On December 23, 2002 a mission including participants from Eastern Connecticut and the group of teachers in the Teacher Exchange program enjoyed a different kind of mission experience in the Afula-Gilboa area. The group traveled from the airport to the region and stayed overnight in the cabins on Kibbutz Nir David for three nights.

With the advantage of being close by, the group was able to experience Afula-Gilboa and adjoining areas from a different perspective. Monday night, the night they arrived in Israel there was a gala dinner at the Parkion catering park on Kibbutz Geva in the Gilboa Region. Dinner guests from Afula-Gilboa who were invited to join in the welcoming event included the parents of the young emissaries who served last year in New London and who are serving this year; the Afula-Gilboa teachers who have been participating in the Teachers Exchange program; and P2K volunteers and staff. The evening program included group singing and a storyteller, who related the pioneering tales from the early part of the 20th century during the resettlement of the Yizreel Valley. Everyone enjoyed the evening.

On Tuesday, December 24, 2002, the group began the day with a tour of the Seam Line behind Moshav Ram On in the Taanach Settlements. Danny Attar, Mayor of the Gilboa Regional Council and Chief Engineer Benny Segall explained to the visitors about the acute security problems of the region today. Then the teachers continued within the framework of their study-workshop program and the participants from Eastern Connecticut continued on to visit the Mishkan L'Omanut, the Art Museum on Kibbutz Ein Harod in the Gilboa, to Beit Uri and to Ha'Emek Medical Center. The Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut donated funds to the hospital to help meet the increased emergency needs under the present conditions. The group toured the newly opened surgical unit in the hospital and were able to speak with a patient who had been seriously wounded in the terrorist shooting incident in Beit Shean.

All of us in Afula-Gilboa want all of you in SNEC to know how deeply we appreciate the support that you have demonstrated during these difficult times. As I complete the writing of this newsletter we have just heard of a double terrorist bombing in the old Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv (6:30 P.M. Sunday, January 5, 2003) with many people killed and wounded.

As we all face together the uncertainty of the weeks to come in terms of politics and security let us continue to support each other and hope together for a more optimistic picture in the near future.

  Shvat 5763 - January 2003