Hope of a Better Chance

Each time Atef came home on leave from the Israeli army he grew more concerned about the Druze teenagers in his lower Galilee village of Mr'ar. "They just don't know what they want to achieve in life," he says, "or how to achieve it."

Statistics confirm Atef's observation: barely 39 percent of Druze 12th graders, compared to 52 percent of Jews, achieve the matriculation certificate that is so crucial in Israel's job market. When it comes to university entry, the gap is wider still: at 22 percent, Druze meet admission requirements at only half the rate of Jews. And this directly affects their future: only 37 percent of working age Druze work or are looking for work, the lowest rate of any religious group in Israel.

Yet Atef beat the odds. After completing his army service, Atef earned a social work degree and returned to Mr'ar as a youth worker, determined to help his fellow Druze enjoy the success he has. But with poor and overcrowded schools, few productive outlets including playgrounds for youngsters, and fragmented social services, helping youth in a "village" with thousands of residents at times overwhelmed even Atef's considerable energies.

So when JDC professionals came to Mr'ar to discuss ways of helping the Druze, Atef saw a ray of hope. "That visit," he recalls, "prompted all of us - school principals, youth workers, local government welfare staff, community center workers - to sit down together to figure out what needed to be done. It's hard to believe, but we'd never done that before." Nor have the 17 other Druze communities like Mr'ar in northern Israel that share these challenges.

The JDC intervention plan that emerged from these consultations offered the focus and direction Atef had looked for. "This initiative will help us do what we've struggled with up to now," he says. "And that's give our community's troubled youngsters a real chance in life."