Last week we celebrated the second Festival Ecothiopia in the Kalisher Community Garden, in the hearth of the Gimmel neighborhood in Be’er Sheva. This unique festival, organized by Earth’s Promise in cooperation with the Kalisher Absorption Center, combines urban environmentalism and the Ethiopian culture.

An Ethiopian band played live music, accompanied by two dancers dressed in traditional and colorful costumes. A day of festival in the neighborhood! The audience surrounded the stage, the youth danced with joy, the adults enjoyed watching.

“Never in my life have I moved my shoulders like today”, a geology student said in the festival. “The Ethiopian dancing is something special”, she added and continued, amazed, to describe their style of dancing.

Ziv, our Compost Network Coordinator, tells about his experience: “I also danced. In the beginning it was a bit hard, I wasn’t familiar with the movements, but after a few minutes, when the shoulders warmed up, dancing started to flow on its own.”

It’s amazing to see how the area that once was a neglected open space has developed into a community garden. Chen, our Community Garden Coordinator, tells about the garden: “There are 50 flower beds that are divided for Ethiopian immigrants from the Kalisher Absorption Center and for other residents of the neighborhood. We guide them and teach how to grow vegetables. The Community Garden is not just a garden. It’s a place that is open and exists for the whole neighborhood. In the garden there are nice sitting areas and also a butterfly garden. The garden is a place for social activities for the whole family. Yesterday evening, for example, we screened a movie for all the residents of the neighborhood in the garden.”

“The Festival Ecothiopia is the highlight of the yearly activities in the garden.”, tells Noga the executive director of Earth’s Promise. All the year the immigrants learn how to get used to life in Israel, they learn about the Israeli culture. Here in Ecothiopia, the immigrants seize the stage and teach us about their culture.”

And it seems that we have a lot to learn: Everyone arriving to the festival could experience Ethiopian arts, taste Ethiopian food and participate in the traditional dancing.

What else was there at the festival? A workshop about medicinal plants, coffee making workshop, braid making workshop and an art workshop. There was also “One shekel market” and medical students organized activity for the children.

The multicultural gathering, Ecothiopia, was real, original and heart warming. Hoping to see it take place next year as well… :)