sadaka reut june 2011 newsletter final

8/3/2019 Sadaka Reut June 2011 Newsletter Final

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January

June 2011

Dear supporters, partners and friends,

We are glad to present to you our annual newsletter for the activity year2010-2011.This newsletter highlights six Sadaka-Reut activities in 2011that represent the variety and the essence of Sadaka Reuts work in thecommunity.

We hope youll enjoy reading this. For more details on all our programactivities, please visit our website:http://reutsadaka.org

Best regards from Jaffa,Hana AmouryExecutive Director, Sadaka-ReutGeneral Director
http://reutsadaka.org/http://reutsadaka.org/http://reutsadaka.org/http://reutsadaka.org/


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Youth Seminar on Racism inNeve Shalom Wahat al-Salam

A joint Jewish-Arab encounter is notomething to be taken for granted in theeality we live in, that is why we dealt with

he topics seriously and responsibly thiscreated a productive environment and ledo interesting debates" Shiri, Sadaka-

Reut Volunteer

A successful Sadaka-Reut youth seminar,attended by 45 Palestinian and Jewisharticipants between the ages of 15-18,

was held on the 21st and 22nd of January inhe village of Neve Shalom - Wahat al

Salam. This seminar focused on theurrent wave of racism in Israel eaching youth to recognize, address andonquer the negative impact of racism insrael today.

During the seminar, participants werehown an educational telenovela calledSwitch, produced by the Center for

Educational Technology (CET), aboutoung Arab and Jewish boys who switch

dentities and experience each other'sves, dilemmas and choices. After thecreening, a thorough debriefing session

was held, encouraging the youth to shareheir personal reactions, feelings andxperiences. The seminar also included

cebreaker activities, group building

xercises, and time for personalnteraction. Since this was the first seminareld during this activity year, it was

mportant for the youth to get to know eachther, feel comfortable with each other and

work on building the beginnings of positive,roductive group dynamics.

Seminars such as these play a vital rolein achieving Sadaka-Reuts goal ofeducating and empowering Jewish andPalestinian Israeli youth to promote ashared society as they provide youthwith the knowledge, tools andmotivation to actively and jointly pursue

social change in their communities.


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Building Connections andUnderstanding in Kfar

Shalem

Our Kfar Shalem exhibit helped us tochange how we thought of and saw our

neighborhood, we are now proud to bepart of Kfar Shalem, when before doingthis exhibition we were ashamed to saywe were from here. Chen, Sadaka-Reut participant

On March 31, Sadaka-Reut held animportant enrichment activity in theneighborhood of Kfar Shalem, which islocated in the south east of Tel-Aviv,aimed at demonstrating the critical linkbetween historical events and currentinjustices, in this neighborhood and themany others like it.The activity started with a tour of the KfarShalem area with Aharon Madauel, amember of the City Council and aresident of the neighborhood, and DudiBalasi, a resident who led a struggle in

2009 against the demolition of his house.They explained the history of theneighborhood and the many challenges ithas faced. Kfar Shalem was constructedon the remains of the Palestinian villageSalameh which was cleared off of itsPalestinian residents during the 1948 warand was later on populated with MizrachiJews who immigrated to Israel in the

1950s. One of the main issues theneighborhood has struggled with is thethreat of evacuation of its residents forthe benefit of real estate companies andnew richer residents.

After this tour, the youth went to the BeitBarbour Community Center and playedgames led by the local youth group, an

important bonding activity for the diversegroup of youth participants.

In addition, the members of KfarShalems youth group made apresentation about their neighborhoodthrough aphoto exhibition they havecreated. It was important to them toshare this with Sadaka-Reut's youthgroups from other cities.

Through this enrichment activity theyouth from Kfar Shalem, Lod and Jaffawere able to gain a uniqueunderstanding of each others realityand recognize the similar threat ofevacuation to residents in all threeareas. The Palestinian Youth from Jaffaand Lod were particularly surprised thatsuch a cruel policy is implemented bythe local and national authoritiesagainst the Jewish residents of KfarShalem. This activity helped them seethe bigger picture of Israel today andrealize that different groups areoppressed in similar ways. As onePalestinian participant commented: Inever realized that Jewish people couldface the same problems that we also

deal with everyday.

