Gaza: Church offers job creation scheme for young people

Some of the first young people on the scheme

Source: Fides

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in cooperation with the Holy Family Parish, launched a job creation and capacity building program in the Gaza Strip last year. Nine months on, 20 Christian youth benefiting from the program are reaping the fruits of their work and seeing new career prospects. Started in October 2018, the program has completed the first phase of training and apprenticeship. The work start-up program was able to accommodate only a third out of 60 applicants that submitted their candidacy for the program, and fill in positions in religious, educational, social, medical and development institutions, such as those carried out by the Aisha Association for the protection of women and minors, for a period of 12 months.

The realisation of this program would not have been possible without the generous donation of the German Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which aims to enrich the work experience of young Christians in the economically and socially depressed context of the Gaza Strip.

As unemployment in Gaza is so high, many young people feel frustrated and dream of emigrating to look for work. But this scheme is offering opportunities to enable young people to stay.

"Having a job gives me hope. Before getting this opportunity, I used to stay at home thinking of the situations here. Now I am thinking of how to develop myself and improve my skills", said Maiysa Khoury, a 25-year-old involved in the project, who has now found a job as a pharmacist.