“Shukran” is the word that reaches the upper Molise from war-torn Palestine, thanks to this exclusive correspondence from Bethlehem that we are able to offer our readers. Jack Giacaman, a craftsman from Bethlehem, father of two, asked the bank for a loan during Covid to cover his rent and to be able to continue working. A sort of twenty-first-century Saint Joseph: he carves wood to produce nativity scene figurines. Now, with the war, the pilgrimage circuit has also entered into crisis. Tourists and pilgrims no longer arrive as before and the artist carpenter has had to send his workers home, because in the workshop he cannot no longer earn even enough to eat. Then it happens that Don Alberto Conti, director of the diocesan Caritas of Trivento and of the listening center of Agnone, takes a plane and goes to those lands that have always been bloodied, to see first-hand what is happening and, above all, to lend a hand, to help someone, even just one person. The parish priest originally from Capracotta traveled over three thousand kilometers to enter that small shop, to meet the Saint Joseph of our times and bring the help of Caritas of Upper Molise to his family. We reached him by telephone, Don Alberto, asking to take advantage of his precious time for a correspondence from the Holy Land. «In these days the diocesan Caritas is in Palestine, in Bethlehem, to build solidarity projects and support the work of the small artisans who live by working wood and creating nativity scenes and other artistic artefacts – the priest tells us – About an hour away machine from here, from where we are, in the Gaza Strip, a bloody and terrible battle is taking place war. Because of the war, the entire Holy Land, but Bethlehem in particular, has lost all its pilgrims and the small local economy, the one that supports the life of families, has entered into crisis. Shops are closed and families are desperate, because they do not know how to put food on the table. So together with Father Rami, a Franciscan of the Custody of the Holy Land and parish priest of Bethlehem, Caritas wants to try to support and accompany the local artisans in this difficult moment, purchasing the nativity scenes that will then be available in the towns and parishes of our diocese, in exchange for an offering. We wanted to give this project the same name that we give to the initiatives that we have been carrying out for some years now in our diocese: “I am staying in my land”. Because, exactly like in upper Molise and upper Vastese, supporting these workers and artisans is the reason for the survival of Christian families who otherwise would have as their only possibility that of leaving the Holy Land to emigrate abroad». The work that is not there or that is lacking, in this case because of the war, in Palestine, as in Alto Molise and Caritas that replaces the institutions and the State and brings concrete and supportive projects to the territory. “The suffering and worries, in these days, are truly so much here in the Holy Land. – continues Don Alberto Conti in his correspondence from the eastern front – Father Rami and his collaborators try to bring to the lost hearts a little consolation and above all hope, because today in this land there is so much need for hope. We are here, in these very difficult moments, to build “bridges” of peace, justice and also friendship. Because without peace and justice, but I would also say without solidarity and friendship, there is no future”. A closeness and concrete help that were appreciated by Jack Giacaman, the craftsman from Bethlehem, who commented, moved, with these words: “A Providence that opens the heart to hope. Shukran”.
