Yesterday I woke up and made my way to Haifa to visit a school there, Yemin Orde. A family friend of mine had helped with the creation of some of the facilities and they arranged for me to have a VIP visit and tour. A taxi was sent to pick me up at the train station and I was brought to the village where the lobby of the cafeteria was prepared for my arrival with snacks and drinks with which I filled myself.
I was met and given a history of the school and the model was explained to me. The school takes kids from all over the world and brings them to Israel. Most of the kids are orphans or they are taken from a bad family situation such as drug abuse and alcholism. The kids are at the school from ages 6 to 18 and then they go to serve in the Israeli army, just like every other Israeli at the age of 18. Many of the kids, who do not have parents, return to the village on weekends and breaks from the army because the members of the school treat them as family and the village is meant to be their home. When they return home they have a place to sleep and three meals a day at the cafeteria. The school encourages the individuals to keep in touch with their heritage and it is only the bad things from their past that they are encouraged to forget. The village puts on celebrations for the various kids’, such as kids from Russia or Ethiopia, respective holidays in order to help them stay in touch with their heritage. Once the kids have served their time in the army and move on with their lives, Yemin Orde even signs on the mortage to their first house until they are able to build their own credit.
They never turn a kid away and they have various projects, bringing in large groups of 50 kids from different countries and they are always encouraged to, and their are many success stories of kids returning to their respective countries and holding influential positions in society such as mayor or police chief. When the young adults get married, the village even hosts the wedding on site.
After I was given a thourough background of the school, I was given a tour of all of their impressive facilities including computer labs and science buildings. Last year the students from Ethiopia came in fourth place in a robot building competition in Atlanta, GA.
After my tour, we returned to the cafeteria where a table was set for the two of us and about eight different plates of food were brought out. Of course, I finished as much as I possibly could without looking as though I came from a starved childhood. Then they brought me back to the train station. I am grateful to have had this oppotunity and I want to thank my friends for putting it together for me.
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