Rina, you served as the Partnership Director for the past 12.5 years - how did it all begin?

I followed my heart to the Arava, which led to working for the Jewish Agency. In 1995 I married my husband Itai Gal, who is a second generation member of Ein Yahav, and began looking for work in the region. I'm an engineer by training, and before moving to the Arava I was working for an industrial engineering consultancy and management company, which including working on a project called Nazareth 2000 that dealt with renewal and improvement of the city's infrastructure prior to the new millennium. After Ital and I decided to marry, I applied to the then Head of the Regional Council, Shai Ben Eliahu, and since he knew that the Jewish Agency's regional director for the Arava and the Eilat-Eilot region was leaving, he suggested that I try for the job.

Moving to the Arava was a completely new start for me, a different kind of life in a unique part of the country, and the opportunity to both help young families settle in the region and to also take part in the inception of the partnership between the communities of the Arava and Australia. I should add that before I began working for JAFI I had never dealt either with settlement or with Diaspora relations, and at first I was somewhat disinclined to work for the Agency, which was perceived at the time by some as an outdated bureaucracy. However it wasn't long before I understood the significance of the contribution which JAFI was making to the region, both in physical infrastructure and in building the community of the Arava, and in the reciprocal relations with the Australian community.

Your family has grown somewhat during these years.

Yes, our four sons were all born during this time, and they're now aged 11, 10, 6 and 3. It wasn't easy juggling work and family, but with determination and lots of support from the family network, it can be done.

The Jewish Agency and the Partnership have done so much for the Arava that we certainly can't list all of the many achievements in one short interview. What immediately comes to mind as the things of which you're most proud?

So much has been done over the years that I don't want to single out any specific projects, but to rather look at the holistic approach that helped to improve the lives of the residents of the Arava and to develop new sources of employment for both veteran residents and new settlers. And above all, I have to mention what I consider to be the main achievement in the field of reciprocal relations, in that the topic of Israel-Diaspora relations is on the agenda of almost every household in the region, thanks to the many rich and varied programs provided for the students and residents of the Arava. Today the people of the Arava know that the Jewish people in the Diaspora are not simply a financial resource, but rather a part of us, and we need to learn as much as we can about each other, to help each other and work towards our mutual benefit.

You've been working outside the home for quite some time, for a total of 18 years now. What's your next move?

First of all I'd like to take a break, to sit back and take a deep breath! This gives me a chance for a little self-examination, to think about what I'd like to do. In the meantime I'm already involved in volunteer work in the region, as the Ein Yahav representative to the regional education committee, which is the most intensely busy committee on the region, and which is very important to me. In the past I've also been on the Ein Yahav management committee several times, and in the future I may decide to volunteer on Ein Yahav and in the region in other ways, and I'm also considering further studies. I additionally plan to continue to be actively involved in the Partnership as a volunteer activist in the AAP (Arava Australia Partnership) group. And finally I have to add that having four young active children sometimes leaves me without the energy to think at all!