After some stormy weather days, the sun in Be’eri shines but the hikers are not. We told ourselves we would be few this time.
But, the circle has its own gravity and it was like this:
We sat Ofek, Mark, Roni, Shmulik and Nahshi, listened to Maya, which came with Roni, hearing her interesting story:
She recently lived in the US, set up and ran a project called “Bead for Peace” a series of creative workshops that bring together Jewish and Muslim women and develop a bond of understanding and tolerance around the bead weaving.
Maya showed us some of the works of her late husband Mori who was an artist and published in the Jerusalem Post works and articles about peace and life in harmony with nature, which sound very relevant today.
Meanwhile, a trio arrived from Modi’in – a mother, daughter and son who were looking for a sulfur factory and found stories about Gaza. They sat fascinated and said that they do not know much about Gaza but are excited to meet such a group. The son said that in his work (medical research) he gets to collaborate with quite a few Arab doctors and friendships are formed between them.
While we are talking about the shocking murder in Be’er Sheva and the horrific reactions in the Israeli media after it, just before Bella, Dina and Malki came from Gvulot – an excited family arrives from the unrecognized beduin village of Alsara. Grandmother, father (physiotherapist who treats people in the Negev region), mother (who was a teacher and is now studying nursing), three cute little children and two other nephews. Despite the difficult atmosphere of the last few days – they decided to come and get to know the people living next to Gaza. Returned from strawberry picking at Yesha and were surprised to find us here. While the children explore the environment, they manage to tell a little about life in an unrecognized village and how to deal with extremism and hatred. Before we parted they invited everyone to be a guest on the family hospitality project “Khan Alsara”.
In the meantime, Limor also arrived and we managed to do one more round about Gaza, inclouding short phone talk to our friend.
before the rain washed everything away and expelled us a little before the planning.
We were this time: Roni, Maya, Ofek, Shmulik, Mark, Nahshi, Bella, Dina, Malki, Rami, Limor, the family from Modi’in and the family from Alsara.
Wrote: Nahshi.