KKL-JNF Educators Study Tour participants from Australia spent the seventh day of their trip learning and visiting schools and educational institutions for the benefit of Jewish and Bedouin residents of the Western Negev.
With the goal of experiencing the present-day reality in Israel, the Australian Educators Study Tour devoted a day to the communities on the Gaza Strip border and the western Negev, learning about education and community in this region.
Amit Vaitz, Kibbutz Nir Am community coordinator, took the educators for a tour around the kibbutz and described how they manage during wartime and during periods of quiet. She told them how she couldn’t make it with her children in time to the bomb shelter, and how she had no choice other than to lay them down on the floor and protect them with her own body. In another instance, she was playing hide and seek with her three year-old son when the siren suddenly sounded. “Those were the longest twenty seconds of my entire life, until I found him in back of a bush crying.”
The homes of the local residents are barely a kilometer away from the Gaza border, and the kibbutz’s fields touch the border fence. On the outskirts of the kibbutz, an
open classroom for environmental studies was erected together with an appreciation center for
JNF Australia, which was partner to a number of projects in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council and in the Gaza Strip border region. Just a few dozen meters from where the group was standing, a tunnel dug by Hamas was discovered by a kibbutz farmer harvesting wheat.
Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council Resource Development Director
Tzeela Horenstein lives in Moshav Netiv Ha’asarah, about 500 meters away from the Gaza border. “We’ve grown accustomed to life on the border, and missiles falling have become part of our daily life. We’re always in a state of high alert. I have a two year-old baby, and in spite of the situation I am convinced that this is the perfect place to raise children, because of the silence, the green surroundings and the value-oriented social education the community is based on.”
Noga Golst, a member of Kibbutz Miflasim, had recently returned from spending three years living in Australia. “A little while after we arrived in Sydney, during a lightning storm, my eight year-old daughter began to cry and said, ‘Mommy, you promised that there wouldn’t be any more missiles here.”
A few months ago, a new threat joined the all-too-familiar threats of rockets and terror tunnels – the launching of
incendiary kites and balloons from across the border, which caused tremendous environmental damage and many
fires in forests, agricultural fields and open spaces. KKL-JNF Forest Engineer Robert Sitbon described the battle waged by KKL-JNF workers against the flames, as they worked around the clock trying to prevent fires that break out near homes, and are now embarking on the long process of
forest rehabilitation. “Many years will pass until the forests are restored to their previous state,” he said. Study tour participants also got to see a special 4x4 KKL-JNF firefighting truck, which is a very important tool in fighting forest fires.
Gaza Border Communities – Social Life and Pioneering Spirit
When you ask the people who live near the Gaza Border what moved them to live here, the excellent educational system is always one of the main reasons. The Australian educators learned about the Sha’ar Hanegev education system and participated in conversation and content workshops for all age levels.
The educators broke up into three separate groups, according to their fields of activity, and learned about educational methods that address current educational challenges. At the conclusion of the meeting, everyone met in the green open classroom in the elementary school -built with the help of JNF Australia- and they shared their experiences with great emotion.
“The visit to the schools was an eye-opening experience, with many inspiring ideas that we’ll be able to take with us to our schools back home,” said Julie Zhang, a teacher from Moriah College in Sydney. It’s impressive to see how the teachers here encourage the children to take responsibility and strengthen their ability to face challenges. These are important tools for every child, any place in the world.”
Desert Stars: Advancing Bedouin Society
With the aim of exposing the educators to yet another aspect of Israeli education, the mission visited the Desert Stars Institute for Young Bedouins in Kibbutz Ruhama. The institute provides its participants with tools for life, such as navigation skills, familiarity with Israel and leadership skills, along with preparing them for academic studies.
“The Bedouins in the
Negev are at the bottom of the social ladder,” said
Matan Yaffe, the director general and founder of Desert Stars. “The future of the Negev is tied to the future of the Bedouins who live in it, and if we are interested in growth and stability, they cannot be ignored.”
Harry Triguboff, one of the most outstanding friends of JNF Australia, supports the Desert Stars NGO.
Shalom Normann, Executive Director of the Triguboff Foundation, said to all present: “We need to look at reality in a realistic manner, and to admit that what we are doing here is merely a drop in the sea. It is our obligation to help the Bedouin residents, but of course, they are responsible for taking their fate in their own hands.”
In addition to the Institute, the Desert Stars Association also operates a high school for Bedouin students.
Ahlam El-Sana, the school principal, described how she grew up in harsh, impoverished conditions in the Bedouin town of Lakia. “Boys in the Bedouin sector have more opportunities, but I decided to be smarter than the boys and succeed more than them in my studies,” she said. “I believe that opportunity comes to you, but if it doesn’t, then you have to pursue it. The school is not a workplace for me, but rather a place where I can be an example that anything is possible.”
The members of the mission divided up into groups for meetings and discussions with students and graduates of the institute in order to hear from them about their lives and their studies.
“Participating in Desert Stars is the most significant gift I have ever received in life,” said
Samy Ashwi, a graduate of the institute. “Being here expanded my horizons, changed my way of thinking and increased my belief in my ability to succeed.”
The ANZAC Memorial Centre in Beersheva
The spirit of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in the battle to liberate Beersheva serves as an example for future generations. The ANZAC Museum in Beersheva commemorates the story of these Australian and New Zealand soldiers in the British Army, who played an integral role in the British conquest of Beersheva during World War I. The museum, which was built with the support of JNF Australia, includes exhibits of pictures, movies, documents, personal effects and letters of soldiers that tell the personal story of the fighters.
The delegates watched an informational movie while slowly travelling upwards in a glass elevator. The doors opened to a balcony from which they could see the British Military Cemetery, in which 174 Australian soldiers, 31 New Zealand soldiers and more than 1,000 British soldiers are buried.
William James, the great-grandfather of Yvonne Lewis from the Mount Scopus School in Melbourne, fought in the ANZAC brigades. “He and my great-grandmother were a couple in love, but he went to war and never returned,” she related with great emotion. “They weren’t famous, just a simple couple who was in love. My great-grandmother’s heart was broken when she heard that he was killed in battle. After his death, they found a boomerang among his personal possessions, which was a symbol of his hope to return home.”
The members of the mission held a short ceremony in the cemetery and sang the Australian and Israeli anthems. The strong connection between Australia and Beersheva, which had already begun during World War I more than one hundred years before, continues still to this day.
Educational Enrichment Tools from the KKL-JNF Education Division
In activity workshops, the educators got to experience a diversity of educational materials and content modules fashioned according to the KKL-JNF Education Division’s Overseas Department ‘Thinking, Feeling, Acting’ method. The practical toolbox that they will take back home with them will be useful in activities with their students, each according to their particular educational field.
“The educators are the link in the chain that connects between Israel and the Diaspora. By means of the learning process at the workshops and the unique toolbox they received, we are building a network of links and a way of working together over the school year. The educational programs are internalized in an enjoyable and experiential manner. They focus on a number of topics that will help teachers to connect their students to Jewish identity, Zionism and love of Israel,” said KKL-JNF Overseas Education Department Director Hani Dassa.
“This trip has provided me with an opportunity for in-depth learning about Israel,” said Debra Karo, a teacher at the Carmel School in Perth. “I don’t know why, but I’m so excited every time I arrive in Israel. There are simply no words to describe the importance of this trip for me. I discovered that KKL-JNF is pretty much everywhere, and has literally built Israel for the benefit of all its inhabitants.”