Advent Pilgrimage

Bethlehem University is an oasis of peace amongst unrest. I didn’t expect today’s visit to the campus to be as emotional as it did.

We started by going into the campus chapel, which is dedicated to Jesus as a child, the only one of its kind in the Holy Land. Our tour guide took us into a room where we met with the Vice Chancellor, Brother Peter Bray, who is a De La Salle Brother from New Zealand. Peter has been the Vice Chancellor for 15 years and his passion for education and young people was so strong. He told us all about the university and some of its history, including the 12 times it has been closed due to conflict or war.

We were then introduced to five young ambassadors. Four of them travel each day to campus from Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem is in Israel and Bethlehem is in Palestine, you have to cross the checkpoint to get into Bethlehem.

These checkpoints can be very daunting and a scary task for the students. At the checkpoints they can be checked for ID, their car searched and they themselves can even be subject to strip searches.
These searches are all random and dependent on the mood of the checkpoint guards. Sometimes the checkpoints can even be closed, which means students cannot get to campus.

One of the students was born in Palestine, which means she holds a green coloured ID. This means she cannot enter Israel/Jerusalem. To travel internationally she cannot cross the boarder and use the Tel Aviv, she has to travel to Jordan and fly from here.

Hearing the students talk about their experiences was absolutely heartbreaking, and it just makes you realise how very lucky each of us are to not just attend university, but do you so safely, and without fear.

At the end, we had a small question and answer time and I asked the student ambassadors if “they had a message they would like us to tell students or people back in Australia, what would it be?”.

Their simple answer:
Share what you have heard here today, tell people about their story, and maybe most powerfully, never take your freedom for granted.Read more