Written by Howard Gordon, in charge of Informal Education on Tzora & a member of People to People subcommittee Following a Birthright Volunteer visit at a Mateh Yehuda Summer Camp.
Picture this:
60 kids enjoying themselves in the beautiful Kibbutz Tzora surroundings. Playing with balls and skipping rope, dressing up and generally having fun. 60 young adult Americans from Birthright converge on our doorstep and the next three hours are purely magical. I was the fly on the wall as I walked around with a huge smile on my face watching how the young adults interacted with the youngsters aged 6-12 from Kibbutz Tzora. Both groups were divided into random groups and each group had a chance to interact with the Americans as they worked their charms on our young ones.
At any given moment one could find people rolling chocolate balls, making pita bread on the "tabun" on the fire. One could do either be enjoying American style line dancing or face painting in the clubhouse. Some of the enthusiastic youngsters began shooting hoops amidst the laughter of the younger kids. The morning was an unbelievable success and many thanks go to Amit Zehavi from P2K for organizing such an amazing event. I will conclude by quoting one of the kibbutz children, Please invite these people again. It was such fun. Why were they here for such a short time." I believe that both groups enjoyed themselves immensely and all the effort behind the scenes certainly paid off. Well Done!