An Act of Love: Elizabeth Wellendorf A'14

Elizabeth Wellendorf A’14 loves to serve. As a student at Duchesne, she volunteered for numerous events around campus and after school in her mother’s special education classroom.

“Goal 3: A social awareness which impels to action was one of my favorite goals,” she explained. “I always saw people and wanted to help them. First, we serve God, then we serve others was an important concept to me.”

Now, Wellendorf is communicating via Zoom from an office in Bethlehem. Evening prayers from a nearby mosque echo as she sits in her pink medical scrubs, reflecting after a long day of volunteering at the Hogar Nino Dios Home— a center for children with severe mental and physical disabilities.

Wellendorf’s journey to the Holy Land started with a trip to check off her bucket list. She went on a pilgrimage in June 2022, visiting Galilee, Nazareth, and Bethlehem. On her birthday, she took a tour of the Church of the Nativity and found a small star in the grotto symbolizing Jesus’s birthplace.

“I kissed it, and God spoke to me,” she said. “I could hear Him clear as day. He said, ‘Happy Birthday Elizabeth, welcome home.’”

Wellendorf said her life changed in that moment. Prior to her pilgrimage, she worked as a traveling nurse. Stationed in states like Louisiana and Hawaii, Wellendorf saved her money so she could travel and give to meaningful causes. She curated enough money to take off a substantial amount of time.

As she researched ways to stay in the Holy Lands, she discovered  “Select to Give”, a charity which raises money for Christian organizations in the Holy Lands. There, she found a home for special needs children run by Sisters who needed volunteers.

Wellendorf connected with the Mother Superior at Hogar Nino Dios Home and booked her next flight to Bethlehem for December 2022.

“God blessed me,” she said. “I had all of these opportunities given to me, and giving money didn’t fill me the way that I needed.”

Now, she’s giving 100% of her time to children who need her. Wellendorf’s visa prohibits her from earning an income while in Bethlehem. Generous friends and family have offered to give her money while serving, but she doesn’t use it for herself.

“I paid for a kid’s surgery with one donation, and I bought another girl ankle-foot orthoses,” she said. “Tomorrow’s not certain, and by really serving people, you get so much back.”

When she’s not working with children, Wellendorf attends morning mass in the grotto of the Nativity or spends time in her community. Though this is meaningful to Wellendorf, life is not easy in Palestine.

October 7, 2023

“I was walking to church, and I heard sirens,” Wellendorf remembered. “They sounded like tornado sirens. I looked up, and Gaza had sent missiles toward Jerusalem. They blew up overhead.”

Bethlehem is in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the State of Palestine. It’s located about six miles south of Jerusalem. On October 7, 2023, Gaza militants launched a surprise attack by firing thousands of rockets and entered Israel by land, sea, and air. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war after the attack.

“I remember thinking ‘what does this mean for us?’,” Wellendorf said.

It means less tourists and donations, and more poverty and fear. Wellendorf said while they are safe most of the time, raids in surrounding refugee camps are concerning. She recalls waiting to take a 13-year-old Palestinian student to school one morning.

“The girl was late, and I was frustrated,” Wellendorf said. “Come to find out, the young girl was hiding in her home because a raid was taking place. If she stepped outside, she would be killed.”

Hogar Nino Dios Home has had to make many adjustments. For instance, Israel began cutting power during the war. The Sisters and volunteers purchased a generator so they can help the 38 kids in the home use the elevator or provide oxygen if needed.

When Israel cut off Palestine’s water, the Sisters encouraged the children to “Pray for water” through the Rosary.

“It’s very humbling because there was never a question if I’d have water back home,” Wellendorf said.

 

An education in tolerance

Wellendorf’s exposure to cultures in both Israel and Palestine have given her a perspective on the conflict. She said it’s a complicated political situation that can sound like ‘I hate you because you hate me’.

“People in the United States don’t quite understand what life is like without tolerance,” she explained. “Because here, there are extremists on both sides who will shoot you.”

Wellendorf said the fear comes from both sides of the wall separating Israel and Palestine. Both sides are welcoming to her, but not to each other.

“The people here [Palestine] just want to live, they want to work, they want to have their land,” she explained. “And on the other side, they’re the same. They just want to live, they just want to work, they want to have their land.”

 

Hope from home

During the 2023 Alumnae Holiday Mass, Duchesne collected donations to send to the Hogar Nino Dios Home. Wellendorf said she was able to buy Christmas presents for the kids, which added to the beauty of Christmas in the Holy Land. The Duchesne Alumnae Board announced they plan to donate to the home again during Holiday Mass this year.

“What I’ve learned from Duchesne is, anything you can do, just do it as an act of love,” she said. “You give what you have, and it’s returned ten-fold.”

This act of love aligns perfectly with Duchesne’s 2024-25 school year theme: Lead with Love.

In the summer of 2024, the Duchesne community read “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East” by Sandy Tolan. The nonfiction story shares the intertwined histories of two families, one Palestinian and one Jewish, who lived in the same house in Ramallah, Israel. Educators chose this book because of the friendship between the Palestinian man and Jewish woman, and how it developed despite their differing views.

Wellendorf said she was proud to see “The Lemon Tree” as the all-school read.

“There was a part of my heart that thought ‘Yup, that’s Duchesne’,” she laughed. “Let’s not make assumptions, let’s learn about it.”