No Child Left Behind

Thursday midday we went to Yemin Orde. It is a “Youth Aliyah” village for more than 500 children around the world, albeit primarily from Ethiopia and countries from the former Soviet Union. The village is a high school for orphans and children from disadvantaged areas – a non-boarding school boarding school.

First, the elderly gentleman who once ran the school spoke to us about the history and vision of the place. Israel wants to provide a home to all Jewish children who need a home. They also allow students who graduate to either stay there or come back if there are problems – generally kids come back for a time period and then get their lives going.

We then had lunch with some of the students in the cafeteria. Aaron, Maren and I started talking to a 19 year old from Ethiopia who was heading into the Army shortly. Then, a couple of 16 year girls – one from the Ukraine who had been in Israel for two years, and one from Kazakhstan who had been here one year sat down next to Aaron and I for a while.

They had great poise, and all spoke 3-4 languages (which is 2-4 more than I speak at times). They all had different favorite subjects in school, and played a variety of sports (soccer, volleyball). One of the girls is a singer who was preparing to sing in a major program.

We then toured the grounds, including the synagogue and a modern Ethiopian hut that works as a transition area for some students.

Back on the bus to travel even further north. After picking out Israeli Arab towns for a while from the mosques, looking at the agriculture, and spotting some camels, I feel asleep until we got to Karm’el, a bustling industrial city surrounded by beautiful and high (for Israel) mountains, where we stopped for coffee (ok, sparkling water for me, as I’m not a coffee drinker).