170th ANNIVERSARY
MEMORIES
This year, Embrace is 170 years old! That’s 170 years of UK Christians walking alongside our sisters and brothers in the Middle East as they serve their communities. It’s an amazing story of dedicated Christian social witness across the decades, and of walking and serving together, as the one household of God. We’re delighted to share some of your memories from that journey.
“Congratulations on your 170th Anniversary. Our parents supported the work when we were children in the 1950s and it is a privilege to be able to continue their legacy of concern and care in 2024. Knowing that your workers are there somehow makes the news bulletins more poignant, but also more hopeful as you hold the Christ light in the middle of such darkness.”
— Elisabeth Pybus
“After my one and only 'journey of a lifetime' to the Holy Land in 1963 at the age of 29, I heard about Embrace, then called Biblelands, and began to be a supporter of the charity. For many years, I sponsored girls at a school in, Lebanon and received letters from each child in turn, as well as photos. That system came to an end, but still donated regularly to more general educational projects. At nearly 90, I continue to enjoy reading the magazine, after over 60 years!”
— Jean Wines
“Between 2002 and 2016 I sponsored and supported two lovely girls at Bethany School for Girls. It was always a joy to receive letters from them telling me of their favourite subjects and the activities they enjoyed. They must be in their mid-twenties now. I hope and pray that they are well and safe and able to contribute positively to their communities.”
— Ann Edmonds
When in her 20s, Gillian Eweis travelled to Bethlehem for BibleLands in the 1960s to help set up a new school for the blind boys in Bethlehem. She remembers the struggles of the early days of the school, the kindness she received from the locals when she went down with typhoid fever and her sadness at having to leave – on the last plane out – before the 6 Day War:
Building works at the Helen Keller School in the 1960s.
“When I arrived, I was taken to the Helen Keller School for Blind Girls. The site for the boys school was close. First of all, it had to be thoroughly clean and habitable. Most of this work fell to me.
“About 30 boys aged from 12 to teenagers arrived… Many of the boys spoke English, particularly the older ones. I was supposed to have Arabic lessons, but did not have much time. I soon picked up lots, though I spoke like a child as I spent most of my time with the younger ones who had no English. One of the first words I learnt was ‘biddish’ – literally meaning ‘I don’t want to’ but really more like ‘shan’t’!
“More boys came. Some were just left outside the front door with no age or name or who their parents were. It was considered a shame to have a blind child, and many of them had other problems – physical and mental. Our driver sent us his teenage daughter to help us and she was wonderful with those ones struggling to speak – spending hours encouraging them.”
Three years after leaving the West Bank, Biblelands contacted Gillian again and asked her to travel to Lebanon:
“I was told to go to Beirut and report to the Deaf School. I was to open a day centre for physically disabled children. I helped the children to cope with their various physical and emotional problems and to learn to read and write, if they were able.
“One little boy had just one aim in life – he wanted his own pair of sandals. He could not walk or even stand so his parents said he did not need them. But he just so longed for a pair. When I received my first salary after three months there, the first thing I bought was a pair of sandals for him. I got some sweets for all the other children and they were not jealous of little Sammy as they knew how happy he was.
“After about a year, it was obvious that war was looming. I used to take the children out onto the balcony to watch the tanks go by. The soldiers waved to the children, who thought it was a game. We were told we must leave, so once again I was on the last plane out. A day after I got home, I was watching the news saw that my flat and the day centre had been bombed.
“I can honestly say, I had many years of joy working with children in the Holy Land. It was very hard work and there were many difficulties, but I was very blessed in my time. I met many exceptional people and I am very grateful for all I learnt.”
- Gillian Eweis
“I am now in my seventies. My father supported the Biblelands Society for as long as I can remember. I don’t know how he first became involved (though he did serve in the Middle East during WW2). Christmas was always Biblelands cards and presents from the gift catalogue. I still have a mother of pearl star but sad to say my silver camel pendant and wooden camel set no longer exist.
My dad wrote to Miss Adele Dafesh of the Home for Blind Girls in Bethlehem and my sister and I wrote to girls in the home during the 1950s and 1960s. My penpal was called Shihnaz, but we stopped writing when she returned to Nablus to look after her blind father. I have a wonderful memory of meeting Miss Dafesh when she visited Glasgow. I was probably about 9 years old at the time and my dad took me on a bus journey through Glasgow to the house where she was staying.
I continue to support Embrace when I can and hope to be able to do so in the future.”
