Mittwoch, 25. Juni 2008
A nice pre-camp encounter:
Meeting of the Jewish Israeli and the Arab Israeli group in Zvulun High School of Kibbutz Yagur
peacecamp, 00:36h
A nice pre-camp encounter
Mid of June 2008 I made a short trip to Israel, partly on private matters (The son of my cousin got married!) and partly on "peacecamp business". On Thursday, June 12 I went up north in the direction of Haifa, straight to Kibbutz Yagur. This is the kibbutz, whose school the peacecamp participants of 2007 are attending, as well as those of the coming 2008 peacecamp.
So I had the chance to meet all the 8 Jewish-Israeli participants of 2008 and the 2 teachers which will accompany them: Osnat, whom I know from last year already, and Sharon. (Note: As Sharon is used in Israel for both male and female persons, I can reveal: This Sharon is a man.)
But this is only part of the story, actually half of it: The whole Arab-Israeli group came over from their school in Nazareth. Again 8 participants and 2 teachers (2 ladies: last year's Nazira and newcomer Maysaa).
This was the first time the participants of the two groups met, and as expected it took them some time to overcome their first timidness - no wonder for Jews and Arabs in a country like Israel. I think I could be of some help in this situation: First of all I brought them a sweet Austrian speciality, the so-called "Mozartkugeln" (rum truffle with marzipan), which were a big success. Well, and secondly I told them a lot about the previous peacecamps and what to expect from the future one.
I stressed the fact that a peacecamp is definitely not a holiday camp. Rather, the participants are expected to do some preparatory work before it, to participate in all activities while on the camp and to do some final work upon the end of their stay in Austria. I explained to them the principle of how our project functions: Whenever the peacecamp "work" is done properly and we can present its results to the public, we will get enough funds to organise next year's camp. This means: Each group contributes to the group of the year to follow. I am pretty sure they all understood.
Anyway, after two hours I left with the comforting feeling: I met with two highly motivated groups coming from Israel to peacecamp 2008.
Ronny Böhmer
Mid of June 2008 I made a short trip to Israel, partly on private matters (The son of my cousin got married!) and partly on "peacecamp business". On Thursday, June 12 I went up north in the direction of Haifa, straight to Kibbutz Yagur. This is the kibbutz, whose school the peacecamp participants of 2007 are attending, as well as those of the coming 2008 peacecamp.
So I had the chance to meet all the 8 Jewish-Israeli participants of 2008 and the 2 teachers which will accompany them: Osnat, whom I know from last year already, and Sharon. (Note: As Sharon is used in Israel for both male and female persons, I can reveal: This Sharon is a man.)
But this is only part of the story, actually half of it: The whole Arab-Israeli group came over from their school in Nazareth. Again 8 participants and 2 teachers (2 ladies: last year's Nazira and newcomer Maysaa).
This was the first time the participants of the two groups met, and as expected it took them some time to overcome their first timidness - no wonder for Jews and Arabs in a country like Israel. I think I could be of some help in this situation: First of all I brought them a sweet Austrian speciality, the so-called "Mozartkugeln" (rum truffle with marzipan), which were a big success. Well, and secondly I told them a lot about the previous peacecamps and what to expect from the future one.
I stressed the fact that a peacecamp is definitely not a holiday camp. Rather, the participants are expected to do some preparatory work before it, to participate in all activities while on the camp and to do some final work upon the end of their stay in Austria. I explained to them the principle of how our project functions: Whenever the peacecamp "work" is done properly and we can present its results to the public, we will get enough funds to organise next year's camp. This means: Each group contributes to the group of the year to follow. I am pretty sure they all understood.
Anyway, after two hours I left with the comforting feeling: I met with two highly motivated groups coming from Israel to peacecamp 2008.
Ronny Böhmer
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