As spring turns to summer and the colorful beds of wild flowers begin to wilt, the May seminar participants were able to enjoy what nature had to offer before the relentless summer heat causes it to wilt and disappear until autumn swings around.  Weatherwise, this year May turned out to be a real pick ‘n mix as far as the weather was concerned – a true roller coaster of everything.  Showers, even flooding at one point, sand storms and high winds to days that were downright chilly and toward the end of the month an almost unbearable day or two of sultry heat followed by yet another good dousing of rain bringing us closer to official summer – June.

May, 2011 brought over 200 high-school and college students, American 8th graders and a number of groups of German educators and journalists as well as 50 young people from all over the world volunteering on kibbutzim to International Department seminars of one or two days duration.

 We continue to live up to our name of being ‘international’ with the age group of participating groups stretching from early teens right through to retired professionals.

Lecturers and guides Dr. David Mendelsohn, Lydia Aisenberg and Inon Tagner were kept on their toes giving talks and guiding our guests around the Wadi Ara region and divided by the Green Line village of Barta’a and Amir Gara, an Israeli Muslim lawyer who studied law in Britain and the United States, also met with some of the groups over the course of the month.

A new element was also introduced this month and that was a visit to the forest of Harish a few minutes drive away from our campus.  It was here that German educators and journalists met with two local activists fighting to save the Harish forest from bulldozers threatening to level a huge area for a government backed housing project to bring 150,000 religious Jewish Israelis to the area.

 The month kicked off with …

Alexander Muss High School in Israel students from Los Angeles interact with Palestinian youths and children in East Barta’a and walk the Green Line in West Barta’a and below:-

Bundezentrale walk the streets of East and West Barta’a whilst out and about in the Wadi Ara/Katzir region.  An email from group leader Hanna Huhtasaari later complimented the staff on an interesting and important day greatly enjoyed by the group

You are here!  Lydia pointing out to group where they are – Katzir Observation platform – on the map and right: students gather for photos on the ‘Green Line’ running across the main road of Barta’a with East Barta’a (nowadays under the Palestinian Authority and an Area B) behind them. “This is absolutely amazing,” said one of the students as they were led around the village.  “I never thought we would get to do something like this on a Givat Haviva seminar, I actually thought we would probably have a boring day just sitting in a classroom.”

Gathering for a group picture outside the Givat Haviva Jewish-Arab Center for Peace and International Department on campus, students and staff of the San Diego Jewish Academy smile for the camera.

Left: Ricky Pamenski (18) and fellow students in Barta’a and right: the San Diego students walk the streets of the village with local Palestinian factory worker who explains about his daily realities to students.

Forty-two students who recently graduated the San Diego Jewish Academy and spent five weeks together travelling in Poland and Israel participated in a day seminar at Givat Haviva a few days before returning home and going their separate ways to colleges and universities in America or taking gap year programs in Israel.

Accompanied by Israeli tour guide and educator Itai Capsouto, the students met with Lydia Aisenberg and Amir Gara before undertaking a tour to Katzir and Barta’a.

“We spent 10 days in Poland before we came to Israel,” explained 18 year-old Ricky Pamenski who will shortly be starting economics and business studies at Miami University, Ohio.  “During our time in Poland we visited a large number of sites of Jewish interest and of course Auschwitz-Birkenau.  We were guided by a non-Jewish Polish lady who was excellent and also had long conversations with our Polish security guard.  Coming to Israel and touring the country for 3 weeks has been an amazing experience as we have been dealing with so much history and now touring around all these interesting places like Barta’a, unforgettable,” said Ricky.

Volunteers from Kibbutz Ein Hashofet at the Givat Haviva Institute campus during a two-day seminar for 54 young people from 19 different countries volunteering at 10 kibbutzim in Israel

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Back row: Simon Lohse (Germany), Adam Blackburn (USA), Jeremy Averbuj (France), Leonard Deage (Switzerland.

