belong to the Land, by Elias Chacour with Mary E. Jensen

_______ Blessed are the Peacemakers by Patricia Griggs with Elias Chacour (middle school readers and older)

_______ DVD: Building Peace on Desktops (12 min. documentary)

Donations for these resources will be used to further the work of Pilgrims of Ibillin.

$________________Total enclosed (suggestion: $15 per book, $10 per DVD)

Make checks payable to Pilgrims of Ibillin or pay securely by credit card through our website “Donate Now” tab: www.pilgrimsofibillin.org.

Name ______________________________________________ Email ________________________________________ Phone__________________________

Street/City/State/Zip: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Send order to: Joan Deming, Executive Director, 1541 Comanche Glen, Madison, WI 53704