Chinese Sisters Convent

the living corner

One of the main projects that I have been very involved, and overworked, is to establish a convent for chinese religious sisters. It will be the first community of its kind in Jerusalem's 2000 year christian history.

The Oratory

It was very a stressful and demanding job to find a space available that was reasonable priced. I found an abandoned floor in an Ottoman period convent belonging to the Daughters of Charity (St. Vincent de Paul). Then it was negotiating the rent, contract conditions and other technical stiff. Then I had to raise funds for the renovation of the abandoned convent.

After 3 months (obviously delayed as anyone living in Jerusalem would know about local workers), the floor was finally completed. Then it was the smaller details: furniture. It took another month to get all the furniture. The main problem was the rooms were oddly shaped so regular furniture could not fit. It took weeks of searching to find the right things. And at a reasonable price. Then it took weeks to find workers to assemble the furniture. Anyone unaccustomed with local work attitudes would collapse from stress and exasperation. I almost did.

The kitchen and dining room corner

Space is very limited so it required creativity. The Oratory (not chapel as it has no altar) is so tiny only 3 persons can fit into it. Which is just nice as the community  is made up of 3 chinese sisters. The rooms are also very small; hardly any space to move around. But it's liveable. With a little patience and charity, things would be working out fine.

Beds double as storage space for clothes as the under-compartment opens up. The 2 sofas also open up into beds if required. There is also storage space under the sofas.

One of the rooms

The contract lasts only for 5 years, and rent is covered by the cost of the renovations paid by our benefactors. After that, the contract is renewable but from the looks of things, the sisters of St. Vincent de Paul (owners) are not likely to do so as they have other plans for that building. The upper floor is occupied by another congregation of sisters from Slovakia. Downstairs is a kindergarten.

So work is underway to search for another convent of these chinese sisters. I'm happy I invited them over to work here. They all hold degrees and speak at least one european language besides mandarin. All understand english and fluent in french. It's an asset to have them around.