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Young Arab and Jewish Israelis Escape to a Camp Getaway
Marta, a 16-year-old girl living on an urban kibbutz in Hadar, Haifa, is feeling the devastating effects of war on her family, friends, and hometown. "When the rockets first hit, I told my parents I'd rather die from one of Nasrallah's rockets than go in a shelter. But when a rocket landed on the next block, we dropped whatever we were doing and ran to the closest shelter."
Hadar is the poorest neighborhood in Haifa, where 81% of its 44,000 residents are immigrants from the FSU. More than 10,280 children and youth live in the city. Ashalim's "Better Together" program offers Marta, a Christian Arab teenager, and many of her fellow youths some protection and respite. She left for the city of Holon on a bus in a mixed group of Jewish and Arab peers and their counselors. "When Yael from the Better Together program called to ask if I could go to the camp in Holon, I immediately agreed since this is not the way to spend a summer vacation. My parents asked for my younger sister to go too, and we will now be together for a few days." The Better Together program, which has been working to coordinate services for children- and youth-at-risk in Haifa, has recently shifted its efforts. A few weeks ago the Better Together staff was gearing up for intense summer programs to help children with little or no familial support to avoid living on the streets and to keep them in a constructive environment. However, in light of recent events, the program has launched into emergency mode to reach these young people over the past 11 days. Program staff is instead working to find children and youth who live on the streets and bring them to safe havens, keeping them occupied in the bomb shelters and arranging for many to attend camps in safer areas of the country. Irena, a 16-year-old who immigrated to Israel four years ago, recounted her experiences: "At first I did not think that you really had to go to the bomb shelters. But once people were injured, I realized I had no choice. At the next siren, my mother, grandmother and I went to find the closest shelter, and Lisa, a volunteer from the urban kibbutz that I know through Better Together programs, told us where to go. The shelter was packed with people and the little children were crying. But gradually everyone calmed down and the time passed. My mother is glad that I am going to a fun camp. I hope that she will be alright with my grandmother, who is really scared."On July 21, 96 clients of Better Together left for the Tzipori Center in the Jerusalem hills for a five-day reprieve, thanks to the generous support of the Steinhardt Foundation. One could already see signs of relief on many faces as they boarded the buses. Yet only two hours later, three rockets fell in the same area where the buses boarded, causing substantial damage to property and injuring 20 people. Most families will go to shelters upon their return from Jerusalem, feeling it safer than returning home. Better Together sister cities are also coming to the aid of their counterparts in Haifa. On July 23, a group of 15 members of one extended immigrant family from the Caucuses Mountains departed for Kiryat Malachi, where local volunteers have arranged for their hospitality, including activities for the children. The following day, another group of Hadar children joined children from the Hatikva neighborhood of Tel Aviv for a day of fun at the Memadion water park. Members of the community, supportive friends and effective programs like Better Together are reaching out to those in need in the face of rising violence and aggression, in particular in Northern Israel. "Now everyone feels a responsibility to know where their friends and neighbors are," Marta explained. "Now more than ever." July 2006 |
