meshulash

Good day, to all!

I come with some interesting updates. First of all, I finally started my volunteer job. I will be working on two projects.

One involves traveling to The Triangle, the meshulash in Hebrew, I don't know how in Arabic, and working with several community groups in order to help them write grant proposals, newsletters, and research funds in English in order to help build and continue their projects. I went on Sunday for the first time and met with a few feminism/women's groups as well as a youth-oriented group. It was great! First of all, we learned about the triangle in some classes, about how the local governments are generally corrupt, there is crime, the schools are bad, and people talk always of trading it to a future state of Palestine without even asking the people where they wish to be. It's sad. But I must say that it is a beautiful part of the country, with beautiful trees and farms, cute neighborhoods with nice looking restaurants and cafes that line the sides of the main roads, and some very pretty mosques sprinkled throughout. The people I met were incredibly impressive, coming from a difficult society and having such optimism and ambition to create social change. Refocus priorities on education and the youth, overcome social constructs of the role of the woman. I'm glad to be able to help these people.

The other project I'll be working with is under the banner of Haifa as a Shared City. I'm to be researching models of shared societies in the midst of conflict or multiethnic societies and analyze how education is used to create a shared culture or sense of belonging in the society in order to build bonds between the groups on at least a local level. The goal of the project is to redefine what living in Haifa and being "Haifaim" mean in order to create a constructive society and avoid what happened in Acre from ever happening here.

And here I am, finishing up my last week of classes before break. I'm so excited! My parents are coming in and I have tons of plans for us. I hope they're up to it! I can't wait to see them, and I miss them a ton. I'm also really excited for them to see me here, as I was able to see their life in their new home when I went home for that week. It's too bad that I won't be able to take them to Jordan, but I do plan to take them to Nazareth and other Arab parts of Israel in order to show them different societies that live here.

I want to take a moment to direct you all to Ari's column in his school's newspaper. He wrote a really interesting article (I got a shoutout, woot woot!) that I think you may find interesting. It's a very accurate view of some of what I experienced in Jordan when I lived there and continue to when I return for visits. I'm excited for him to come visit during break!!

Alright, I'm going to be getting some food now so that I make it to the university in time for class. Take care!

--Avraham