Infant day care and the Catholic Church

One of the most dramatic needs of the migrant population in Israel is for safe, healthy and productive day care for infants under 3. Migrants, who work long hours in order to make ends meet, are obligated to find places where their under 3 year old children can be left. Pirate day cares have spread, where children are accommodated in crowded, unsafe locations, administered by untrained migrant women. In 2015, five children died in these circumstances. The Church has responded to this need and began operating day care facilities in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem in September 2014.

The babies in Jerusalem are hosted at the Saint James Vicariate in the Saints Simeon and Anne House on Rabbi Kook Street. One child attracted another and today there are twenty one under three year olds who come each day. Opening hours in Jerusalem are from 8.00 to 18.00. The children come from Filipino, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Indian, Sri Lankan and other ethnic backgrounds. All the children but one are Christian, the Africans are mostly Orthodox (Ge’ez rite) and the Asians mostly Catholic (one child is Buddhist). Many of the mothers are single parents. The staff includes Sister Claudia, an Italian who directs the day care center and she is assisted by two young Israeli Catholic women, Daniel and Andy, who are preparing to begin university studies after their army service, a young French man and woman, Guillaume and Amandine, recently married, who are volunteers sent from France, an Italian Catholic woman religious, Sister Claudia, and a large group of volunteers.

In Tel Aviv, the Church collaborates closely with UNITAF, an Israeli NGO that promotes the model of “family units” for effective day care. At present six migrant women (three Eritreans and three Filipinas) run the six “family units”, under the patronage of the Church and the direct supervision of Sister Dinesha, a Sri Lankan sister, who is a trained nursery school teacher. Four units are accommodated in church buildings, two in Our Lady Woman of Valor (12 children) and two in the Saint Joseph Annex (13 children). The other two units are in a rented apartment (14 children). Shortly, another two family units will be opened under the patronage of the Church. Most of the children are from Eritrean families but there are also children from the other migrant communities: Filipino, Indian, Sri Lankan and Sudanese. The African children are mostly Orthodox (Ge’ez rite), the Asian children are mostly Catholic and there is one Muslim.

The Church is committed to providing these infants with a healthy, clean and stimulating environment, in which they can grow. It is hoped that when they turn three and go into the regular government kindergartens, they will be integrated and adapted to their surroundings.

The Church is deeply grateful to the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, Misereor, the Archdiocese of Cologne, Kindermissionswerk, Missio, the German Association of the Holy Land, Church in Need and other private donors who have made this project possible and continue to give generously for these children so that the project can grow and spread.