Navenby Methodist Church - Bethlehem Baubles

This is an unusal partnership between members of the Christian amd Muslim communities in Bethlehem which is making a contribution to working towards peace and improving the lot of people who live in that area of Palestine.

Please have a look at the letter below and support this enerprise if you feel it is worth helping.

Dear Friends of Bethlehem,

It is unusual for us to call on you so early in the year but these are difficult times and Bethlehem needs our help.

You can support them by pre-ordering your Christmas 2020 Bethlehem Baubles which will be dispatched in the Autumn. You can also help by sharing this message with friends and family who hopefully will do the same so that we can put in another order to keep them working.

www.bethlehembaubles.com

Many thanks and very best wishes,

Ros Pollock

An update from

Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans Producers

Today marks our fiftieth day of lockdown. While this extraordinary response to the coronavirus is happening worldwide, the effect and impact on countries and people is not equal. For us in Palestine,

the political situation, our lack of independence and the control Israel imposes on us makes it so much harder to respond to this crisis. I wanted to update you, our dear friends and supporters, on the situation we are facing.

Restrictions continue

This week, new cases have appeared, including in our own city. The lockdown has been extended for a further three weeks with even greater restrictions imposed. Our health services are just not equipped to deal with such a pandemic, so I am proud that the Palestinian Authority took decisive and swift action at the outset to minimize the spread of the virus across the occupied Palestinian Territories.

Economic collapse

Bethlehem welcomes people from all over the world and more than 60 per cent of our population earns their living from tourism. According to information from our Ministry of Tourism, the 2020 was destined to be best year ever for visitor numbers. In an instant, our hopes for this year were crushed as the coronavirus appeared in our city. Overnight, the only source of income for many thousands of people was gone.

Our own situation

Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans (BFTA) has not received any new orders since this situation began. So many families in our community depend entirely on the income they earn as part of our artisan collective; now they have no money coming into their households. The Palestinian Authority lacks resources and does not have the capability to deal with this kind of economic crisis, so we know that we have to think of ways to deal with this situation ourselves.

We held a meeting with our artisans to discuss what should be done. Because of the high expectation for visitor numbers this year, our artisans had been working really hard to prepare. They had produced a lot of stock in readiness for the demand, but now there is no local demand for those items.

Looking to the future

Our artisans were very clear: they do not want charity or donations, they want to work and support their families. This means we all need to think creatively about ways in which to maintain trading so that our artisans can continue to earn their living. We are discussing a range of options with them and how BFTA can do all we can to support them at this very difficult time.

With very best wishes from BFTA and our artisan community.

Take care, and stay safe

BFTA Family,

To the Bethlehem Baubles Website

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