Summer Camp in Beit Shemesh

October 31, 2007

Camp Director Avi Nachmani, a former student of Eliyakim, has been involved with the school for 34 years. He said that the students all come from poor or immigrant families, noting that some 40% of the students are Ethiopian. Ethiopian Jews have been making their way to Israel since the late 1970s, some walking by way of Sudan in order to come home. Several missions to bring the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel, to Israel have been undertaken by the state, perhaps the most famous of which was Operation Solomon in May of 1991. In just 36 hours, the Israeli Air Force rescued over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews, including a single flight that carried an incredible 1,122 passengers.

According to a Jewish Agency spokesman, 2007 will be the last year for the immigration of Falash Mura, Ethiopian Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity. While more people claim to belong to this category, the Israeli government has determined that just over 4,000 Falash Mura are eligible to make aliyah (immigration), and that most of them will have done so by December of this year.  The Interior Ministry is reportedly working overtime to prepare the necessary papers and permits to facilitate their move in time for the fall festivals.

Many Ethiopian immigrants came to Israel with nothing, forced to start over from the bottom in a society and language unfamiliar to them. While some families and individuals have managed to succeed in Israel, many are still poor and dependant on support from the state or from charitable organizations such as Bridges for Peace. Nachmani said that the summer camp was providing a learning alternative for underprivileged children that would otherwise be out on the streets. After morning prayers, the daily curriculum at the Eliyakim camp includes math, English, and Hebrew instruction, as well as games, outdoor activities, and field trips. The Ethiopian students play and learn alongside other children from Ashkenazi or Sephardic descent, fully integrated into the school.

Helping the Underprivileged Feel Equal

Our support for the school was arranged through the office of the Beit Shemesh Foundation and its director Meir Malka, who said, “Bridges for Peace has changed life for this school.” By providing money for food, books, supplies, and field trips, Malka said that Bridges for Peace was “giving them [the students] an opportunity to feel equal. All they want to do is help,” he continued. “Where else can you find people like these?”

Malka noted that before Bridges for Peace began to help the school, the teachers were struggling to find even paper for handouts in their classes, but at the camp, the children made paper airplanes, birds, and flowers as gifts for several of our BFP volunteers. The children also decorated and flew their own kites in the school’s courtyard. The visit allowed for one-on-one interaction between our volunteers and the children as well as an opportunity to build personal relationships with the school directors and teachers.

BFP also helps the school throughout the regular school year, providing daily lunches for some 100 children at Eliyakim and another school in Beit Shemesh. Sue Wooden, a BFP volunteer and former teacher and guidance counselor, said, “Kids are no different wherever they are in the world.” She led a group of children in learning, “Old MacDonald,” which they then performed for the entire camp. It was a fun day for all and a great end to our first year of running the Feed a Child project.

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