On the commemorating day of the Nakba, twenty participants of our young adults from Jerusalem and Ramallah joined us to visit a village originally named EinHod that was destroyed and evacuated, and is now known as the Artists’ Village.
To start our day we went to House of Grace where they rehabilitate prisoners on Christian values.This organization, founded in 1982 by Kamil and Agnes Shehadeh, was the first ever half way house for released prisoners in Israel. Their son, Jamal, spoke to us about the history of the organization and why his parents started it, believing in chances and that God would never leave them. Itis located on the grounds of the Greek Catholic church.While there, we had the chance to see inside the church and also tour around the facilities. The participants were astonished and positively surprised that there is such an organization and asked for more information to understand the situation more.They all asked questions and found hope and motivation in their own lives and in helping others.
Afterwards, we left EidHod and ate lunch at a restaurant on top of the hill with an amazing view of the mountains.This part of the village is called among locals, “Arab Ein Hod,”remembering that the Jewish village was built on the ruins of the Arab village in 1948.” Devotion was prepared and shared by one of our participants, leaving the group spiritually recharged and connected to this place.
Ziad, who was the owner of the restaurant, was also a guide; he took us on a tour of the village, walking through the “Arab” part to the “Jewish” part.He explained the history of the village and gave his personal story about what his family experienced during 1948. Ziad was from Ein Hod, and his parents’ house was still visible in the “Artists’Village.” He explained that he passed by it almost every day. He shared his story with us and we had a good conversation. The participants were interested in knowing more about the village, considering that some of them hadn’t heard about it before
