Today, our group experienced
one of the most fun days of our trip so far! We met at our main building at
8:00 in the morning (toting many egg sandwiches and chocolate bars from our host families).
We traveled to an farm that was founded to help Ethiopian men adjust to life in Israel. Now, the farm also teaches the children of Ethiopian immigrants about their cultural
past. After a quick tour and round of sweet tea (which we all drank
two cups of), our Diller Teens rolled up our sleeves and went to work on the
farm, helping clear out weeds and sticks from the green house. Several wheelbarrows and crickets
later, the group continued on to help build a traditional mud hut, like the ones Ethiopian families lived in before moving to Israel. Since mud is a natural exfoliate, our Diller teens readily got to
work on the mud house.
After building our mud
house, we learned Amharic and wrote our names onto
wooden boards. We also enjoyed a delicious Ethiopian lunch, which included the extreme hot peppers that the
farm grows and sells. We got to taste the bread that the Ethiopian Jews use as challah. Several tears and bites of bread later, our sinuses were
cleared and we hopped on the bus back to Kiryat Gat.
That evening, we worked on a
carnival activity with our Israelis and dozens of children from the area at Potchim Atid, Opening the Future, an organization that runs after school programs for children in the area. We ran activities like bowling and face painting with the kids. We danced, we ate
chocolate, and at the end of the night, plenty of hugs were passed out as the
kids said their goodbyes and we headed to our own homes, excited for the day
ahead!
By: Zoe Zirlin
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