The new bike park recently inaugurated in
Mitzpe Ramon draws dozens of local children every day. The park’s central feature is the pump track - a circular route of rollers (small banks) and bermed corners that cyclists can navigate using strategically timed body movements (‘pumping’) instead of pedaling.
“This park is an outstanding example of how local residents’ pride and sense of belonging can be strengthened,” said Mitzpe Ramon Mayor
Roni Marom. “The park is located centrally in an area of town surrounded by magnificent views. People from all sectors of the population can meet up here and join in sporting and social activities that bring them together as members of a united community.”
This remarkable route was constructed with the support of KKL-JNF’s Friends in Sweden in memory of
Mietek Grocher, a KKL-JNF Friend and a great lover of Israel. “When I come here to visit I can see my father standing before me, with a broad smile on his face,” said his daughter
Miriam Grocher-Schildt, who had arrived for a tour of the park. “He was always full of the joys of life, and he loved children. After all, children are the future of the State of Israel and of the entire Jewish People.”
Mietek Grocher was a Holocaust survivor who devoted the rest of his life to telling young people in Sweden the story of his survival. As an enthusiastic Zionist, he supported a great many projects all over Israel before he died a year and a half ago, at the age of ninety-one. The Mitzpe Ramon Pump Track, his final venture, was completed with the help of Friends of
KKL Sweden.
“Mietek donated to a great many projects in Israel, and to those that benefited children in particular,” said Director of KKL-JNF’s Scandinavian Desk
Liri Eitan-Drai. “He gave so much of himself so that others could have a good life in Israel. Thanks to donations like these from people who care about what happens in Israel, KKL-JNF can continue to create and develop.”
While watching the children cycle along at dizzying speed, their laughter and shouts of delight echoing around the park,
Miriam Grocher-Schildt reminisced about her childhood: “My father taught me to ride a bike when I was a girl of four of five. Because of the Holocaust, he never had the opportunity to enjoy his own childhood, and he always wanted other children to take pleasure in everything that he himself never had.”
Apart from thrilling local children, the pump track also contributes significantly to the local economy and its developing tourism trade. “Mitzpe Ramon is an important focal point for tourists, and the pump track is a vital addition,” explained Mayor Roni Marom. “These wide expanses and desert landscapes attract a lot of cyclists to our area from both Israel and abroad. The pump track will help to draw them into the town.”
Miriam’s husband
Johan Schildt is the editor of Mietek Grocher’s autobiography. “Here, there’s no boring monument in memory of the dead,” he said. “Instead there’s a place that’s brimming with life, and I have no doubt that Mietek would be happy to come and visit. We love the desert landscape and the peace of this area.”
Mayor Marom spoke of the challenges presented by life in a small, remote desert community: “If you want to live in the desert, you have to be
creative and innovative. Every initiative we promote here has a sense of pioneering primacy about it. We regard ourselves as Zionist pioneers inspired by the expanses around us.”
As the visit ended, Mayor Marom thanked his guests warmly and emphasized with great appreciation: “This wonderful pump-track initiative could not have come into being without the partnership of KKL-JNF and its Friends in Sweden.”