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But this was only the beginning… One part of the survey dealt with recycling and many people complained about the lack of recycling bins and hoped for more recycling options. I finished conducting the survey in January and flew to Finland for a holiday. When I came back in February, I was shocked (in a positive way ). The municipality of Be’er Sheva had launched its new recycling program and in February alone 1400 new recycling bins were placed on the streets of Beer Sheva as well as in educational institutions. The change on the streets was huge. The first days after coming back I felt that I only saw recycling bins everywhere. I was laughing to myself that maybe someone in Gimmel thinks that the survey made the change happen. And it didn’t take long for the first people to address me expressing their thankfulness for the new recycling bins. And again, it didn’t really help to explain that I had nothing to do with the change.

Many respondents hoped for playgrounds for the children or for new parks. And I guess you already know that I’m about to write that it happened as well. This spring Gimmel got at least one new area like that. Also, many people complained about the condition of the roads. And what do you know, some roads in Gimmel are now being improved.

Altogether 372 residents of Gimmel answered to the survey, 140 of them I interviewed personally. I spent countless hours and days on the roads of Gimmel and not only on the roads, also in so many living rooms and on yards. I listened to so many life stories and really learnt to love Gimmel and its people <3 So if you are ever in Be’er Sheva, I recommend you to explore Gimmel. It might surprise you

I also want to say goodbye to all of you since I’m now finishing my year of internship at Earth’s Promise. It’s been good, I’ll miss everyone. But now it’s time to step into new adventures -Heli

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…

And so it was my friends, down came the wonderful master of wild edibles and spread his lovely stories and knowledge to the community. The kids headed out with bowls that were filled in with greens and yellows and the mamas and papas making Hubeza Latkes in the field kitchen with dandelion green salad on the side…

Don’t forget to add to your visuals some lively Ethio-music and a desert spring sunset.

We try to have good times.. Come join us next time..

Purim is a time of joy and craziness and a lot of this energy has been channeled in the past years into big merchandised Purim parades that leave behind stringlets of festivities, junk chunks of jubilation and empty pockets…

Here in Be’er-Sheva it’s the second year that we are offering an alternative to all of that. A cooperation of several organizations and local businesses that bring a central street in a small neighborhood alive with sound jives, creativity spots and activism opportunities. This Adloyada has brought together for the second year local residents, university students and offers a platform for environmental and social organizations to increase their crowd of activists.

This year beyond the happy grand dancing in the streets there was also our stand that gives the full story of how to compost, a mini organic farmers market, an arts & crafts corner for recycled decorations and masks and more. I believe there is never just one way, to work, to create, to live. So it is part of our sustainable agenda to provide alternatives to the mainstream and new options beyond the mind numbing commercial craze.

The Garden is also a meeting place for people from different backgrounds and cultures. It unites people. Whenever a foreigner steps into the garden, he/she can be sure to, in a second, get surrounded by a bunch of kids. Languages are often a subject discussed. So many times I’ve been asked to say something in my mother tongue. Once when the kids asked which languages I speak and I listed them all, a little boy looked at me, at the same time amazed and at the same time really serious, and asked (being totally serious): “Can you speak with animals?” (I wish I could get the tone of his question here as well )

Many times I’ve also witnessed different volunteers having a talk with the kids about different cultures. I remember one special moment when I just loved to see how important it was for the young boys to be able to tell about life in Ethiopia and to see that the other person was really interested and respected their culture.

The community garden also offers so many possibilities for different activities. Only imagination sets a limit. I love to see the field kitchen in use and everyone so exited about it, cooking and of course eating So if you haven’t yet, I invite you to come and see the garden. The coming festival, Ecothiopia, offers one good opportunity for a visit in the garden.

Heli,

Intern from Finland

In March we hosted new groups of the JNF Alternative Spring Break program. In this program American college students take the time of their spring holiday to volunteer all over the south. We have been hosting these groups during the past three years. The work that these amazing students have been doing in the garden is very meaningful and really makes a difference. Together we have been developing the garden a lot!

We of course worked in the garden itself, this time also in the newly opened part of our community garden. In addition we worked on the public area, located really close to the garden, that we wish to turn into a more pleasant area.

This time we, among other things, created a new raised bed for the children’s garden, new green house for summer saplings, a mud wall to beautify the field kitchen and of course mud layers for our various earth benches. The group played with mud, gain experience in carpentry, weed, hoed, planted and especially enjoyed with us two days in the chilly sun (and let’s not forget to pray for the rains of blessings).

When I arrived to the garden in the afternoon I found out that our impressive spiral flowerbed was destroyed: a tractor that worked in the neighbor building had run over the camomile that had blossomed in its full beauty until yesterday and destroyed almost all the herbs and vegetables that were planted and taken care of with so much love. My mood didn’t improve as you can imagine… But what nearly brought me into tears was a fight between the youth from the absorption center and a youngster from the neighborhood. The fight lasted for some long minutes and ended in light injuries and intervention of the police. I felt terrible when I saw the the little children of the absorption center watching the incidence, shocked, afraid, curious and taking example. After it all ended the strong general feeling of persecution and racism stayed with the immigrants in the Kalisher Absorption Center.

Because of these hard feelings and because of the pain over the insane situation where mothers look at stones being thrown at their sons, situation where people deprive their lives, in Israel and in Gaza, because of all this hardness it is important to remember the good deeds of the people acting around us and with us, the deeds that decrease the craziness, the lack of justice and bring smile on the faces. I feel a bit more strengthened when I think about the land of the Kalisher Garden that, time after time, gives reason to smile. The garden blossoms in these days in the abundance of colors: the camomile and the retama with their festive white and inebriating fragrance, chrysanthemum in every corner, the lavender looks magnificent alongside all the green that is spread over the garden and all we need to do is to just look and enjoy. If you’ll come and visit the garden, you’ll find a delicacy in every bed: curly lettuce in red and green, broad bean and chick pea, anemone, onions and potatoes and more and more. All these will sooner or later end up in the cooking pots of skilled women (who are also skilled farmers…)

I invite all of you to come and visit this amazing garden and to enjoy yourselves. If you would like to volunteer a few hours a week in the Kalisher Garden, please contact us, info(a)earthspromise.org We promise you pure delight and lots of satisfaction (as well as mud on the shoes)!

Important – In the new part of the garden there are still a few beds that look for adoption. We’ll provide the seeds, the water and the rest of the needs – you’ll have the pleasure of cultivating your own garden.

Wishing you good and peaceful days,

Chen