Hello!
Well Kaveret has officially begun! The chanichim are all moved into their houses
in Akko and Karmiel and messima has begun.
The general weekly schedule these days for the chanichim involves three
days of messima in their respective volunteering places (Sunday, Tuesday and
Wednesday), one day of Yom Kvusta as always (Monday), and one day called Yom
Kaveret (Thursday), where the chanichim have peulot run for them about the
society they are living in and how they interact with it. These days’ topics include learning about the
history and present of the city they live in, learning about the socio-economic
stratification of Israeli society and how that affects the people in it and
learning about the conflict and its complex intricacies that are woven into the
fabric of society. There is also the
occasional time to just learn how to function in this new environment of living
in a house together in a city, such as cooking competitions and the like.
Since we last checked in, the chanichim had their Winter
Chofesh! It was relatively uneventful
(blog-wise, at least…), but since getting back they are slowly acclimating to
their new environments. The most
exciting aspect of Kaveret is, of course, their messimot – the volunteering
work they do which makes up the bulk of their week’s events. Messimot – which literally means “missions” –
are the chanichim’s chance to put into action the values and ideas they
developed during Boneh. The chanichim
are actively participating in Israeli society and through the framework of
teaching English and running after-school programming, they have the
opportunity to really get to know Israeli youth and educate them towards a better
future for all of Israel. Messimot have
a Melave, or “chaperone”, who helps them enter into the places they are in,
helps them develop educational materials, and educates the chanichim themselves
on what it means to be working hands-on in Israeli society. The Melave is from Hanoar HaOved veHaLomed,
our sister movement, and they have experience in the places that the chanichim
are working in.
The Messimot range from working in local schools in Akko
and Karmiel, to working in boarding schools for at-risk youth, to working in
Arab villages in the local Galil region.
Often we have developed partnerships in the volunteering places over the
course of many years and the students look forward to when the Habonim people
come to work with them.
The other news to report about is that the chanichim have
begun the process to prepare for their journey to Poland. The process is over the course of a couple
months, learning about the Holocaust, about the youth movements in Eastern Europe,
and about the nature of the trip in general.
Last week the chanichim had their first activity inviting them to be a
part of the process and this weekend they have their first seminar to prepare
for the journey.
The dates of the journey are March 12-19.
