At-risk children and youth from the Carmiel Children’s Village enjoyed a day of summer activities as part of the KKL-JNF Youth and Education Division’s annual program, thanks to a donation from KKL Switzerland. The activities included, educational games with KKL-JNF counselors, visits to KKL-JNF Field and Forest Centers and hikes in nature.
Carmiel Children’s Village. Photo: Lilah Weiss
Summer vacation has already begun, and summer camps and other activities are in full swing. The KKL-JNF Youth and Education Division was also ready, with its myriad of its outdoor activities. Among the many and diverse groups to enjoy KKL-JNF activities was the Carmiel Children’s Village. About 120 pupils from the village, together with about 45 high school students visiting from the UK, met on July 18 for a day of team building, experiencing nature and getting to know the land. The young people from England joined the children’s activities in the frame work of the partnership between the United Jewish Israel Appeal of Britain and the Carmiel Village. The day formed a part of their three-week visit to Israel together with Tour Israel.
“We came to the village today in order to do activities with the children, using the KKL-JNF Education Mobiles,” said KKL-JNF counselor Yohai Adler. “Today we have some rather difficult and not simple tasks, which will teach the groups amazing things like cooperation, creating team spirit, and leadership, all thanks to some relatively simple games.”
Over the course of the day, the children were divided into groups according to age, with the British and Israeli children mixing together. For the Carmiel Village children, this was an opportunity to speak some English.
The groups went from one KKL-JNF activity station to another, and participated in fun quizzes. The children learned about KKL-JNF by means of a fun using the KKL-JNF logo, the Israeli flag and a tree. By means of the logo, made up of the colors green (for ecology), blue (for water) and brown (for communities and agriculture) they learned about KKL-JNF’s history and its achievements over its117 years of activity. By means of the Israeli flag they learned about Israel and the importance of KKL-JNF’s work for strengthening and developing the country. By means of the tree they learned about the earth and how KKL-JNF works to protect the environment.
At the conclusion of the activities with the KKL-JNF counselors, the pupils took part in filming an international video clip. The children were divided into groups and created forms and words with their bodies that were filmed from above by a drone, and they received a nice souvenir from the filming.
This was not the first meeting between the children from the Carmiel Village and KKL-JNF counselors. For the past four years, KKL-JNF counselors have been leading team-building and educational outdoor activities for the children from the Carmiel Village. This year, activities were more extensive, thanks to a contribution by friends of KKL-JNF from Switzerland. Besides the activities in the village, the children went for outings in the vicinity as part of the activities of the KKL-JNF Field and Forest Center in Tzippori.
The youth village is part of Hamifal – A Child’s Home Away from Home, which operates fourteen villages throughout Israel. The village provides a family-like environment for approximately 200 children from troubled homes, along with educational support, enrichment activities and after-school assistance. The goal is to enable the children to grow up in a supportive environment and to realize their potential. The village is built in an open style and looks like a small city, with expansive green areas, playgrounds and sports fields. The Carmiel Children’s Village has been active since 1978 under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, and it is the largest Hamifal village. It accepts children from the entire northern region as far as Netanya. The village also has apartments for soldiers, in order to accompany village graduates during their army service and up to age 26.
“A child gets everything they need from us,” said Yoav Kigel, the village’s educational director since 2015. “The children are here all year long, they live in a framework of family units, and go home once every two weeks. Every family unit is comprised of a married couple that raises their own children and another 12 children of varying ages from the village. All the daily activity in the family unit is just like at home – meals, sleeping, showers, everything. During the school year the children go to regular schools in the city of Carmiel. After school is over they are given enrichment activities in the center – afterschool activities, tutoring, therapy, a petting zoo and more.”
As far as Yoav is concerned, the connection with KKL-JNF seems obvious. “We are in the middle of a forest grove in a very green and beautiful area. KKL-JNF has many amazing educational projects that we are more than happy to take advantage of, and the cooperation between us is wonderful. This year, it’s even stronger than it’s been in the past. There have been activities all year long, on Pesach and on Tu Bishvat, but the highpoint is now, during the summer, when there’s a great deal of activities.”
Besides the parents who live in the village, there are other volunteers who are involved in the project – young women post-high school doing National Service and pre-military service volunteers. The young women are integrated into the various groups as part of the informal activities. They assist the counselors, help with homework and are part of the family.
“I decided to do a year of National Service volunteering in order to take a break from the race that we call life. I wanted to go to a place where I could learn about myself and what I am capable of, what I can give, and to open up to new things,” said Neta Shumeli, who is volunteering for a year of National Service before her military service. “This year has been insane, you learn so much about yourself and what your red lines are and what you can do. Somehow I ended up here, but I’m really happy that I did. The work is hard but satisfying, the feeling that you connected to one of the pupils or helped somehow, that’s something that stays with you.”