January 19, 2001

The way the world works these days is strange. A week ago, we received an email which contained a copy of a letter written by Jerry Falwell about the Christians in Beit Jala. We let it sit for a few days, and then decided enough was enough - we had to respond. We sent our letter to Falwell, as well as to some of our usual recipients of such letters. Within days, we were receiving responses from London, New Zealand, and Palos Heights (Illinois, of course). Seems the thing has been bouncing around the internet quite a bit. No response from the stated recipient, though.

We also learned today what the story is with the water supply. It seems that Zababdeh has no running water (except for that stored in rooftop tanks) because of a broken water pump. The pump for the town is under Israeli control, and the Israelis have thusfar failed - or refused - to fix it. That is why a water truck brought water to refill our rooftop tanks last week. Our neighbors put out every available bucket to catch the rainfall and avoid - or at least delay - this added expense.

Putting out buckets to catch the rainfall.