We had an outstandingly wonderful 53rd Independence Day celebration with our solidarity mission from Hartford and New Haven.

There were 46 participants on the mission including 12 teenagers from New Haven. The teens enjoyed a special time together with Afula-Gilboa teens who had participated in the mission to Connecticut in March 2001 and Afula-Gilboa Seeds of Peace participants. The teen group had a separate bus which took them up on Mount Gilboa. From the Barkan viewpoint, the group looked out on the Harod Valley and heard stories about the region. Then they traveled via the Gilboa scenic route and on to Givat Hamore in Afula where the entire mission joined in the Independence Day Celebration for Afula.

Meanwhile, the Hartford mission bus had visited at the Duchifat Club on Givat Hamore, Afula. At the Club, mission participants were greeted by leaders of the Afula Ethiopian community and learned a little about the community's traditions. Mission members enjoyed a chance to buy folk crafts made by immigrants from Ethiopia.

On Givat Hamore, the whole SNEC group enjoyed an Israeli barbecue together with Afula-Gilboa Community Leadership group members.

At the picnic, Seeds of Peace teens together with the other teens spoke with mission participants on how the current situation in Israel affects their personal feelings, thoughts and daily living routine. Next on the agenda was a moving reception by the recent immigrants from Ethiopia at the Mayan Harod Absorption Center. The mission participants were received with traditional Ethiopian bread, personal stories, and dancing.

Our guests from SNEC were then honored with the privilege of distributing Israeli identity cards to them to the immigrants from Ethiopia. This ceremony was so unforgettably heart warming for everyone that at its closure, there was a spontaneous outburst of exuberant dancing. The Afula-Gilboa and New Haven teens, meanwhile, enjoyed a mifgash facilitated by a professional mafgish from the Charles Bronfman Center. They continued their holiday experience together on Kibbutz Ein Harod Ichud into the evening. We have received very positive feedback from both Hartford and New Haven about the impact of the mission on its participants. We in Afula-Gilboa sincerely hope that there will be many more opportunities for meeting together.

  Iyar 5761 - May 2001