Children’s Easter camp

Once again this year, the Saint James Vicariate decided to hold a short spring children’s camp during the Passover school holidays, which fell this year during Easter week. 55 members of the kehillot (children, youth and thirteen adult counselors) went off to the Salesian monastery at Beit Jemal, near Beit Shemesh for three days during which they relived Holy Week and the Easter celebration but this time in order to transmit the Easter joy and the message of the feast to our children.

On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, the children, youth and counselors left Kiryat Yearim, where they had participated in the day of the kehillot to celebrate Easter Sunday. Children from all the different kehillot participated as well as nine members of “Desert Flower”, the youth group, and the adult counselors, included Fathers David, Apolinary, Piotr, Sergey and Nicola, Brother Thiago, Sisters Claudia, Camelia and Marianna, Benny, Daniel, Kirill, Rosella and Nicole .

The days were spent with times for prayer (morning prayer and mass), religion classes (one day on Passover and one on Easter, focusing on what God has done and continues to do), games, art sport and social time. There was also time for special activities: survival, collaboration on an art project, science and photography. Mass was celebrated each day and leading up to the mass the children learnt something each day about the mass and also practiced the songs).

Special thanks to all who worked to prepare the camp, to Don Giorgis and the Salesian community in Beit Jemal and to the organization, Kirche in Not (Church in Need) who helped the Vicariate cover the costs.