The National Crisis

How the House of Hope is responding

Arabic

I’m with Ziyad Bannoura who is the chairman of the house of hope here in Bethlehem and we are talking about how the Corona virus has affected the children’s home here, Ziyad did you have children here at the home when the virus struck Bethlehem?

Yes, we had all the children here during the first two days, we started to see and understand the situation and when we find that we are unable to defend the children in the house so we decided to send them home until this thing ends.

Of course, it would have been very difficult if the virus had come into the home and hit the children wouldn’t it?

Yes, the children have no defense for that because they are unable and if one is infected the whole house will be infected in one minute.

So, this was a wise decision to actually send them back home?

Yes, I believe so, because caring for their health is our priority.

How did the lockdown affect the home here?

The lockdown didn’t just affect us here, it affected everywhere, everywhere in the world and we are part of this world and we are part of the Palestinian territory and here in Bethlehem, especially in Bethlehem we were the first city to be closed and everyone is at home, there was no work, there was no income for the people and we tried our best first of all before anything to make everything ok inside the house of hope, like we bought food for the house of hope, the people, we had 4 people staying at the house of hope because they didn’t have anywhere else to go, so they stayed here, so we needed to provide food for them, to provide their

daily needs for them and we also wanted to clean the house from almost daily to make it a safe atmosphere for the people that are staying here.

Now everybody knew that the virus was in the world but were you surprised when it hit Bethlehem?

Really we didn’t think that it will hit Bethlehem, because we thought we are safe But there was no place in the world that was safe and the virus hit everywhere and we are part of this world so it here in Bethlehem and we were very surprised, we were shocked, we didn’t know what to do but thank God in this moment we had the vision that we need to do something and to be able to stand as a light in the dark.

Now you are based here in Bethlehem but where do your children come from, are they from all over Palestine?

Yes we have children from all over Palestine, from all over the West Bank and we are trying to reach those people because we already know that there are no places for them if they are not here, even in their own houses they cannot take the same care that we give them here.

Are the children safe back at home or is there a few worried and concerns about them going back with their families?

Really, it is hard to talk about that, but we know that some of the parents are neglecting their children, they don’t want them at home, they are kicking them out, they want to kick them out, They want us to take care of them and these children are very poor and they need our love, they need us to show the love of Christ through what we are doing with them.

Are the parents of the children, many of them in poverty?

Most of them, you know when they come here, they find it like a paradise for the children, not like their homes, their homes they are not able to take care of their kids, even they are not able to take care of themselves, some of them especially … some of them the poor people in the villages and in the neglected places and they need help, the families need help not just the kids that come here, so sometimes we help the families also.

Now you have had blind or partially blind people still staying here during the lockdown how difficult has it been for them in the lockdown?

It is very difficult and it is very difficult to make them stay in the house, me and the director was daily here and they wanted to go out to see the streets, we said “No, you need to keep staying in the place at the house of hope because if you go out we don’t know what will happen to you” So I forced them, not forcing but I told them “You are not allowed to go out, Please stay here and whatever you need we will bring for you, so just stay here” and it was very difficult for them to be like a prisoner.

Are you wanting to bring the kids back home, it has been quite a number of weeks since the virus has hit and restrictions are starting to be eased, are you wanting to bring the children back here?

We love to do that, we love to bring them here, we miss them because all of our work in the house of hope with these kids is coming out from our love to the people because this is our command from the Lord Jesus Christ that to love each other and to give this love and to show this love to people especially the people with special needs or the blind people, we need to show them that we love them, we need to show them that they are people like us, they are not less than us and

we are not better than them, NO, we are all the creation of God and we need to give love to everyone.

Are there some practical things that you need to do before you bring them back to the home?

There are many things that we need to do and we started, we had all the employees here in the house of hope staying at home for 2 months and this month I told them please come back because the Corona Virus is over here in Bethlehem and they started to arrange for the coming back of the kids so now they are in the process of arranging the place, developing new ideas, developing new ways of caring for the kids and teaching and training and also they are working on cleaning, All the employees, it doesn’t matter who you are they are cleaning the place and making it a safe place, a safe environment for the kids.