- Liz Seagraves
Image: Bethlehem Home for Blind Girls
In February 2013, our home group had a trip to the Holy Land with Embrace. What an incredible experience it was. On the Sunday after we arrived, we shared Holy Communion and hospitality with a Palestinian congregation in their church. I walked down the Mount of Olives, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, worshipped in the field where the angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus, celebrated Holy Communion in the Garden Tomb and sailed on the Sea of Galilee. I was challenged by the crowds in the shrines and religious sites but loved the quiet spaces. And the Souks were a lot of fun! We were also invited to visit some of the inspiring projects supported by Embrace, and saw the fantastic work they are doing. But nothing prepared me for the conversations we had with some amazing Palestinian Christians, hearing about their daily struggles to survive and the dreadful injustices they suffer: the separation wall, the house demolitions, the lack of access to public services etc. I stood on the roof of the hospital, with the separation wall just metres away, and wept as I realised the significance of it all. I came back from the visit with a new perspective and passion for justice. Thank you to Embrace for opening my eyes to all this.
— Rev. Gillian Roberts
“Here is a photo from when we visited The Princess Basma Centre on The Mount of Olives in Feb or early in 1995 and took several suitcases of clothes etc for them. The clothes were requested by the then Director, Mrs Betty Majaj. Sadly in those days we didn't have mobile phones with cameras, otherwise I would have taken far more photos!”
— Pam & Stephen Campbell
“Back in the 50s and 60s in my father's parish of Upton we would use the Bethlehem Carol Sheet every year, for a programme of carols and secular Christmas readings just before Christmas. There were practices every week for what seemed like ages beforehand. My parents were particular that we bought the new sheets each year! They had first met in Palestine in 1929”
— Anna Georgina Chitty
“I joined Embrace in 1983 but my first pilgrimage with them (then BibleLands) was in 2004. It was the 150th anniversary of BibleLands and was celebrated in great style in Beirut. We had a wonderful time, there was a church service of thanksgiving in the afternoon at which the speaker was Nadeem Shwayri, the founder of The Al Kafaat Foundation. In the evening we had a party at Al Kafaat.”
— Minyon Prescott
“My mother, Betty Marshall, supported The Bible Lands Society for over 70 years, so all my life I have been aware of their wonderful ministry in the Holy Land. She sponsored a child from the start of the scheme, taking on a succession of children as each graduated from school. She really enjoyed that scheme. Much of my childhood we had a photo of one boy on the fridge and would pray for him as part of our family and send letters and gifts. I wonder what happened to him in his adulthood and whether he is still alive today in Palestine.
My mother also gave regularly to the wider work of The Bible Lands Society, bought Christmas cards and gifts each year to give to friends and family. My parents visited the Holy Land 5 times and the people there were very much on their hearts.
My grandmother, Florence Linscott (pictured), supported Bible Lands before that too, when attending Totteridge Road Baptist Church. She was regularly praying for the work and inviting speakers to her Women’s Meeting, which she ran for many years. She also came with us to visit the Holy Land when she was 80, which fulfilled a longstanding desire of hers. The children we met flocked around her!
So our family has loved the ministry of Bible Lands for decades supporting the work.
We ourselves have bought olive trees for Palestine and gifts for life, such as medical care in Gaza and training for women in Egypt. We think that these practical gifts, which are specific to address needs, are a very good idea.
We were booked to join the encounter tour to help olive growers pick their harvest of olives last autumn. Obviously it was postponed, but we have been praying very much for everyone in Palestine and Israel affected by this dreadful war. We pray for the olive farmers to be safe, in the midst of such conflict, and for a miracle to bring justice and freedom to all who have lacked it for so long.”
- Hope Price
“Coming from an Evangelical Christian family I was as familiar with places like Bethlehem, Mesopotamia, Bethany, Tyre, Nazareth and Galilee, and much of the Middle East as I was with our local villages. I thought how special the children were coming from the lands of Jesus and Mary.
As I grew older, I became curious about the Middle East conflict, and wanted to find out more. I read my parents' BibleLands newsletters and decided I was going to sponsor a child in a special residential school in Lebanon.
My first little girl, in the early 80s, was Claudia. She had learning disabilities and I was sent little drawings by her and letters about her progress at school with Arabic writing and an English translation.
When Claudia grew up, I then sponsored Zeinab, a little girl with physical and learning disabilities at the same center. My last child I sponsored was Rita. I kept all their letters and I often wonder what happened to them as they got older.
From then on, I have supported Embrace and its stand for justice and peace in this troubled area of our world.”
- Alison Browning
Image: Nazareth (Credit: Adam Jones)
“I remember your old magazine and the “items” written by the leaders of each of your supported enterprises (not sure if they were ‘reports’ or ‘letters’, perhaps a cross between the two!) I also remember the Carol sheet, which our vicar encouraged us to take home, and so the church needed new ones each year! When I had retired and was running the village lunch club, I sent for your big print carol sheets so everyone could sing after the Christmas meal. As I had also been asked to lead monthly service at the local care home, I would take the large print carol sheets to the Christmas service there.”
— June Kirkland
“Congratulations on the 170th Anniversary of Embrace the Middle East and its forebears. I have known about the work of Biblelands since I was a child, being taken to a local Baptist Church by my parents, where the work of then Biblelands was supported.
