Jerusalem, Jul 20, 2024 / 10:00 am
About 150 children and teenagers ages 4 to 17 who are sheltering in the Latin Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza took up their books and notebooks again in June for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last October thanks to an effort spearheaded by their parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli.
The program had to be suspended for two weeks earlier this month due to Israeli military action but resumed once again on July 19.
Returning to Gaza in mid-May after being stuck in Jerusalem for the first seven months of the Israel-Hamas war, Romanelli wasted no time. Within a few weeks, he launched the St. Joseph Project to help children reconnect with their studies after missing an entire year of school due to the ongoing conflict.
“I had been thinking about it since the war broke out, and when I returned, I saw that there was a great need for it,” he recounted. “It is good for children and teenagers to use their time well. Leaving them without study, without structure, leaves them at the mercy of what happens around them.”
It is not a typical school, and there are no formal curricula to follow. The idea is rather to help the young people channel their physical and mental energy into something constructive and to be ready for when school resumes.
“Because this war will end one day, and we will be ready to start again,” Romanelli said with conviction.
“Engaging in studies helps to avoid thinking and talking only about the war, to not focus solely on the conflict. It is a small seed of hope,” he explained to CNA.
“The project,” Romanelli explained, “is dedicated to St. Joseph because it is thanks to him that the Holy Family found salvation in Egypt, passing through here, and later returned to Nazareth. We ask him to protect our children and help them grow.”
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Attacks had intensified in the area very close to the parish. The priest recounted that “bombs and missiles fell within a few dozen or hundreds of meters, and shrapnel from bombs and missiles continued to rain down in the compound,” making it “very dangerous to stay outdoors.”
Some Christians from the Latin parish were slightly injured last week following an explosion in a nearby market. The Sacred Family School of the Latin Patriarchate, located about three miles away from the Latin parish, was hit on July 8, but that incident did not influence the decision to suspend activities.
Organizing the project hasn’t been simple. There isn’t a free space in the Catholic compound. But Romanelli doesn’t lack initiative.
The chapel, the kitchen, the living room, and the balcony of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word’s house have all become “classrooms”; three gazebos in the garden host study groups.
“They were open-sided, but we closed them to help the children avoid distractions, as there are always people around,” Romanelli said. Even the parish church hosts a group.
The school supplies the students are using were accumulated over time by Romanelli.
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“For years, I have always tried to anticipate the worst-case scenario and have always stocked up on stationery for various school and oratory activities,” he told CNA. ”Also at the beginning of the war, I had as much of this type of material bought as possible.”
Young refugees from the nearby Orthodox parish of St. Porphyrius also participate in the school activities. The students are grouped by age. The younger ones gather for study on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the older ones meet on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Every day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., small review lessons are held on key subjects: mathematics, Arabic, science, and English. Religious education and catechism are dedicated to the afternoon time and oratory activities.
“The [students] are happy, they have a desire to learn,” Romanelli said. “Of course, there are no homework assignments, because they don’t even have a home. There has been a positive impact on families as well. Parents encourage their children to read, review, and be punctual for classes.”
About 40 teachers have volunteered to help the children. “For them, too, preparing and engaging with the youth is very important,” Romanelli said.
Before the war, the teachers taught in the five Christian schools — the Latin Patriarchate school, the Rosary Sisters’ school, the Protestant school, the Greek Orthodox school, and the Holy Family school — as well as some government schools. Today, they are all refugees in the Catholic and Orthodox compounds.
While it may seem peculiar to talk about education and studying when missiles and bombs continue to rain down around, Romanelli argued that there is nothing more right to do.
“Education is nourishment for the soul; it is essential,” he said. “First and foremost, from a spiritual perspective. If life is not lived in union with God, without the life of grace, people are like walking dead. Without this, humans will never find inner peace. But alongside this, it is important to nourish the intellectual aspect, the thought.”
Romanelli continued: “After eight months without lessons, without reading, what can we talk about? If one does not care for the formative, intellectual aspect, if one does not nourish oneself with good, interesting things that speak of the future, if one does not read and study, the soul withers, and thus life withers.”
With the St. Joseph Project, Romanelli has sought to “offer young people the opportunity to nourish their souls, both intellectually and spiritually. To keep them engaged in constructive activities, even though the noise of war serves as the backdrop to their days.”
At the moment, it’s not possible to imagine if or how a new school year might begin, but, Romanelli said, “the experience of these lessons shows us that there is the will and moral strength, there is the desire to start again, to find solutions.”
“God will help us,” Romanelli said. “The time of divine providence is perfect. On our part, we continue to sow desire for peace, justice, reconciliation, and to do good to all those we can, starting with those close to us.”
