{"id":225398,"date":"2025-02-14T15:53:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T14:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.proterrasancta.org\/?p=225398"},"modified":"2025-02-14T15:53:44","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T14:53:44","slug":"sos-bethlehem-a-tight-knit-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.proterrasancta.org\/en\/sos-bethlehem-a-tight-knit-network\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tight-Knit Network: Working with SOS Village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“They need a network, because otherwise, they will always be nobody\u2019s children: they will always be the marginalized, the abandoned.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bethlehem, there is a home that welcomes children from all over the West Bank. It is called SOS Village<\/strong>\u2014a place where children with histories of loss and trauma can find people who care for them and build a community where they truly belong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, following the outbreak of the new wave of conflict after October 7, 2023, SOS Village took in several displaced children from Gaza: \u201cSOS Village Palestine had two houses: one in Bethlehem that welcomed children from across the West Bank, and another in the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, which housed children from Gaza,\u201d explains Annalisa Greco, our project manager in Bethlehem. \u201cWe are talking about approximately sixty children hosted in Bethlehem and around eighty who were staying in Rafah.\u201d Today, the Rafah facility<\/strong>, along with all its children and staff, has relocated to Bethlehem<\/strong>. This is how Pro Terra Sancta came into contact with them, leading to a fruitful collaboration over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Annalisa
Annalisa during one of Pro Terra Sancta’s activities in Bethlehem.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Collaboration Between Pro Terra Sancta and SOS Village<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had been aware of SOS Village for a long time, but no particular forms of collaboration had ever emerged,\u201d says Annalisa. \u201cOur dialogue intensified last year<\/strong> when the children from Gaza arrived because the project director saw in us a possible solution to a growing problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe issue was integrating these children into the context of Bethlehem<\/strong>. We are talking about kids carrying deep trauma, having lived for months\u2014from October 2023 until the following April\u2014in an open war zone, and suddenly finding themselves in Bethlehem, where the community is more open compared to Gaza, and the lifestyle is very different.\u201d The effects of the war in Bethlehem are also different from those in Gaza: the need to adapt to a new, diverse, and open world\u2014while carrying the habits of fear and loss\u2014created a difficult gap for these children to bridge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal was to make them feel at home<\/strong>, even if only temporarily. This necessity is what truly initiated the collaboration between us and SOS Village.\u201d There was a specific reason why SOS turned to Pro Terra Sancta to pursue this goal: \u201cPro Terra Sancta works extensively in cultural heritage education. We create numerous projects aimed at fostering integration and intercultural and interpersonal dialogue<\/strong>, often through artistic and cultural activities. The themes that emerged after the arrival of the children from Gaza are deeply aligned with the core mission of our association.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a Community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thus began a journey that forged deep connections<\/strong>, built through moments of sharing and discovery. Annalisa explains how working with the children at SOS, although secondary compared to SOS’s own efforts\u2014mainly focused on helping children overcome trauma\u2014has been a valuable experience for both the children and the local staff at Pro Terra Sancta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe activities are very simple<\/strong>; they are not intended to solve the children\u2019s psychological issues but rather to create relationships, make them feel integrated into the community, and highlight the strengths of each child. We organized trips to explore the West Bank, visited Bethlehem\u2019s central market to buy ingredients for cooking together, and planned artistic activities to create something beautiful and therapeutic for the children. These may seem like small things, but they genuinely help build deep relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SOS<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A concrete example happened just a few days ago when \u201cwe visited the SOS facility with some people who wanted to see it. There, we met a child named Ahmed<\/strong>, who is not part of the group we work with because he is too young\u2014he is around ten years old, while the children we engage with are all twelve and older. Despite this, he knows all of us, at least by sight, and when he saw us there, he ran toward us, started talking and playing, and kept telling my colleague Roni: \u2018You have to tell the director [of SOS Village] that I have to come on Friday too, because I want to join the activities<\/strong>! It\u2019s not fair that I can\u2019t participate just because I\u2019m not twelve yet!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tight-Knit Network<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are many rewarding moments: \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see these relationships forming, especially because they are the result of the hard work <\/strong>we put in at the beginning alongside the SOS staff.\u201d The initial phase of the collaboration involved both organizations participating in a training session with a clinical psychologist. \u201cThe idea was to share experiences and suggestions, discuss what we might observe in the children, and learn how to respond to the situations we might encounter. Anything we notice, we then communicate to SOS\u2019s case managers\u2014each child has one, an assigned social worker who knows their full story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, there is constant communication not only between us and the children but also between the staff of both organizations. This creates a tight-knit network<\/strong>, a family-like environment where children\u2014whether from Bethlehem, the rest of the West Bank, or Gaza\u2014can truly begin to feel at home, surrounded by people who care for them. \u201cThey need a network, because otherwise, they will always be nobody\u2019s children: they will always be the marginalized, the abandoned.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea is to have them participate in a community center, engaging in activities: \u201cso they can meet people outside the facility where they live, start feeling and truly becoming part of a community. That\u2019s the most beautiful thing\u2014seeing how, over time, when they come to us, they move around comfortably, greeting everyone left and right. They feel at home<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“They need a network, because otherwise, they will always be nobody\u2019s children: they will always be the marginalized, the abandoned.” In Bethlehem, there is a home that welcomes children from all over the West Bank. It is called SOS Village\u2014a place where children with histories of loss and trauma can find people who care for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":225372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9753,9742],"tags":[],"campaign_code":[],"class_list":["post-225398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSOS Bethlehem: a tight-knit network | Pro Terra Sancta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Bethlehem, with SOS Village, we work to help children from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip integrate into a community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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