I grew up on the borders of London/Essex and because I worked in London, my mother and I did our Christmas shopping in London, making sure that we visited the ‘Souk’, which was the shop run by Biblelands. I wonder how many remember that?“
— Stella Lamb
“As an eight year old, back in 1942, I wanted to make known my new understanding of what it meant to be a Christian. I heard two retired missionaries lived two doors up the road so I proudly knocked on their door. They gave me some Bible Lands magazines which had sketches of plants and animals. I expect there was a lot of information about the Holy Land also but it would have been a bit above my head. Eventually I received the magazine regularly and still do to this day. Of course the name and content has changed to meet the demands of today but the work of the Lord, and his people, is as strong as ever.”
— Shirley Merrick
“Delighted Embrace the Middle East is 170 years old. I have supported the work since 1964 sponsoring nurses in training at the now Nazareth Hospital. As a qualified nurse and midwife myself, it was a privilege and joy to financially support these young people, in very different circumstances.
The Bible Lands magazine and now all the material, prayer leaflets etc are such a joy to receive and make use of. In our church the bread for Communion is served on the bread and loaves pottery plates which I donated.
May the Lord continue to bless this wonderful work.”
— Arlene Aitchison
Image: Nazareth School of Nursing.
Image: Graham and his daughter Jen
“My memories of Embrace begin in the 1950s. From the age of three I had to endure - and not disturb - some tedious church services. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but part of my survival technique was to look at the pictures on the Bethlehem Carol Sheet.
Roll forward to 1967. My parents returned from a trip to Israel and Jordan, leaving just days before the 6 Day War began. They were impressed by the achievements that Israel had made in its 20-year life, but they also felt for the Palestinian refugees they had met in the West Bank. I began to take a mild interest.
In 2005 my daughter Jen began working for Embrace (then BibleLands). Naturally, I knew much more about the organisation than I had 50 years earlier, but I was about to learn a deep lesson. Our Jen took a party of young volunteers to work in an orphanage in Bethlehem.
They’d hardly arrived when Hezbollah started firing rockets and Israel retaliated. Till then these
things would have just been news. This time, my own daughter was in the area. I realised that wars were about real people.
The group decided to stay put and get on with the job. People seeking refuge from the fighting slept on the floor with them, they were Palestinian Christians and citizens of Israel. I realised what a difficult situation they could find themselves in. Being Palestinian, Christian and Israeli in a land where identity has so much meaning is not simple. I can’t imagine what some of these people are going through now, at a time when differences are magnified.
My daughter left Embrace to have daughters of her own, but I still have mementoes that she brought back from the Holy Land. A final legacy is the difference that engaging with BibleLands/Embrace has made to me. The three-year-old looking at pictures in a carol sheet has grown into a 70-year-old whose involvement with Embrace has taught him to appreciate the humanity behind those pictures.”
- Graham Hobbs
“I cannot now remember how or when as a student some 60 years ago I first read a BibleLands magazine and became interested in the range of work supported. From the beginning of our marriage in 1967 (and perhaps before) Elsie and I have taken an interest in and supported the society with our prayers and financially and greatly value the work of Embrace making a difference in the life of so many in the name and with the love of Christ.
In 1990, I had the opportunity to visit Israel-Palestine as part of an Irish Church delegation during, which we travelled to Gaza and spoke with a doctor in Al Ahli hospital. We also saw trauma and the after-effects of conflict in young Palestinians at East Jerusalem YMCA among other insightful encounters.”
— Elsie and David Nesbitt
“We first got involved with Embrace the Middle East when we lived in Buckinghamshire & our local church used the Bethlehem Carol Sheets at Christmas.
We have lived in Wiltshire for almost 34 years now and are still delighted to support 'Embrace'. Many thanks for keeping us updated.”
— Rosemary Gardner
“I can relate to about 150 years of support, starting with the early days of the Bible Lands Society. While other kids got the Beano, I got the Biblelands magazine! Obviously, this relates back to my paternal grandparents and possibly my great-grandparents. I am delighted to keep the family tradition going.”
— Ruth Gunning
“My Grandfather, Dr Gaskoin Richard Morden Wright, worked in Nablus and built the hospital there, St Luke’s Hospital, on behalf of the Christian Mission Society. While he was not working directly for BibleLands, I am sure they would have been in close contact and I know that Embrace the Middle East does now give support to the Hospital. He went out to Nablus (Nablous) in 1894 and the hospital was eventually opened in 1901.”
— JoAn Davies
“I became a regular volunteer for Biblelands/ Embrace, helping at events and giving talks and presentations at local churches and other groups. One of my most treasured memories is that I travelled to Bethlehem in 2016 to run the Right to Movement Half Marathon with Su (a staff member at Embrace) and her husband Craig. Due to a change in my personal circumstances, I no longer volunteer for Embrace, but I value the friendships that I have made and continue to support the work that they do. More importantly, perhaps, I continue to hold the women of Gaza and the work of Al Ahli in my heart.”