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."