The Knights Templar’s Special Anabta Project

Nicky Wynne pays tribute

Celebrating the philanthropic endeavours of our friends, The Knights Templar – who, in addition to their generous annual donations – this year raised a staggering £140,000 for the purchase of vital systems for the early detection of preventable blindness.

Steeped in fascinating history and rituals, the Knights Templar is an international philanthropic, Christian chivalric order of Freemasonry.  Its giving relationship with our charitable endeavours in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza can be traced back to 1927, when £175 was given – the equivalent of around £5,000 today.  We are extremely proud of our relationship with this body, which has supported our work ever since.

June 2011 was a very distinctive month.  Trustee Nick Astbury, on behalf of our new Chairman, Philip Hardaker, and I, along with Hospital colleagues, had the fortune of representing our charity at a celebratory reception that we had arranged for the Knights Templars in Jerusalem.  The reception, held on Sunday 26thJune for a group of 64, marked the end of the Knights Templar’s ‘Special Fundraising Appeal for Anabta’. 

Launched in 2010, the aim of this successful appeal was to enable the purchase of two advanced diagnostic systems – a Digital Fundus Fluorescein Angiography System (FFA) and an Optical Coherence Tomography System (OCT) – for our Clinic in Anabta in the north West-Bank.  The funds raised have also ensured we can maintain these systems for at least the next 5 years. 

*CEO Rod Bull receiving the cheque for £138, 939 for Anabta from Judge Ian Alexander

The provision of the FFA and OCT equipment at our Anabta Clinic will mean that many thousands of local people in the north of the West Bank, where communities are amongst the most impoverished in the OPT, will have the screening, diagnoses and treatment they urgently require for a range of eye diseases, including the scourge of diabetic retinopathy. 

Based on World Health Organization figures published in 2003, the cost to the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) of blindness and impaired vision by 2020 is going to be a staggering $33.7m.  Poverty levels in the region currently stand at 51.8% - more than half the families live on less than $3.15 per person per day.  Only with timely screening for potential blindness will these figures improve.  Diabetic Retinopathy is the most common cause of blindness in working age populations across the globe and it is best managed by early testing, before symptoms arise. 

Thanks to the generosity of the Knights Templar, our Anabta Clinic will now become an early detection centre of first world standard.  The June reception, arranged to mark the culmination of this special appeal, was indeed a celebratory occasion.

Keen to understand how their donations help, the group made valuable use of the reception.  Conversations between our knowledgeable and eloquent staff and their sponsors flowed noisily into the night.  This was amid much joviality and great appreciation of the sumptuous, traditional fare so expertly provided by our Jerusalem Hospital Chef, Elias Khoury, and his team!

Sunday 26thJune was also the final day of the Knight’s Templar’s special 2011 Holy Land Tour.  They had planned their trip to coincide with the end of the appeal as they wished members to see in person the impact their donations have in the progression of our work.  Thanks to R.E.Kt. His Honour Ian Alexander QC, Great Chancellor of the Knights Templars, V.E.Kts. Tommy Thompson,  and Jon Roberts, Past Great Registrars, I had the great pleasure of spending time with the Group as their guest during their visit to the Dead Sea.  The trip included taking the cable car up to the spectacular Masada, an isolated fortress suffused in meaning, situated atop an isolated rock cliff at the western end of the Judean Desert. 

By joining the group for part of their adventure, I learnt first-hand of the generous spirit and giving nature of the people involved in the Knights Templar.  They genuinely care about the plight of the Palestinians in the region and want to help us to help those who need our services most.  I was honoured to spend time with such wonderful friends of our charity.

Nicky Wynne, Head of Fundraising & Marketing (International)