On the 29th of November 2018 Caritas Jerusalem organized a Children’s Concert at the Russian Cultural Center in Bethlehem in cooperation with Bethlehem Music Center.
The concert is part of a two-year project that aims to support five schools and societies by providing good care and education to children who need special education. The project’s goal is to teach and train children with disabilities music and songs.
The project is co-funded by the Polish development cooperation program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. The concert was implemented by Caritas Jerusalem in cooperation with Caritas Poland. Children with disabilities in addition to students from the Bethlehem Academy for Music participated in the concert.
Representatives from Caritas Jerusalem, Embassy of Poland, Governorate of Bethlehem, directors of centers, parents and the general public attended this unique concert which united and integrated children with disabilities with regular students from schools.
Dr. Sulaiman Al-Lousy, the director of Bethlehem Academy for Music, welcomed and thanked everyone for their cooperation and huge efforts to make a success of this wonderful concert, which is part of the project that aims to support social inclusion of people with disabilities.
Mr. Harout Bedrossian, the communication officer in Caritas Jerusalem, mentioned in his speech the progress achieved so far in working towards the improvement of the Rights of People with Disabilities and the achievements of the previous four years of work that was accomplished in partnership with Caritas Poland.
Mr. Nicolas Atallah, Project Coordinator in Caritas Jerusalem, said that one of the core values of CJ is to cater for PWDs and this concert is the fruit of two years of hard work in cooperation with the centers that take care of various forms of disabilities.
Sister Lara Hijazeen, director of Effitah, school for children with hearing impairment, expressed her gratitude towards Caritas Jerusalem and the Polish Government that helped the children to gain self-confidence and prove that they are able to learn and develop their skills and abilities.
The director of AlShorouq school for the Blind, Ms. Ruba Abu-Irdeneh, expressed her great admiration of the concert and said that events like this shed light on the capabilities of children with disabilities. She stressed the need of social inclusion for children with disabilities and their right to education like all other children.
The parents were very proud of their children who performed on stage, where prior to our intervention they hesitated to accompany their children to public or family events. The project raised their awareness of their children’s skills and capabilities.
Caritas Jerusalem would like to take this opportunity to thank all their partners and stakeholders for their kind cooperation, and the wonderful work done by the head of the social services department, Mrs. Mervat Naber, and the coordinator of the project, Mr. Nicolas Atallah.
