| A WARM WELCOME TO OUR VISITORS from Overseas |
The International Department maintains ties with former seminar participants
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Andreas and Barbara Paul (center) from Austria and friends during recent visit to Israel
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Apart from the many groups that have participated in International Department seminars this summer we have also been high up on the ‘to do’ list of folks from overseas on private visits to Israel.
Guests have come a-calling wanting to catch up on the latest campus news and hear more about developments along the security fence/green line in the Wadi Ara region.
Amongst those we hosted this summer were Andreas and Barbara Paul from Austria.
Andreas has been to Givat Haviva a number of times with groups in the past and this year whilst on a private visit with his wife Barbara and four friends, the Paul’s and company asked for a tour of Wadi Ara and update on the activities of Givat Haviva.
The Austrian guests were most interested to hear of the visit to the campus a short time beforehand of Barbara Prammer, the President of the Austrian National Council and Hannah M. Lessing, Secretary-General of the National Fund of the Austrian Republic for Victims of National Socialism. Both women were well known to the Austrian guests, some of whom had met with them in the past within the framework of their educational activities in Austria.
We also welcomed a young lady from Melbourne, Australia – Jordy Silverstein - who had heard about Givat Haviva from friends back home who had participated in seminars in the past.
Two of her friends, Emily Bock and Kate Rosenberg belong to the Habonim-Dror movement in Melbourne and attended Givat Haviva seminars during their gap year in Israel at the Jerusalem center for youth leadership. Last year when visiting Israel, Kate and her parents also came to visit and undertook a tour of Wadi Ara with one of our veteran staff members.
Jordy Silverstein is a PhD Candidate of the History Department at the University of Melbourne. For her thesis she is looking at Holocaust education in Jewish schools in Melbourne, New York and Israel, and in particular the ways in which women are taught about this subject.
“I am examining questions of Jewish identity in those locations, and the ways in which those identities are gendered,” Jordy wrote in her original email request to come a-calling during her short summer stint of research in Israel.
“Questions of Zionism and the actions of the Israeli state have become quite integral to my thesis,” she also wrote and mentioning that she thought it would invaluable to her research to be able to spend time at Givat Haviva and also participate in a tour of the region.
Jordy joined a group of American students for the day at our invitation, participating in lectures and a tour of the Wadi Ara area and visit to Barta’a village.
Upon her return to Australia Jordy emailed her thanks for offering the opportunity to join us for a day.
“You all gave me so much information. I have been sharing it with everyone I talk to about my trip – most people respond to the story of Barta’a with incredulity and talk about how absurd, and oppressive, the situation is,” writes Jordy.
“It’s fantastic to be able to pass the information on and participate in that education – so many of us have very little idea about what is going on.
“I learned a lot and greatly appreciate it.”
Other guests from overseas have come from Germany – again friends of folks who have been connected with Givat Haviva in the past and have powerful memories of their experiences through seminars – and others from Britain, the latter having read an article about Givat Haviva in a local newspaper in northern England.
One of our guests from Berlin, Germany - visiting Israel not for the first time – was most interested in the co-existence education programs of Givat Haviva, not surprising being as she was involved in the absorption of new immigrants in her own country and her friend a social worker dealing with an immigrant population in the main.
A number of young people who originally visited Israel within the framework of student group tours also came a-calling whilst on private visits to the country.
The feedback from all our guests has been tremendously encouraging and hopefully their word of mouth will spur even more of their family members, friends and acquaintances to put Givat Haviva on their list of ‘things to do’ if and when planning a visit to the country.
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