Respite for Bedouin El-Kassum Children

21 Feb Respite For Children From The Bedouin Village Of El-Kassum

Posted at 18:19h in Stories by Bernardo Vieira

El-Kassum Regional Council, Negev, Israel

Respite for children from the Bedouin village of El-Kassum.
Giving kids respite from conflict is one of the ways Youth Futures can help.

The Jewish Agency's flagship program, Youth Futures, which provides at-risk children with mentors who help them improve their interpersonal, intrapersonal, and academic skills, brought 80 children from the Bedouin Village of El-Kassum to the Kiftzuba amusement park near Jerusalem. It was a day of respite, outside the range of most rockets from Gaza.

"It's very important for the children to have this day outside of the South," said Youth Futures director for El-Kassum, Suheir Abukrinat. "It gives them a chance to simply be children." She reported that there are no bomb shelters and no air-raid sirens in El Kassum.

"We find out from our phones when a rocket is coming," she said. "It typically lets us know after the rocket has already fallen."

El-Kassum launched its Youth Futures program in 2013. The 80 children went to Kiftzuba are just part of the estimated 50,000 children that The Jewish Agency is provided with days of respite during Operation Protective Edge.