Children’s Hannuka Camp – 2016

55 children, 15 youth and 17 adults joined together for a camp in the sanctuary in Deir Rafat, near Beit Shemesh, during the Hannuka school holiday. This was the opportunity to repeat the Christmas celebrations with the children and to teach them about the message of the feast and the spirit of the season.

The children came from the Hebrew speaking parish communities and were joined by children from the migrant worker and asylum seeker communities too. Activities included a daily lesson )focusing on the different celebrations in the Church that stretch from Advent until the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus(, Kung Fu Panda (a group in which the children learnt some steps in Asian self defense), cooking (a group in which the children baked a beautiful Nativity scene), games and sport. Each day the children participated in morning prayer and daily mass in the church of the sanctuary, whose floor was covered in straw, evoking the Nativity grotto. Each day began with morning exercises and ended with a movie. An elderly visitor to the sisters’ community observed the children over the three days and remarked: “The children are experiencing real Christmas joy”.

Once again the Sisters at the sanctuary welcomed the group with open arms and we thank them for their hospitality and Church in Need for its generosity in sponsoring the camps. We also thank the faithful cook, Rab’a, a radiant Muslim woman who lives nearby, whose cooking adds to the delight of the children. Rab’a’s faithful Jewish assistant, Neta, from the kibbutz next door was also with us.