Mothers, Trips, and Workshops

As you can tell from the title, a variety of things have been going on at Hope School.

March 21 was Mother's Day in Palestine. We were proud to listen to our students present about the importance of mothers in their lives. Most powerfully, Ramzi, an 11th-grader, talked about his mother, whom he lost during the siege of the Nativity Church in 2001. Ramzi told the school, "Your mothers should be a treasure you keep in your hearts and minds. You will not understand the meaning of a mother until you lose her. Take good care of your mothers."

We also had a special Mother's Day celebration with our kindergarteners and their mothers. The pictures describe the event well (click here for more):

Then on Saturday the 25th, the school took a spring field trip to Jericho (click here for pictures). We took a hike from outside the city to the cable cars that led to the Mount of Temptation. After getting lunch on the mountain, which offered a beautiful view of the city, we finished off the day with some free time at the Spanish Park. We were happy to welcome two recent graduates with us on the trip, Francis and Aseel, who are now working for Young Life. The students connected well with them, and we are proud to call them alumni of Hope School.

Finally, on Monday the 27th, the school hosted Cindy Lindquist, a fourth-grade teacher from Chicago and long-time friend of the school, to facilitate a workshop for our teachers. Cindy shared about her teaching experience and exchanged ideas and techniques with our teachers. It was a challenging and informative day!