Throughout the centuries, Christians have been challenged to interpret contemporary realities through the lens of our faith’s historic truths.  This can be a difficult experience for first-time pilgrims to the Holy Land.

Believers are put off by souvenir hawkers, jostling tourists, rifled soldiers in the streets, and by tour guides repeating the phrase, “This is the traditional site of [any number of religious sites, including the presumed place of Jesus’ birth].”  After all, pilgrims seek a spiritual experience.  They want to quietly walk in the footsteps of Jesus and to touch the “holy stones.” 

Many are surprised to learn, however, that these are the same realities that Jesus and his disciples experienced when they entered Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  Since the days of King David, tourists have flocked to the holy cities, residents have hawked their wares, and guides have led pilgrims to sites that have been determined by tradition.

And the holy land has more often than not been a place of conflict, military occupation and suffering.

Most recently, the population of Palestine has been traumatized by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.  Harsh travel restrictions imposed by the so-called “security barrier” and scores of army checkpoints, home demolitions and night-time incursions by Israeli Defense Forces into areas “under Palestinian control”, daily humiliations, bureaucratic mazes, and a military administration not always subject to Israeli courts continue to effect the removal of Palestinian families from their homes and land, and to wreck an economy based on agriculture and tourism.

Thousands of Palestinian children are suffering the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, unable to sleep through the night, to do their homework and to play with abandon like children in other parts of the world.

In November, Janet Wright, a member of Heart of the Rockies Christian Church in Fort Collins, Colorado, traveled with three of her colleagues – mental health therapists – to train twenty-eight West Bank therapists in the use of EMDR, a mental health treatment that reduces the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

These West Bank professionals, both Christian and Muslim, work in the East Jerusalem YMCA Rehabilitation Program (a Global Ministries Mission Partner organization just outside of Bethlehem), the Center for the Treatment of Victims of Torture in Ramallah, and two other agencies working with a population experiencing widespread PTSD. 

The team’s expenses were paid, in part, by a generous grant from Week of Compassion, the Disciples ministry of emergency relief and long-term development. 

EMDR (Eye Movement, Desensitization and Reprocessing) was developed by Francine Shapiro just fifteen years ago.  EMDR has been widely recognized in the field of psychology as a very effective treatment for persons experiencing PTSD.

In past trips to the West Bank, as a short-term Global Ministries Mission Volunteer and supported in part by Week of Compassion, Wright worked with another colleague from the States to train YMCA therapists in the theory and use of art and play therapies with children.

Wright has been grateful for at least three things: the skills of the Y’s social workers; their deep commitment and sacrifices made in the practice of their work in a nation under occupation; and the ripple effect of the training throughout the West Bank in the lives of many children and adults.

Jim Knipe, a psychologist from Colorado Springs and one of the four trainers, spoke about his experience.  “It is deeply gratifying for the team to have an opportunity to work with therapists who have such a strong commitment to emotional healing in a place where trauma and ongoing stress are so widespread.” 

Jeff and Janet Wright