Palestinian students who received letters from US children send messages in bottles as a response during a field trip in Gaza City, on June 26. In May, 11 days of hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement killed and wounded dozens of people including children. (Photo: AFP)
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has organized a laughter therapy workshop that will help Palestinian women in the Holy City cope with psychological pressures and heal their internal wounds.
“Laughter therapy” or “smile therapy” aims to get people laughing in both group and individual sessions and can help reduce stress as well as improve their interpersonal skills.
Sixteen Palestinian women from East Jerusalem, the part of the Holy City where the Arab population is concentrated, attended the workshop organized by the social services department of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, according to the Vatican’s Fides report.
The workshop, an initiative of parish priest Amjad Sabbara and entrusted to specialist Bianca Morcos Tourjman, is an integral part of the programs to support women sponsored by the Latin Patriarchate since the start of the pandemic. The programs are carried out with the participation of Caritas Jerusalem and the Al-Sabil Palestinian Ecumenical Center.
The report said the initiative aimed at helping the discomfort and psychological suffering of Palestinian women in Jerusalem, particularly during the last year and a half, a time in which social problems and chronic economic conditions faced by the Palestinian community of the Holy City have been compounded by social isolation, the collapse of work activities, fears and health problems linked to the pandemic.
Many of the women who joined the workshop survive on unemployment benefit that barely covers the cost of rent. Most of them, or their husbands, worked in hotels and restaurants that were left without customers following the pandemic that led to the interruption of the flow of pilgrims and tourists from abroad.
Women in East Jerusalem suffer from strong pressure and women are the base and the pillar of every family
The Latin Patriarchate inaugurated support projects in the time of the pandemic to offer women and girls in East Jerusalem activities and professional training courses to provide basic skills for the development of future initiatives aimed at increasing female entrepreneurship in the area.
“Women in East Jerusalem suffer from strong pressure and women are the base and the pillar of every family,” said Dima Khoury, director of the social services department of the Latin Patriarchate
“Therapy can help them make inner wounds disappear by hiding them in their subconscious and to release pressure and anger in a healthy way in order to preserve or restore their psychological balance.”
According to an Israeli National Insurance Institute report in 2012, only 13 percent of Palestinian women in Jerusalem were in paid employment.
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