A ‘bridge’ of peace” “

It’s called Caritas Baby Hospital and it’s the only specialized paediatric hospital in the whole Arab area around Bethlehem. It was founded in 1952 when a Swiss religious, ERNST SCHNYDRIG , visiting Bethlehem for Christmas, happened to see a father burying his baby son, who had died of privation, just outside a refugee camp. Father Schnydrig was so moved that he rented two buildings and set up a 14-bed clinic. In various stages what was originally an improvised clinic has grown into a proper paediatric hospital. It moved to makeshift buildings with 50 beds. Its expansion then led to the inauguration of a proper custom-built hospital with 72 beds on 26 April 1978. Financed by the solidarity of many faithful and European churches, in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Spain, Bethlehem’s Baby Hospital is now one of the most advanced healthcare facilities in the region and beyond, with 21,000 children treated each year, in very many cases free of charge. Only those who can, pay a small sum for the service. “Even though the care of children and help to mothers is our major priority – says Father Schnydrig – we had a second no less important concern: by its impartiality our work was intended to be a bridge for peace in this Holy Land so tormented by religious strife”. SirEurope has interviewed Sisters who work in the hospital. “WITHOUT ASKING FOR PEOPLE’S RACE OR RELIGION”. “A declaration of Father Schnydrig, walled into the hospital’s foundation stone – recounts SISTER ILEANA, a Franciscan Sister of St. Elizabeth from Padua, who has been working together with other sisters in the hospital since 1975 – says ‘we have helped the poor to the best of our ability without ever asking what their race or religion was. And that’s what we do everyday: the hospital is open seven days a week for those who need to consult a doctor or need treatment of some kind. With its 200 staff – for the most part local Arabs, Christians and Moslems – the hospital has become an integral part of medical care for the needy population of the region of Bethlehem. Some European specialists complement the local personnel. Between 1996 and 2000 the Baby Hospital was entirely reconstructed and now has 82 beds. Up till ten years ago it could provide up to 100 beds. Children admitted to the hospital were suffering from malnutrition and in need of very long treatment”. “With the passage of time and thanks to a campaign of vaccination and medical checkups, children began to have a need for shorter treatments, thus avoiding long periods of hospitalization. The children treated in the hospital mainly come from Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah and East Jerusalem”. “A CHRONIC SITUATION”. “Since 2002 – explains SISTER SILVIA, employed in the hospital’s out patient service – we have lived in a situation of constant war. The Israeli military checkpoint very often does not permit the transit of those who want to get to the hospital for treatment; sometimes even ambulances are turned back. This prevents regular intervention on serious pathologies. The most widespread are those linked to the respiratory tract in winter and gastrointestinal ailments in summer. But we also register numerous premature births due not only to too frequent pregnancies – a fact that shows the lack of respect for women within the small Moslem villages – but also to the stress, anxiety and fear caused by the conflict and the daily clashes. We also have cases of Down’s syndrome, microcephaly, various genetic diseases, cystic fibrosis, inoperable cardiac malformations and hyperthyroidism. A high percentage of children with abnormalities are due in particular to close consanguinity in marriages. Christians now no longer marry within the same family, but this remains the custom among Muslims. Polygamy is also practised, with the result that whereas Christian families have an average of from three to five children, it’s not unusual for Moslem families to have 10-15 pregnancies. The situation of women in Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala is different; they live in better, I would say more integrated conditions”. “AN IMPORTANT MISSION”. “An important mission of the Baby Hospital – declares SISTER ERIKA from Germany, and current superior of the sisters who serve at the hospital – is to educate mothers in the villages of the region of Bethlehem. In this way we better prepare women and girls for their role as mothers and spouses, by teaching them how to feed, assist and care for their babies. Ever since 1980 our doctors, nurses and social workers have regularly visited the outlying villages, where the inhabitants still live in conditions of poverty. And it is especially from these more isolated villages that the children most in need of treatment come. The mothers are often below the age of 18; they were given a husband according to the local traditions and they haven’t the faintest idea about how to look after their babies”. In this way the hospital “becomes a place of humanity towards our neighbour. Here suffering mothers and children, and those living on the fringes of society, are given assistance and treatment. The Caritas Baby Hospital is a living demonstration that Christians may become bridges of peace”.