A Happy Accident

Thursday October 3 2013

A group of four Palestinian Christian women from East Jerusalem visited Scotland last month as guests of the World Mission Council and Priority Areas Committee.

They were here to explore the possibility of setting up a Together For A Change partnership; seeking to bring together people with direct experience of poverty in Scotland and elsewhere in the world to learn from each other and improve their lives.

Three of the women, Leila Kort, Yvette Nassar and Mona Asfour are board members of the Arab Orthodox Society in East Jerusalem and the fourth is Maro Zakarian, who works at the Melia Centre, one of the projects the AOS supports.

“It was a happy accident we even met them,” said Rev Muriel Pearson, minister of Cranhill Church in Glasgow.
“Four of us, the Rev Barbara Quigley and Jeanette Thomson from St Andrews East, Anne McGreechin from Cranhill and myself were in Jerusalem and the West Bank looking to connect with projects and small charities that might fit with TFAC, but not having much success.

"The tension locally was quite high at the time because of rocket attacks, and some days a planned trip into the West Bank had to be cancelled at short notice because of the security considerations. On one of these days we were all feeling a bit dejected and we were filling time locally. We walked up into an area through the New Gate and discovered the Christian Greek Orthodox area, and some wonderful projects there.
We spotted a fair trade sign over a shop and café and went in there to look – and discovered exactly the sort of group we were looking for.”

The Arab Orthodox Society helps support four local projects that empower Palestinian women. Melia works with 550 women from all over the West Bank working to preserve the Palestinian cross stitch embroidery and allow the women to make a small income to support their families. Bint–el–Balad is a café and catering business; and there is also a healthcare clinic and a museum of Arab life.

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