Day 05 - Bethlehem, Shopping at Johnny's, Al Basma Center

We’ve made our way up to Jerusalem, but today Bethlehem stole the show. To start, we visited Johnny’s. This is a fourth-generation souvenir shop which has helps support local Palestinian Christians. Everyone loved Johnny’s and had so much fun shopping for gorgeous handcrafted olive wood goods and much more! Still, it was the trip to Al Basma that will leave its imprint on all our hearts for a long, long time.

Al Basma (“smile”) is a center for young adults with disabilities who live in and near Bethlehem. During their time at the center these young adults are taught skills such as weaving, making decorative paper, soapmaking, and using special equipment to die-cut olivewood ornaments. These goods are then sold in their on-site shop. Al Basma offers daytime programming with the intention of keeping these young adults with their families. The director who showed us around emphasized how important it is for these young adults to remain with their families, this being the most important social structure in their life. She told us how proud their clients’ parents are to find that their child with learning disabilities has a skill to contribute. This struck me as a very non-American way of thinking of things: it’s not just that the individual is being empowered, but they are able to bring honor to their family through their work.

But enough with all those details. What was really great about our Al Basma trip was all the FUN we had playing together! Our groups mixed seamlessly. We sang songs to and with each other. We had relay races. We played tug-of-war. But the biggest hit of all was the dance party! We boogied till our hearts might burst, dancing with joy to the beat of the kingdom. Our participants picked up moves from their new Al Basma friends, hands in the air, stepping and circling around the dance floor. It was pure delight. It didn’t matter one bit that we spoke different languages. The most important things came across: we are people who make God smile. I’m just sure he was smiling and laughing and singing and dancing right along with us all today!