Mariam Bardwardi Nurseries

Over the past ten years Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI) has grown steadily. More and more teachers and students arrive to our campus from across the Galillee region. They hail from many villages and towns, representing an array of religions and backgrounds. This is precisely what contributes to the unique character of MEEI. In fact, you won’t find another campus like it in the region.

However, teachers who are also parents of young babies face significant challenges, some commuting from long distances to teach at MEEI. In order to support these faculty members who have very young babies and children we opened a nursery to provide exceptional care for these teachers’ babies.

We opened the nursery doors 10 years ago, enabling mothers and fathers teaching at the Elementary, Junior High and High Schools to bring their babies to the nursery to facilitate their fulfilling their teaching responsibilities without a care or concern for their young ones.

Today, around 35 young mother teachers, in addition to a limited number of non-teachers, bring their babies early in the morning and entrust them to the nursery before teaching, either in the elementary or in the high school. At the end of the teaching day they return to the nursery, named after the Prophet Elijah, the patron of the Greek Catholic community in Gailee, to pick up their children and return home. The nursery began with 12 children. Generous familes donated beds and other necessary equipment for this journey to commence. As the years went by, and our numbers grew, we now employ five teachers who are dedicated, patient, loving, and compassionate in educating the children they care for. During the spread of the Corona Virus, their work was especially complicated and delicate working with such diversity of children. The numbers of babies in the nursery decreased noticeably during Covid-19 and we now are hopeful that the number will increase back to the former numbers, now that the pandemic is becoming endemic.

Mrs. Hanan Azzam, ten years ago the school became large enough, and the Mar Elias Institution I mean the High school and the Elementary school, the number of staff became big as well, and the lady teachers are all young people, married and having children. Their confusion what to do with their babies urged MEEI to open a nursery for the young ladies could trust their children to educators fit for the responsibility, we opened the nursery. Around 35 young mother teachers would bring their babies early in the morning entrust them to the nursery and past to other building to teach, either in the elementary or in the high school. After they finish teaching they just return to the nearby nursery named after the Prophet Elijah, take their children and go back home. This project enabled the mothers to fulfill their teaching responsibility, the nursery started with 12 children, today they are 35 babies with five kindergärtnerin work with much patience and compassion with plenty of love and zeal in educating these children in collaboration with the Mar Elias board of trustees together with the parents of these children. It was extremely complicated and delicate to work with such diversity of a children during the spread of the Corona Virus. It was noticeable the influence of the Covid-19 in decreasing the number of children… now we hope that the number will increase.