Now you have said already that you sent the workers home, did they still get paid while they were at home?

We didn’t stop that, we are paying, we are still paying all the salaries, full Salaries, we didn’t make it half or something less, we gave full salaries for the employees until now, and we are expecting if the Lord is willing that we can give them their salaries to the end of this Corona Virus.

So that is really showing Christian love and being responsible to your workers as well as just the children here but has this had a financial effect on the home here, the virus?

For our employees we are the only way for them to get paid, paying the salaries for the employees is very difficult in these days because we are low in donations and we have the sources that we have are very little so we are going down in our

ability of giving, during the last 3 months we gave the salaries, full salaries for the employees but we need more and more support, we need more and more donations in order that we can keep giving the salaries and keep paying the bills that we have to pay for the house of hope and also to bring the food that is necessary for staying here in the house of hope.

Have you seen your regular donations go down over this three-month period?

Really it went down, Yes, But we have some faithful people that are still giving, even if it is a little bit lower than what we are expecting but they are still giving but we need more donations to keep the things in a good situation and to keep the house running, its not easy to keep the house running , our expenses are very high because of the quality of things that we are giving to the kids and to the house, we are making new good ideas and new good projects for the kids and this means that we need to pay more and if we need to pay more we need to have more donations, its not easy, even we are trying to reach the local people here to give, some of them did but most of them couldn’t because of the situation. So, we are asking anyone that is able to give we are happy, we will be glad to receive that donation.

Now you are a Christian institution here in Bethlehem, have local people been coming to you asking for help because you are a Christian organization?

It is always like that, Every day we had people that are coming asking for help and you know I am a pastor and being a Pastor it means that people will look at you, “You have money, Can you help us , we need help in this issue, we need help in that issue” and this is very difficult and really if you are not helping people will look at you “Why are you not helping” They don’t know that sometimes you are not able but now we are asking that, we helped some people with food and tried to help, one man we gave him some money in order just to pay for his bills, We are trying to help as much as we can but our first goal is to make the house of

hope going well and then we look to the community, but we can’t do anything without the help of the donors.

During this whole corona virus, has this been an opportunity to show the love of Christ during this difficult time?

In the house of hope it was a little bit difficult but you know what we saw that people from the government even they told me that “You are doing a wonderful job in the house of hope and we know that there is something inside what you are doing” they didn’t know that is Jesus because they are all Muslims (Laughs) but they said that “You are doing a wonderful job” and people that we know in the local community they came to me also and they said that “ what you are doing is great” and this was an opportunity for us to talk about what we have and I was talking with many people and also I was using the Facebook or something and to talk to people in order to share the love of the Lord Jesus Christ with them.

Are the children exited to get back to the house of hope?

They want, They want and we are exited but until now we cannot take this decision until we are able and we can take them in a safe environment and we can pay the money for them, for keeping them in a safe place and that is what I am asking for all the people, especially the believers all around the world, please we need your help to stand with the house of hope, we want you to be part of this work because this work is just for the glory of the Lord, it is not about me, its not about anyone here, its about the glory of God that we want to show love to our community, we want to show love to the people with special needs, to the blind people and to tell them “We love you, you are part of our community and you deserves that somebody cares for you”.

What is your prayer finally for the house of hope here in Bethlehem?

First of all we need prayers that God will clear the atmosphere, will finish this corona virus and we pray for peace, we pray for the house of hope, that we can develop it and keep it moving forward, we want to move forward with new ideas, pray for wisdom for us, as a chairman and the board and the directors and the employees that God will keep us doing the right thing and pray for our kids, pray for our kids that they would be safe.

What is your website for people who’d like to know more?

Our website is www.hohbethlehem.org and our email is info@hohbethlehem.org so if you want to please contact us on our website or on our email we would be glad to receive your emails and your donations and your prayers, Please we need you and we need to keep this house going