Enrichment activities such as this thusserve multiple goalseducating Jewishand Palestinian youth about the historyof this place and the connectionbetween past injustices and currentstruggles, empowering the youth to feelproud of their home towns and of their

achievements and fostering importantbonds of friendship and camaraderieamongst youth participants fromdiverse cities throughout Israel.


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Examining History in the OldCity of Jaffa

"When we started hunting for thetreasure I realize the city of Jaffa is thereal treasure" Hazem, Sadaka Reutparticipant

On April 13th, Sadaka Reut held aregional activity in Jaffa for Sadaka-Reutyouth groups from around Israel,including the cities of Musmus, Netanya,Lod, Qalansawe, Bat Yam, Tira andJaffa. This regional activity was designedto expose the youth to the complexity ofthe story of Jaffa, which is on the one

hand very unique but on the other handrepresents the Israeli-Palestinian conflictso well.

In the past, Jaffa was an importantPalestinian city with rich cultural,economic and political life. After the warof 1948 the majority of its Palestinianresidents were expelled and it became a

neglected marginalized mixed city,formally defined as a neighborhood inTel-Aviv. Both the Jewish andPalestinian residents suffer frommaltreatment from the authorities ineducation, infrastructure, employmentand other fields. Today Jaffa suffers acrucial housing problem for its remainingPalestinian residents who are driven outof it by economical forces and policymakers, mainly through gentrificationextensive process.

To start the day, the youth visited the

Jaffa Salon for Palestinian Art, a gallery

in the old Jaffa Port that exhibits and

sells works of more than 30 Palestinian

artists from Israel and the Occupied

Territories in the West Bank and Gaza.


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This gallery stands as a unique projectin the scene of Jaffa since it is the onlygallery presenting Palestinian art inJaffa, which has become a center forJewish artists that live and create inJaffa. The youth were introduced to thedifferent art displays and participated in

a workshop with the artist Nihad Dabit,who taught them how to use iron wire tosculpt works of art.

After lunch at the Jaffa Slope Park, theyouth participated in a treasure huntgame that led them to importanthistorical and current monuments andcenters among them the Clock Tower,the Arab-Hebrew Theater, Jerusalem

Blvd, Physicians for Human Rightsoffices, Andromeda luxury housingproject, the sea mosque, the old city ofJaffa and Ha'Shnayim public Garden.At each stop, the youth had toaccomplish a mission to win the hint forthe next stop.

In addition, during the day, a

competition was held between theyouth who were asked to design theSadaka Reut T-shirt for this year. Morethan 20 designs were published later inFacebook and the design that receivedmore votes was printed on T-shirt.

The focus on art in this activity createda positive dynamics and allowed theyouth an alternative medium forcommunicating and expressing onesself, especially those among the youthwho are shyer and less verbal.

Regional activities like this are critical toconnecting Sadaka-Reut participantsfrom around Israel, thereby creating anation-wide network of Jewish andPalestinian youth committed to

pursuing the vision of a shared societythrough bi-national partnership and jointactivism.


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Self Expression throughPhotography Exhibition

"The youth photographers help us seethe hidden gems of their city throughthis exhibition. They shed light on

places/people we might see every daybut never truly notice - Yanai, artteacher commenting on Sadaka Reutsyouth groups' exhibition.

Recently, Sadaka Reut formed aphotography group from the MunicipalHigh School Ironi Zain in Jaffa in which8 Palestinian and Jewish 15 year-oldstudents studied with two trained

facilitators, Raafat and Dana, bothprofessional photographersexperienced in instructing bi-nationaldialogue groups.

The photo exhibition project focused onassisting the youth in developing theirpersonal language and unique self-expression through photography. The

instruction focused on raising issuesrelated to the daily lives of the youth,which were then used as a basis forlearning narrative building techniquesthrough their personal stories utilizingwriting and photography as a medium.The group also worked outside theschool and incorporated outdoorphotography, tours in the city and

personal work of the participantsbetween the group meetings as part ofthe program curriculum.

