By Giordano Contu in Bethlehem
An earthquake runs through the rooms of the “Crèche”, caused by the gentle yet powerful energy of the children. Like Yousef, who laughs as a religious sister lifts him from his crib; or Mariam, who runs around never letting go of her yellow ball; or Omar, who stays still, waiting to receive a gentle touch.
It is the children’s need for love that fills the rooms of the Orphanage of the “Holy Family” in Bethlehem, run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.
Amid glances and embraces that make it impossible to hold back tears of emotion, life unfolds among colorful markers and toys, surrounded by the care of the religious sisters who look after these children up to the age of six, guaranteeing them food, education, and medical care.
Children like Jesus
“These children are orphans, abandoned, or found on the streets. It is a dramatic reality from every point of view: many of them are born in extreme family situations, often to young single mothers forced to give up their children out of fear of being killed by their own families. The sisters welcome the newborns, raise them, and love them,” explains Father Karim Maroun, provincial superior of the Vincentians, to Vatican News.
“These children are a bit like Jesus: born into fragility, abandonment, and a wounded society. They need a great deal of love and tenderness. And there is a great mystery: they have a home, food, care, and affection, but there always remains the longing for a mother and a father.”
The organization of the orphanage
Forty-five children permanently reside in the Bethlehem orphanage. The establishment also offers a day-care service for another 35 children, sons and daughters of poor families who work during the day. In total around 80 children, up to 6 years of age, are hosted.
The structure is carefully organized: a kitchen, a dining hall, a church with a chapel, dormitories, classrooms, and play areas. The dormitories are divided by age: the nursery for newborns up to 9 months; the crib room for children ranging from a year old to a year and a half; the room with beds for toddles up to 3 years of age; and lastly another room with bigger beds for the oldest children.
Education is also age-based, with specific classrooms: the nursery room, intermediate classrooms, and those for the older children. There is a team of about 70 people – including sisters, educators, doctors, and volunteers – that keeps the structure running.
Welcoming them when they are rejected
“In Bethlehem, Christmas comes once a year, but here we celebrate the living Jesus every day,” says Sister Laudy Fares, who has cared for the children of the orphanage for the last 20 years.
“We do not do catechesis with words; our identity is expressed through who we are and what we do. We welcome Christ into our arms, because these children have been rejected by society. Here they find affection, open arms, and love.”
This support, however, is limited in time. “We can accompany them only until they are six years old,” the sister continues, “and when they have to leave, it is always painful. Afterwards, we do not know what their path will be, what future awaits them. That is why our presence here, in Bethlehem, is so important: to take care of them every day, for as long as we can.” They are then handed over to the Palestinian state system.
The intervention of Providence
Father Maroun describes this reality on one hand as an “open wound” and on the other as a “daily miracle.”
The dramatic side is that “there are mothers who are completely alone, without family support, and through word of mouth and the internet they ask for help in hospitals. After giving birth, they renounce all rights to the child and then return to their families, while the child remains with the Daughters of Charity.”
The positive side is that “from an economic point of view, the Crèche is supported almost exclusively by private donations: Christian pilgrims who stay in the guest house, Israelis, and Palestinian families who raise money to help the sisters.”
All of this is possible “only thanks to Providence and donations, thanks to what we call our ‘white hands,’” adds Sister Fares. “Every person who enters brings what they can; even a single coin is a fortune for us. The Lord never abandons us.”
Affection and love
The goal is to give dignity, love, and a future to these children. Pilgrims who visit the Crèche become very attached to them, and the affection is mutual. There is one story that has remained especially close to Sister Fares’s heart:
“Once a group from France came. Among them was a woman who, as a child, had been abandoned but had the good fortune of being welcomed into a family. When she saw the children, she was deeply moved. She said: ‘I had a family and I got married, but these children have no future, because adoption here is prohibited. I could have been one of them, but instead I was given a chance.’ Those words struck me deeply. We take care of them, we love them, but there is always something missing: a family. This is the greatest pain.”
Around these little ones there is a chain of solidarity made up of volunteers, doctors, donors, pilgrims, and neighbors from the area who bring food, milk, clothes, toys, diapers, and blankets. And in this way, affection, life, and above all love reach the children of the Crèche. – Vatican News
