Maksam in Hadera

July 9, 2009

Hadera, a city of nearly 80,000, about 100 kilometers from Tel Aviv, has seen waves of immigrants—Ethiopian, Russian, Argentine and others-- over the past 20 years. The Raleigh and Durham-Chapel Hill federations established a relationship with the Hadera Community Foundation about 7 years ago, leading to our support for an Ethiopian community center that I visited in 2003. It has taken us nearly 7 months to get to Hadera, but Shlomo Berhune, the Ethiopian coordinator for Shatil, invited us to visit after I met him last month. It’s only a 28 minute train ride from the Tel Aviv University station to Hadera and by 11:30 we were in the oldest of the Maksam child enrichment centers organized by the Gidon Association, a community organization to promote the wellbeing of the 7000 Ethiopians who reside in Hadera. Maksam is an Amharic word “that describes the action of the bee as it passes from flower to flower collecting nectar that produces honey.” As I understood it, the children are the flowers, the community leaders are the pollinators, and the honey is the successful enrichment and empowerment of children. Ganai Alon, the second oldest center, is the one with which Raleigh-Durham has a relationship.

The six centers serve about 300 kids in a rigorous, 3 hour, after school program of tutoring and other enrichment activities, as well as a summer program with a budget of about $600,000. Why, one might ask is this type of program necessary? Aren’t the schools doing their job? While the challenged condition of the Israelis school systems (yes systems—Orthodox, secular, Arab, and ultra-Orthodox) could consume an entire blog, the Ethiopians immigrations were unlike any previous wave to Israel. Few were literate even in their own language and most were entirely unfamiliar with the expectations that parents would interact with and confront, when necessary, bureaucracies. As a result these programs help children where families are still adjusting themselves to life in Israel. Interestingly, the education authorities attempted to put all Ethiopian children in one school in the 1990s, partly because of racist opposition by other families, and partly because the education establishment thought this would be the best way to handle these entirely new and difficult circumstances. The community organized in response to this effort, so now there are Ethiopian kids in most of the schools and more importantly, the Gidon Association was formed. We met with 4 community members, including Shlomo and Liz, a South African who has worked on development for the Association for the past 2 years. David (head of the association and recently elected to the municipal council), Dani, Gadi, and Etan emphasized that it was easy to complain, but these founding members recognized that it was up to them to do something about the situation of their children. It was nothing short of inspiring to hear them relate this community-based, participatory initiative and to feel the pride they expressed in how their children, Ethiopian children in Hadera, are blossoming. On the wall is a framed photo of Yona Bogale, the first leader of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel, a role model of historical note for this community, who made aliyah in 1979..

An important question to pursue stems from the role of Partnership2000 in Hadera. Partnership2000 is a program of the Jewish Agency for Israel that recognizes that North American communities would like to have direct relationships with communities in Israel, not necessary the more anonymous giving to JAFI for it to pursue whatever agenda it develops. Raleigh-Durham’s relationship is not through the Partnership mechanism, but Charlotte has a partnership relationship as does a consortium of about 8 southern cities. The collaboration and coordination of these Partnership cities and especially their relationships with community organizations such as the Gidon Association is something I need to learn more about.