I wasn't satisfied with any of these options. If I was going to take a gap year and go spend 9 months in Israel I wanted it to count. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Garin Tzedek brings Young Judaea to Year Course. It embodies the Young Judaean belief in peer leadership, tikkun olam, Jewish identity and community.
And so I couldn't be happier when I say that Garin Tzedek is off to a running start here in Arad. Unlike during our time in Bat Yam, Garin Tzedek was limited to volunteering a couple nights a week at the school in Tel Aviv. Here in Arad, there is a huge Sudanese community (conservatively estimated at 800). Most moved to Arad in the last 2 years. There are a lot of young children, single parents and young men. There are also a lot of conflicts and tension with the local Russian community and Arad municipality. They have houses but that's about it. Landlords will refuse to renew contracts, forcing families to constantly relocate, never being able to call somewhere home. Their status in Israel is questionable at best. The majority who can actually find work do so at the Dead Sea hotels in the jobs that no one else wants. The children who go to school are too far behind for their grade level and are not offered additional help. They are bullied and discriminated against in school. Many of the children do not have any form of health care.
My volunteering placement by the staff is labeled as "Darfur". The Year Course staff have been great in accommodating us and have allowed approximately 4 of us to make Garin Tzedek our full time volunteering. That is to say that we create our own schedules, where and how we want to work, and what it is we focus on. The first couple weeks before winter break were a lot about planning and meeting and organizing and feeling out the dynamics of our group and the community's needs. We're now well into the month of January and here's what we've got to show for it:
- Volunteers working 3 times a week at several of the Ganim (nurseries), assisting the women who work there and playing with the children
- English classes every Sunday and Tuesday night. The first hour for children, the second for adults. We bring in enough Year Course volunteers each session to very often have one-on-one sessions.
- Sports Night: every Monday night Year Coursers and Sudanese get run around and play together. We've only had one night so far but we had between 15-20 Sudanese kids there and around 7 Year Coursers. Everyone had a lot of fun.
- Garin Tzedek runs a fun peulah for the entire Year Course section every Tuesday night. Activities so far have included: messy Olympics, fear pong and the dating game.
- Several Year Coursers have been going around to Sudanese families, getting the opportunity to sit down and talk with them about what it is they need.
- We are cleaning up and making a room in the Industrial Zone that the community rents usable for classes, meetings, social gatherings etc.
- Other projects we are trying to get off the ground are an "Everything" drive (because the community needs everything from clothing to school supplies to blankets) and a Mural project where Year Coursers and Sudanese work together to paint murals over graffiti walls in Arad.
- The long term project we hope to start is trying to get health insurance for the children who are not currently covered.
- We are also in the beginning stages of planning the Garin Tzedek tiyul for this trimester. (Each section will host a shabbaton over the course of the year, first trimester Section 3 had the honors. If anyone has any ideas for places to stay let me know.)
Here we are with the opportunity to really make a difference on the ground. Raising money and writing educational peulot back at home when I worked on the National Mazkirut promoting this cause was very different than physically seeing our efforts come to life. When I said earlier that Year Course is what you make of it... this is what I'm making of it.
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