Front row: Tzion Yemini (Sweden), Gina Verdzoto (Ecuador) Diana Valladares (Ecudor)

Overseas volunteers working on kibbutzim visiting the divided village of Barta’a during a tour of the Wadi Ara region with the Givat Haviva International Department

The volunteers came from the following countries:

USA, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Ecuador, France, Brazil, Croatia, UK, China, Poland, Taiwan, Canada, Denmark, Colombia, South Africa, Chile, Holland, S. Korea

Working on the following kibbutzim in Israel:

Ein Hashofet, Samar, Ketora, Grofit, Ein Hashlosha, Reim, Mitzpe Shalem, Nir Oz, Geva and Eilot

The 2-day program included an introduction to Givat Haviva and surrounding region; a visit to Moreshet Holocaust Research and Documentation Center on campus; meeting with a speaker from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Israeli folk dancing; dealing with the subject of Israel’s Arab citizens and the Palestinians; Borders, boundaries, lines drawn and not drawn; and seeing the region from the Katzir observation platform and a visit to Barta’a village where the young lady photographed below purchased a rather large watermelon from one of the local Palestinian vendors.

As the seminar drew to a close, many of the volunteers expressed how important it had been for them to participate in such a seminar and would highly recommend to their fellow volunteers to also attend such seminar if they are offered the chance in the future.

The seminar is organized by Aya Sagi of the Kibbutz Programs Center in Tel Aviv together with the staff of the International Department at Givat Haviva.

A SAFE DELIVERY!

Water melons of Barta’a

The second group of Bundezcentrale this month but with a slightly different program.  The journalists and educators started their day program in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek with Lydia dealing with the 100 years of kibbutz, especially the 90 years of her own kibbutz community.  Visiting various areas of the kibbutz, the group also met with kibbutz born Dafna Govrin, curator of the kibbutz in-house museum seen in the photos below.

The group then embarked on a tour of the outskirts of Umm el-Fahm, the Shaked settlement area of the northern West Bank and visited Barta’a before arriving in Givat Haviva to meet with Mohammad Darawshe.

The participants were:

Erkan Arikan, Editor, ARD aktuell, Hamburg

Werner Gustav Binder, Director of studies, Der Heiligenhof, Bad Kissingen

Gabi Gumbel, Freelance Editor, Abendakademie Mannheim, Mannheim

Andreas Hetzer, Teacher for special assignments, Universität Siegen, Siegen

Jens Hirschfeld, Office Manager, Weltweiser - der unabhänigige Bildungsberatungsdienst, Bonn

Ansgar Hocke, Journalist, editor, moderator, Employee Committee, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin

Thomas Kielgaß, Teacher, Förderschule Wernigerode, Wernigerrode 

Bernd Moltzan, Public Relations, Die Wille GmbH, Berlin

Jutta Müller, Editor / Journalist, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, heute Journal, Mainz

Rainer Niebuhr, Managing Director / off duty, student union Dortmund, Dortmund

Meike Rademacher, Editor, C.C. Buchners – Schulbuchverlag, Bamberg 

Ulf Saballus, Postgraduate Student, Leibniz Universität, Hannover

Sylvia Schaible, Manager, Grün-Alternative Liste Bamberg, Bamberg

Dr. Martin Schirdewan, Researcher, Deutscher Bundestag, MdB – Büro, Berlin

Ulrike Schleicher, Editor, Südwest Presse, Ulm

Silke Schmidt, Freelance Journalist, ARD Studio Brüssel, Brüssel

Uwe Schmidt, Editor, Hans-Böckler-Foundation, Düsseldorf

Vera Schulze-Ferchland, High School Teacher, Lessinggymnasium, Dortmund                     

Birgit Seybold, Journalist and Editor, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Mainz

Brigitte Sorg, Manager of an office of a member of parliament, Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin

Sonja Wielow, Editor, ARD Aktuell, Hamburg  

GROUP LEADERS:

Waltraud Arenz, Director, Israel Study Tours, Federal Agency for Civic education, Bonn

Daniel Kraft, Director, Dept. of Communication, Federal Agency for Civic education, Bonn

Jörg Pieper, Director, Administration, Federal Agency for Civic education, Bonn

Seventy North American university students touring Israel with Hasbara Fellowships (Aish Hatorah) spent a few hours on campus and visiting the Amir mountain range.  The banners on the front of the bus said it all – inspiring travel and an inspiring experience for International Department staff Lydia and David Miron who worked with the students.

SO, yet another month bites the dust as the saying goes and we look forward to continuing to work successfully with the organizations that see a seminar in Givat Haviva as a ‘must-do’ for their groups when in Israel.

The International Department