Rtn Malcolm Jones

MORPETH ROTARY ABOUT A PALESTINE CHARITY

Rev. Malcolm Jones is a retired Anglican priest and member of the Rotary Club of Hexham. He is a Trustee and has worked with a charity called Practical Compassion for Destitute Children (PCDC). Set up 40 years ago, it is supports both Israeli and Arab young people, who live in Palestine . He told Morpeth Rotary he could see the link between the Jewish faith as the foundation to the Christian faith. The charity is not anti-Semitic but is a great friend of the Synagogue of Jerusalem, though he thought that some of the things that the Israeli government, and the Israeli Army have done, are not right. 

The charity helps children who are unlikely to get an education. In Palestine you have to pay to attend school as taxes are not enough. The unemployment rate there is 80%. If your parents are unemployed, ill or in prison, you do not go, as there are no benefits.

He gave examples of how destitute children had been helped with education and with health problems. A number of children around Hebron have deafness or visual impairment, partly due to conservative traditions such as a pressure not to marry outside of the  local tribe. Israeli doctors have helped. Some of those assisted have gone on to university and are in established careers and professions. Girls have been given an education, who would otherwise have been quickly married off. They are helping 188 children at present.