It takes an Ethiopian Village

This morning I was woken up by the sounds of children's voices on the other side of my backyard fence at Shfeyah where my neighbors live -a family of goats, a herd of donkeys, free range chickens, some rabbits , hens, a turkey and a few guinea pigs.

The Children's Farm has been flourishing during the past few months under the management of Udine and Ayal and once again, the farm is becoming the center of the children's lives in the village. In addition to their academic studies in the fields and in the computerized, organic greenhouse and classroom located on the farm, students have been volunteering on Fridays and during their free time in the afternoons to build an Ethiopian village consisting of traditional straw huts like the ones which some of their families had lived in for generations.

Shmuel was one of the children who was already up and working at 7:30 this morning . A group of younger Ethiopian children were passing him straw poles which he methodically and lovingly put in place and tied with twine. Shmuel is typically soft spoken, focused and attentive to details but some of the younger kids who were assisting him were among our more challenging students. I spotted one boy who is supposed to be in my English class but almost never shows up at school. But here he was with other similarly minded kids, up early, at work, listening to Shmuel's calm instructions and learning lessons that one can't learn in a classroom from a boy who several years ago had problems similiar to his. Shmuel is now an excellent student in the 11th grade with time to study, time to work, time to volunteer and time to look after and inspire others.

And at 4:30 this evening, when the sun was already setting, Shmuel was still there, alone, putting finishing touches on the hut. I went out to bring him a Crembo treat which I passed through the chain link fence. " Shmuel, you've been here since the morning. You're working so hard."

" I know. Isn't this great ?" he tells me with the kind of contentment that this is all about. " My mother was here visiting last week. When she saw this she told me that it is just like Ethiopia. When she found out that I built these huts, she cried."

Music instead of missiles

While taking Bungee, my airedale terrier for his evening walk a short while ago I heard lovely sounds coming from the Music Room in the Hadassah / Parker-Edelstein Music Center and found Boris , our music director accompanying 2 lovely "Naale" girls from Kfar Silver who are among the 50 students who were evacuated from their youth village and have found refuge at Shfeyah from the missile attacks in the South during the past 2 weeks. Alisha and Masha , 11th grade students from Russia who have been in Israel for only a year and a half were singing Israeli songs with some of our students during their evening free time. Instead of the sounds of sirens and bombs exploding they were enjoying the Shfeyah " Sounds of Music" , surrounded by their own counselors and Shfeyah staff who have volunteered to make their experiences during this war, bearable and memorable. They are studying English and Mathematics in our school along with our 11th and 12th grade classes in preparation for their Bagrut ( matriculation ) exams this month and in February and participate in village activities during the afternoons and evenings. Our students have also made the small, but nevertheless meaningful sacrifice of moving out of their own rooms and sharing friends' rooms in order to make space for the Kfar Silver students until the war is over and it is safe for them to return to the South.
Boris proudly introduced the girls and showed me the new recording studio, piano, guitars and amplifiers which were recently purchased with Hadassah funds for our music program which you found for us several months ago. We hope and pray that the sounds of war will soon be replaced with sounds of families safe in their homes and the rebuilding of Gaza free from the terrorism of Hamas and attacks from Israel. During these hard times music often makes things bearable. Thanks for being our untiring advocate and friend and helping to make these things possible.

With love, on behalf of us all at Shfeyah ,
Lauren