SHALOM from ISRAEL!! We are now at our first work project up in the north, near Kiryat Shmona, along with 14 Israeli teens who joined us last night. We are taking a break for lunch and to cool off…the temperatures are easily in the 90’s and the sun is strong. We are all doing well.

The flights were easy, no hassles. We arrived on Monday afternoon and began our journey up north, stopping along the way to do a brief welcome ceremony led by our Israeli tour guide Reut (she’s awesome). We were at a place overlooking the Kineret (the Sea of Galilee) below, a perfect spot to say a shechechiyanu and a Kiddush and motzi over grape juice and challah.

We are staying at a camp called Kimama at Kibbutz Amir. It’s not too much like Tawonga physically (okay, nothing like it), except it turns out they sing a lot of the same songs, which we heard as we entered the camp. After our first night of “sleep” we went in the morning to our work project site, working with a project in Kiryat Shmona called Ayalim.

Ariell carrying buckets (there was a lot of bucket carrying)

Ayalim is an initiative to get Israeli 20-somethings, post-army and post-travel, to return to Israel and get involved in community service as they begin their university studies. In exchange for subsidies for their schooling, they work in poorer neighborhoods and development towns to create or rehab affordable housing (in which they then live) and volunteer on projects to beautify and revitalize the areas. The project is designed to make the neighborhoods attractive places to live, and safe, accessible areas for the neighbors to enjoy. Our work project has involved beautifying a garden and playground area. We have been mixing cement to build a decorative stone wall, hauling little stones (called “toof”…we dubbed the project “toof love” – get it?) with buckets and filling in the areas around the playground, and beautifying and cleaning up a garden.

Moving rocks to make a pathway a little more functional

Yesterday evening after a very interesting talk from an expert on the topic of water in the region (very provocative and elicited a number of great questions from the group), we were joined by 14 Israeli teens from the northern region, most of whom are Tawonga teens. The reunion was gleeful, full of hugs, laughs, and lots of singing. We had a boisterous song session after dinner last night, and played a few games to deepen the connections.

So, that brings us to right now. Our lunch just arrived. Everyone is hungry and enjoying being inside in the mazgan (air conditioning) after a long morning of work (with many water breaks, don’t worry!). We will be in touch soon. We send our love.

B’ahava,

The TSL Israel group