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Shnat Darom (south) 2010 - PARENTS' REPORT!
What's up Shnat Zahav!?
26/08/2010
Dear parents, Snifim and Shnattim: Shalom rav!
We hope you are all doing well, and enjoyed your week.
The shnattim had a very mixed and hectic week, spending their first full week on Kibbutz. It's the first week to integrate into the Kibbutz, and it has not been easy! Not only are the Shnattim far away from any civilization or any big city, it was also the first full week of W-O-R-K. As explained to the shnattim before going to the Kibbutzim, the work ethics is the number 1 parameter any volunteer on Kibbutz is being seen through. This is a tough environment but we have a lot of faith in our group!
Ein- Yahav people are already experts in sorting and packing dates! Next time you eat dates, check where it came from! In Lotan, the shnattim work at different branches of the Kibbutz- Refet (milking), cheese house, tourism, kitchen etc. In Yahel, a few work in the packing house, Emily is in tourism and
Ady, the Kibbutz Madrich, moved to the Arava this week, and had a chance to see all the Shnattim, and run a Peula about "expectations from the Kibbutz period". Each Kibbutz is very different to the other, and so are the groups in each placement. It also seems each group finds its own way of interacting with their new environment and with each other.
Yesterday we received an update that the Moshav people asked the Shnattim to move to a different location on the Moshav. We were not informed nor discussed about this at any point beforehand. Moreover, we were upset that the first time we hear about work issues and the move was as it happened and not beforehand. Ady spoke with the Shnattim yesterday and today, as well as the Moshav people and the KPC people. It seems things are very dynamic at the moment, and we want to give this a couple of days to see what exactly is offered to the group and how this affects the Shnattim. If we find that the new conditions are not suitable, we will have think of different solutions. We will go to the Moshav early next week to see what can be done.
The first few weeks at Kibbutz are usually very challenging, and we hope things get smoother soon!
In a week, the high holidays are here, and a new year is starting! We want to take this opportunity and wish you all a Shana Tova U'metuka!
The Netzer staff
Ben Strum- Ein- Yahav
Hello to the parents of Netzer Shnatties,
We all hope you are doing well. As you probably know, we have just begun our work on the Ein Yahav Moshav in the Arava. The group left
Our living-spaces are in many ways similar to the bunk-rooms that those who did Machon lived in not long ago. Each has either two or three bunkers (four to six beds), as well as two cupboards and a small bathroom. We also have a kitchenette and fridge as there is no communal dining-hall here. These ‘apartments’ are each equipped with a television and air-conditioner. For now the walls and floor are new, white and clean but I’m not sure they will stay that way...
On Wednesday we had our first day of work. Not having been able to fall asleep quite early enough the night before, we all awoke at 5:30 am (as we will six days a week for the next two and a half months) bleary-eyed and exhausted. Pushing-through our dreariness, we made our way to the date sorting factory to start our shift. People listened to ipods and sung songs to keep themselves entertained, although I was told sheket by the supervisor after belting out my haunting rendition of Akon’s ‘Blame it on Me’. By our second break of the day during lunch, I personally felt overwhelmed by how monotonous our labour was; basically our job is to class dates into different categories by placing them in boxes as they pass down a conveyer-belt. Surrounded by Thai workers, I decided that I knew what it felt like to be a member of Communist China. However, after being told last night how much food and other essentials we will be provided with, many people felt more relaxed.
The work, the group hopes, will make us appreciate the time we have together more and not take the relaxed ambience of the Moshav for granted. Yesterday afternoon we swam together, sat by the pool during a beautiful golden sunset and mulled around on the grass before cooking dinner and going to bed early (or not). Sorting dates might be boring, but Ein Yahav certainly won’t be J
We miss you,
Shnat Zahav.
Alice Chipkin- Yahel
Hi everyone,
How can I convey in an email just what a dramatic change Kibbutz is to shnat! strangely it has not been to a more chilled out and informal environment but to heat, isolation and hard hard work! We are only 6 days in and we are already getting into the routine. Being on Yahel is nice, my sister came here 11 years ago but talking to her and comparing, things do seem to have changed alot since then. Its a pretty good example of a kibbutz thats going and gone privatized and has lost a lot of its community life unfortunately. but we have some nice neighbors who are post-army Israelis working and studying here. There are also some cool Colombian and Indian workers, but so far we are way below the average age of people we see around. We are still yet to find the teenagers!
On the work front it's different for all of us, and I am tempted to steal the 4 date packers (Bec, Noah, Simon and Nathan's) future email material that will involve information about dates, dates and more dates. Emily is in the guest house and spends her days filling up soap dispensers and changing towels...intellectually enlightening work.
For me though, my domain is the kitchen. I really never thought it would say that, but alas my housewife potential is being increased dramatically. I have 2 bosses who are crazy, loud, fun and seemingly in a love hate marriage. So it's Tedd, Jonathan and I singing away with the Bryan Adam's cd that has been on repeat since I got here. I am lucky with the job and have been making myself very popular with the other 5 yahelians when after a hard days work they have come home to find, 6 tubs of ben and jerry's ice cream, ingredients for a lasagne, a box of cake pieces, 2 bags of shoko besakit and I'm sure there will be more to come!
It really is tough out here. I think the 5 of us are all missing home and most of all the rest of our group! So far all we can muster the energy for is a cycle of work eat sleep (and runs which we are all doing together :) ). but we are hoping to find something outside of a 10 hour work day.
Until then folks over and out from the very exhausted yahel crew!
Dayne and Elli- Ein- Yahav
We started the week with about 6 visitors, which made the rooms quite chaotic. However we continued moshav life as usual and started work every day at 6am and worked through the day just like every other day. On Monday we proceeded doing the same, but to our suprise, halfway through the day we got the privelidge of changing date supppliers, some people even got new jobs which is very exciting. The next day we proceeded in the afternoon to move to a different date plant, and now we all get a new job in the afternoons. We now cut dates off branches and sort them by colour and size. Also boxes are made which are much bigger resulting in some brilliant paper cuts on our hands. Yesterday we got a suprise visit from a lady whom we have never seen before telling us that it is our time to move houses. The girls moved last night and the boys are due to move today. The girls are now living in a mini house inside a factory where there are rooms of either four or two and one big kitchen. We have started to increase motivation due to some inspiration from the thai workers, which is made a lot easier by having the mentality that each day can be split in two parts, one is work and one is the fun we have after work. Moshav life has definately been different and challenging but we are beginning to move into the routine of waking up at 5:30 every morning, working hard and getting enough sleep for the next day, but at the end of the day we try to play hard as well.
lots of love from all the people at the shnattim at the moshav
Hannah Segal- Lotan
shalom parents,
So, we have finally arrived on
There is a large sense of community felt here on Kibbutz, this was prevalent last Shabbat where, the whole Kibbutz stopped their work to come together. The Shabbat began with a Kabbalat Shabbat service, which incorporated many of the tunes we sing at Netzer, already enabling us to feel a sense of familiarity. Following the service we all joined the kibbutz for a Friday night dinner in the Cheder Ochel, and after that were invited to participate in Israeli dancing accompanied with coffee and cake in the communal room. The night didn't end there because later the kibbutz pub opened.
There is definitely a very communal feel on
As far as our shnat group goes, the nine of us are all getting along very well, we enjoy hearing each others stories about our various jobs at the end of the day, as well as integrating with our fellow kibutzniks, whether they be volunteers or members of the kibbutz. We are happy to be here but still have not forgotten about our home land of
Love and miss you all
Hannah and the Lotan shnatiies.
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