Hura Women’s Catering Enterprise

On Wednesday, 27 June Mike Feigelson and I visited the Hura Women’s Catering Enterprise, one of the projects that BvLF supports through our partnership with the organisation NISPED-AJEEC in Beersheba, Israel. Hura is a small Bedouin town at half an hour drive from Beersheba, we arrived there early morning and were met by Ms. Vivian Silver (Co-Executive Director AJEEC)  and Ms. Amny Athamny (Director of the Department of Health Programmes).

AJEEC started this Social Enterprise in 2008, supported by the Mayor of Hura Dr. Muhammad Alnabari, with two major purposes: to offer women of the lowest socio-economic income class (often single mothers) in Hura an opportunity to engage in economic productive work that allows them to gain an income and more independence in a society which is male-dominated; and to provide good quality meals to children of the schools in the region (free meals to schools in poor communities is part of a programme of the Israeli Government).

International Conference “Models of Early Childhood Services”

Montreal, Canada 5 – 6 June, 2012

Last week I attended the above mentioned conference, organised by the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development (CEECD). I was invited to do a presentation on BvLF’s experience and views in relation to the challenge of Scaling Up Early Childhood Programmes.
It was my very first visit to Canada, and – although I knew this beforehand – what coloured my first impression arriving at the Pierre Trudeau International Airport was the fact that I was addressed by the migration officer in the French language. Although I speak some French, we switched to English as I am more comfortable speaking that language. During the three days I was in Montreal I could practice my French as the Quebec Province is predominantly French speaking, but to my surprise, none of the presentations was in French, although the issue of bi-lingual (preschool) education came up frequently.

My visit to Uhm-el-Fahm

Uhm-el-Fahm is an Arab Israeli town near Nazareth, with 40,000 inhabitants. It is geographically located in what is called “The Triangle”, the area near Nazareth, which consists predominantly of Arab-Israeli population with a Muslim religion/tradition, although there are also Arab Christian families (mainly in Nazareth).

 The reason to visit Uhm-el-Fahm was to meet with the Head of the Educational Department of the municipality, Dr. Mahmoud Zolali . We recently approved a new project that focuses on improving reading habits in Arab preschools and families and improving access to good children’s books in the Arab language. I was accompanied by 2 persons, one from the Arab Teacher Training College Al Qasemi and one from the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. These two organisations will implement the project in Uhm-el-Fahm, in close collaboration with the educational services headed by Dr. Mahmoud Zolali.

Bnei Brak

Monday I had two meetings in Bnei Brak in Israel, a city of some 165,000 exclusively ultra-orthodox Jewish inhabitants. The main purpose was to meet with two agencies that the Foundation is working with, Ezer Mizion and Achiya. Ezer Mizion is working on introducing play in the curriculum of preschools and the training of male teachers, to create what is called ‘an active nurturing playground environment’; Achiya is working on the introduction of concepts of science and mathematics in the programme for preschool children to stimulate what they call ‘creative thinking’.

These projects may seem to introduce ideas that are already generally accepted in secular preschools in Israel, but in the context of the ultra-orthodox world of Bnei Brak, where new ideas have to be approved by the Rabbinate, they can be considered as very innovative.

In a meeting today in the JDC

In a meeting today in the JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee)

 In a meeting today in the JDC (one of our partners in Israel), 5 Jewish Israeli persons (all female) participated and one Arab Israeli person (male) who is the coordinator of a mapping project on quality in Arab Israeli preschools that we support.

 The coordinator said at one moment…”you are known as the people of the book, but we are known as the people of construction…”.

 As I did not understand, I asked him what he meant, and he explained:

The Jews here are studying the book (Torah, Talmud – a reference to the orthodox Haredi population, but also to the high level of education of the Israeli Jews), while we, the Arab Muslim population are builders, constructors. If you ask an Arab Israeli person what he does for a living, he will say that he is in construction, as was his father and grandfather before him, and as his children (the boys) will also be in the future.

 Then came his comment to the Jewish participants in the meeting….”you design the country, we build it for you”.

 Marc  (Monday, 16 April in Jerusalem)