Connecting our Community – Gesher
Sonia Newell – Development Officer
On 1 January, eight of us from Emanuel School joined 59 other educators from around Australia and New Zealand for an opportunity of a lifetime on the 10-day 2019 JNF-KKL Educators Study Tour to Israel. the aim was to strengthen our connection to the country and to build a relationship between the educational systems of Israel and Australia.
We visited Jewish and Zionist heritage sites and the latest innovations in ecological education as well as numerous KKL-JNF projects, in particular those supported by JNF Australia. Each day a member of one of the schools wrote a blog. Heather Marshall, one of our Kornmehl teachers, wrote the Day 2 blog. Here is the official KKL-JNF short video of some highlights of the trip: www.facebook.com/jnfaustralia/videos/818539431871330/
Most of us know JNF as the organisation that plants trees/forests in Israel but they do so much more. We visited and learnt about so many exciting projects done by JNF Australia funded by so many Australians including a number of Emanuel families and many of our benefactors. A highlight for me was our visit to the Jordan River Village which serves as a respite camp, free for children with serious illnesses and life-threatening conditions. Children who are able to, come here from all over Israel and the Palestinian territories, for a week at a time, to receive expert medical care and partake in various activities including archery, rock climbing, animal petting, basketball, gymnasium, arts and crafts, all of which are wheelchair accessible, and there is also a fabulous sensory playground. As a volunteer with Friendship Circle and Camp Sabbaba here is Sydney, I found this centre particularly inspiring and thought about how much our children and young adults with disabilities would gain from such a facility here!
Another highlight was our visit to the Arava, where we learnt about utilising the desert to grow vegetables some of which we then picked and prepared for a scrumptious lunch and we also planted new seedlings/vegetables. At the Vidor Research and Development Centre, we learnt more about advanced agriculture and living plants and animals of the desert as well as the region’s water, climate and soil challenges. The Arava International Centre for Agriculture Training (AICAT) in Sapir was established in 1994 and we were privileged to meet some of their current international students from 16 developing countries including Kenya, Vietnam and Myanmar who were there to “learn by doing”, to receive practical training on a modern farm as well as theoretical studies, with a program that involves them overseeing a complete cycle of crop growing. There I also met a graduate from last year’s program who returned now to mentor the current Kenyan students, and I have now connected him to Genna Radnan our School Nurse and founder of her charity Gennarosity Abroad (www.gennarosityabroad.org), hoping that they can do some collaborative work in Kenya!
A startling and eye-opening highlight was our visit to the Negev Desert and Sha’ar Hanegev Schools, where I spent some time at the high school which has around 1400 students. The buildings are all-purpose built bomb shelters with each classroom offering complete protection to their students. I could not imagine our students having to deal with constant air-raid sirens, but that is what they do as part of their daily lives, whilst they learn in state-of-the-art classrooms. It was a real eye opener!
Most of us know Israel claims the title of the Start-up Nation, but did you know the cherry tomato is an Israeli “invention”, as is drip irrigation, the USB flash drive, Waze (the GPS geographical navigation app) and the Iron Dome (mobile defence system) just to name a few?
Please help us stay connected
As we start the new school year, we would love to include ALL the grandparents on our database, no matter where in the world they live, so they can receive our bi-annual Grandparents and Friends newsletters and other school-related information from time to time. Please add/update their details via the parent portal, or email their contact details to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au These newsletters can be seen online and together with the alumni newsletters, they showcase so much about the life of our amazing School and beyond. I hope you enjoy reading them too, and feel free to pass them on: www.emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au/Gesher
Don’t forget JNF Green Sunday this Sunday 10 February
Family Lawn Bowls
Please join us for our family lawns bowls afternoon on Sunday 10 March
From 3-5pm at Double Bay Lawn Bowls Club
More details will be out soon
If you have news to share, please send to:snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au