The photo exhibition was presented atthe schools art class and for theopening the school organized a bigevent, in which 100 of the participantsclassmates were gathered and eachparticipant presented his/her work.

The schools arts teacher commentedon the exhibition and compared thepresented photographs to famousartistic photographs, explaining to theaudience the different possible anglesfor taking photos and their affect onemphasizing the photos message and

how playing with light and darkness forhiding and revealing small details alsoaffects the message the artist wishes tospread.

Upon completion of the exhibitionseveral participants expressed that theexhibition had both increased their willto continue living in Jaffa as adults and

also made them more aware of thechallenges life in Jaffa holds for themand for their future.


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Addressing Racism andStereotypes in Bat Yam

Throughout this activity year fromDecember 2010 until June 2011,Community in Action volunteers led an

innovative program for 9th gradestudents (14 year-old) in Ramot highschool in the disadvantaged city of BatYam. This program utilized variousinnovative mediums such asadvertising, newspapers and comicstrips to help the youth participantsaddress, identify and overcome thephenomenon of stereotyping and

racism in Israeli society today andspecifically in their own school.

During a series of meetings,

Community in Action volunteers led

youth participants joint dialogue

sessions and artistic activities designed

to provide the youth an opportunity to

voice their opinion and address issues

central to their daily lives. Dialoguesessions covered topics of immediate

relevance to the youth participants such

as What do we mean when we use the

term arse (a derogatory term typically

used to describe an individual who is

loud, offensive, uncivilized with a

criminal behavior tendency). The youth

discussed the use of the term andrealized that the term is not really used

to describe someones behavior, rather

it is a derogatory term directed only at a

specific ethnic group Mizrachi Jews

who are considered to have a

primitive culture by the hegemonic

Ashkenazi culture.

Artistic activities included, for example,an activity wherein youth participantsdesigned advertisements for their idealschool where racism would not resultin daily confrontations and schools inpoorer neighborhoods would have theeducational tools and resources

necessary to provide a good education.Students also examined variousnewspaper articles, identifying thepresence of stereotypes and biasedopinions in this supposedly unbiasedmedium. Students then designed theirown comic strips telling their unique lifestories and emphasizing their positivevisions for the future.

This activity serves as an importantexample of Sadaka-Reuts work inemphasizing critical education--providing youth with the ability toexamine their reality, and later on theirhistory, with a critical view and with thetools to design their desired change.


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International Campaign for Social Change Activism"This campaign enabled us to bring Sadaka Reut's message to an internationalaudience and meet wonderful people from all over the world committed to social justiceand creating a better world" Samer Asakli, Sadaka Reut FVolunteer

During the month of May, the French social justice organization Secours Catholiqueinvited Sadaka Reut to send delegates to their international conference and workshop

for international social justice organizations. The purpose of the conference was topromote the international exchange of ideas, resources and activists in the field ofsocial change and so represented a critical opportunity for Sadaka-Reut to learn fromand network with other dedicated activists in the field of social justice as well as tospread the Sadaka Reut message of bi-national partnership and activism towards thevision of a shared, just society.

Two representatives of Sadaka-Reut, Yotam Israeli and Samer Asakli, traveled toFrance for two weeks to participate in the campaign. They travelled to Paris,Marseilles, and Aix en Provence, even meeting with the Arch Bishop of Marseilles, towork with and learn from other social action and interfaith NGO' s in France, gaininginsight into the unique circumstances and challenges in each geographic area andlearning important new tools and practices that Sadaka-Reut could utilize in itsinitiatives in Israel. International exchanges such as this are highly appreciated as theyserve as an opportunity to promote and publicize the Sadaka-Reut message tointernational audiences, provide important educational lessons and the promotion ofbest practices in the implementation of the Sadaka Reut pedagogical model, enableinternational networking opportunities and teach Sadaka Reut activists to learn fromand identify with the diverse social and political issues that social action NGO's around

the world are tackling today.

sadaka reut june 2011 newsletter final

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