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Published: November 27th 2007
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Machtesh.
And Ashraf. A week has past since our last trip. Apologizes for not writing sooner, but I have been on two (!) field trips since and papers are due and well its that time in the semester.
And I'm loving it.
I'll give you a quick overview of my four days touring the Negev, visiting the sights, learning the environmental issues and how they affect the communities there.
We leave Ketura early early Wednesday for Machtesh Ramon, a crater north west of our home. We arrived at the crater, drank coffee, learned a bit about the geology, and played some games. We spent the rest of that morning hiking through the machtesh. A highlight was teaching dahn mu do on top of a hill, with the whole machtesh below us (talk about energy!).
After a series of lectures at S'de Boker (the Ben Gurion Midrasha), we arrived for the evening at one of the touristy Bedouin tents for dinner and sleep. I felt as if we were on a birthright trip ;-). In fact, when I spoke to Julia about the tent she said: "Wait! Did it have a big tent where you have dinner on the floor and
Presentations.
Sam and Ye'ela. they serve you tea? And there is a big fenced area with camels in it? And it was in the middle of the desert? It was probably the same one I went to!" I laughed. There are plenty of bedouin tents that fit that description :-).
On Thursday we visited the dreaded Ramat Hovav, the countries hazardous waste dump. We spent the next few days visiting the nearby villages and settlements that are affected by Ramat Hovav's pollution.
We went to Darijat, a Arab community that was just recently recognized, and one of the first of its kind to have solar powered electricity. Although water was once scare, they now get water trucked in from Arad. The children put on a song and dance performance (which our Arab students were not shy to join), and then we drank tea in the town's cave :-). The Arab world is quite small (as is the Jewish world)... we found that Amer, one of my co-students, has distant family also in this village.
That night we stayed in Yerucham, a small Jewish settlement near Ramat Hovav. They settlement is mainly Sephardi Jews who were "tricked" into settling in Yerucham. We
Baraa and Hadas
Sumo wrestling. were treated to dinner by home hospitality by a small woman who spoke Hebrew, Arabic, and French. She told us how when her family arrived from Morocco in the early 50s, her father told the "cab driver" (who was actually a man from the Jewish agency, but how were they to know?) to take them to Akko. The driver drove them to broken down, gated and barbed wired Yerucham, and when they protested (this didn't look like the promise land!) the driver took them to Beer Sheva, and then back to Yerucham, where he dropped them off on the other side of the road. Such is the story of many who arrived unbeknownst to the poor and struggling town of Yerucham.
The next day we visited Wadi al Naam, one of the unrecongized Bedouin community across the street from Ramat Hovav. The situation of the unrecognized communities is very sad... they are not allowed to settle in the part of Israel where they want to settle, and the government wants them to settle somewhere else, so they are left in between, living illegally in the most polluted area of the country. They have no municipal services (water, electricity, garbage
collection), and live very poorly.
We were given a tour of their community, and enjoyed lunch and tea in a small tent. We also watched the women weaving beautiful rugs. But the broken down tents and the stories of sickness from Ramat Hovav's pollution was very sad. Despite this, the children had lots of energy, were very creative and smart. Its the poverty, someone said to me. The children have to be clever to survive.
We spent Shabbat with Alumnai at the Ben Gurion campus at Sde Boker. Again, wonderful dunes. The desert really feels endless.
In other news... I spent a day last week at a program called Sulhita, which brings together Arabs and Jews from all over Israel to the desert for a week. A few of us taught an environmental program and we all sang. The afternoon was lovely.
Apart from that... sand and sunsets and pink dunes and full moons and warm fleeces and tea with nana and two spoonfuls of sugar, this is what I do.
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