Nemashim Kommune
Activity Report for November – December 2005
To all our Friends: greetings, shalom, and salaam!
The Kommune is comprised of 5 volunteers, in age of 18 – 19: three girls and two boys. Actually we initiate social and educational activities, through art – especially theatre, according to needs of the two communities, we are working with - of : Newe Yosef (Jewish) and Halissa (Arab). We are involved in activities with children, youth and adults. Has to be announced, that population of Newe Yosef is mostly of Oriental origin, mixed with new immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia, as well as a small community of Palestinian collaborators, who are rejected by both the Jewish and the Arab population in the neighborhood, as well as all over Israel.
We attempt to include especially youth of all ethnic, cultural and national groups who live in the two neighborhoods, in our activity, while we focus on building bridges, understanding and cooperation between people who live here.
We have also to announce the excellent cooperation we have, with the local Social Center, that is actually the most important social-cultural institution in all Eastern Haifa.
We are happy to share with you our second activity report, highlighting our volunteer work in the community.
Activities
Community television: Two groups of women and youth work intensively on sketches, T.V reports, and even a soap opera. They appear on N.Y.TV (Neve Yosef ), a television show centered in the community of Neve Yosef on the channel HOT T.V.
Womens' theatre class: As part of a women's empowerment program, a talented group of adult women is preparing a play on the delicate relationship between women and their mothers. Currently, a second class for Arab women is enthusiastically being put together. Ultimately, we hope to combine the classes.
Theater classes in elementary School: We teach elementary school-aged children how to express themselves through drama. We have received very positive feedback from the school management.
Story hour: We introduce small children to folklore through interactive and theatrical story-telling. The children are very enthusiastic and learn many important values and facts.
Belly dancing groups: More than 70 Jewish and Arab, young and adult women attend Ortal's two classes and find dancing a healthy way to peel away the stress of their daily lives.
We also tutor and mentor children, often on a one-on-one, regular basis. One of our tutoring ventures is in the "Orot" girls' center in Halisa. In this center we also give guitar lessons and teach belly-dancing.
Let us share with you the new activities and productions of the past months:
The Baloon Kingdom: This was the first play we presented to children and their relatives, and it had excellent reviews. It was based on a children story about a kingdom made of balloons. Hundreds of children came to the performance with their parents. In the near future we are going to perform this play in more children garden and elementary schools, over all Haifa.
Belly dancing party: Over the course of a weekend we had a Middle-Eastern belly dancing party for women only. More than a hundred women from the whole area came. There were performances of belly-dancing teachers from all over the country.
Street show: Michael and Javiar appeared all over Haifa in a satirical comedy about diseases of Israeli society. The act was also performed at the Arab theatre Al-Midan.
Lately 2 young Arab artists joined the team: they mean to perform together more street improvisations over Haifa main streets.
Leo Beck bi-national event: 130 Jewish and Arab children from after-school programs met for the Holiday of Holidays, a multicultural celebration of Ramadan, Hanukah, and Christmas in the in Leo Beck Center. We participated the event together with students from the Halisa chapter of the "Open House project", a university voluteering program. We gave a variety of classes for children including music class with emphasis on drumming, as well as classes in capuera, theatre, belly- dancing, arts and crafts. We also created a musical pantomime performed by Ortal, Hila, and Afek. We were told by the organizers that it was the best performance during the Holiday of Holidays in five years.
Open House students: Since the beginning of November, we worke with students from Haifa University who came to volunteer to Neve Yosef Social Center, as part of the "Open House project". Participants of the project, both Arab and Jewish, live in Neve Yosef and Halisa and they work one day a week in educational and social project – as return for accommodation. Hila is cooperating with one of the students to develop an Arabic -Hebrew newspaper written by youths of the two communities. Michael and Hila attended a drama class for Arab and Ethiopian girls that was organized by an "Open House" volunteer. One of the drama students, Hamudi, is cooperating with us to assist a group of young men who are going to become a youth theater class.
Recruiting for next year: During the last few months we were looking for participants to theatre workshop, in purpose to prepare the group of participants for the next year's Kommuna.
Halissa Forum: We are joining the efforts of Taayoush and the Community Committee in Halissa to improve the quality of life in this neighbourhood. We attended meetings and publicized gatherings that discussed community problems. We are facilitating the Community Committee of Halisa in obtaining funding for basic needs from the Haifa City Counsel. We also cooperate with other activists working to develop art programs for children.
Hebron and Bilin: We volunteered to pick olives in Hebron and toured Bilin to see the village and the wall. We enjoyed both trips and created relationships with people of the village, one of which came to visit us here in Haifa.
Woman's Day: We performed satirical street theater as part of a Womens' Day celebration.
Movie project: Javier, Afek, from the Kommuna and Chaled (a counselor at the center) are creating a movie in cooperation with Arab youths from the Ramot Remez Community Center.
We learn about theater through seeing productions, attending Uri's (our director) theater lessons, and performing. We are working on a new play for adults that deals with conflicts arising from cultural differences. The play is progressive in that the performers don't speak but rather portray themes through body movements and dance. We found Arab performers who may join us in our acting group. We are in close contact with Sharon (our Social Coordinator) who helps us a lot.
We are also advancing in learning Arabic language.
We send you our best wishes and look forward to informing you of our advancements in the next report.
