HaSchona Sheli: My Neighborhood

Life is complicated in south Tel Aviv. On a daily basis, I am experiencing different aspects of Israeli society that, despite multiple previous trips, I never knew existed. Tel Aviv really is a divided city in many ways. It is fractured along racial, religious and economic lines that would disturb some. At the same time, people are working hard to change the situation of the refugees, recent immigrants and low-income veteran Israelis in south Tel Aviv. The lattermost group came as a surprise to me. I never knew that third generation poverty existed in Israel. However, at this point, I’ve visited some schools whose students are catching up to their wealthier peers on exams and breaking the cycle of poverty. Much of south Tel Aviv seems forgotten by the State of Israel. The city spends most of its money on the north and does little to preserve the history of this area.

At this point, I’m considering volunteering at a detention center for child refugees, most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea. These children are incapable of returning to their war torn homelands, so the center (called Hila Project) is working to find them either boarding schools or homes in Israel. I have visited a few different schools for low-income and refugee children and it looks like I might be able to teach Spanish and/or English at one of them. I would also like to work in north Tel Aviv at a non-profit (I will figure that out soon as well).

Kiryat Shalom is a safe, family friendly neighborhood. Below are shots of my street and apartment building.

Here is my room:

The living room:

The rooftop, which overlooks our neighborhood. On a clear day, you can see the skyscrapers in the background:

Just south of us is Yafo (Jaffa), a mixed Arab and Jewish area that is part of the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality. Old Jaffa is a very unique place, full of shuks, amazing Arabic food and great beaches.

Jaffa is also full of cheap bike shops specializing in stolen bikes (I got mine for roughly 50 bucks and now use it to ride all over town).

I am ecstatic to be volunteering with such a unique and interesting group of people. On Feb. 15, we had a picnic on the beach.

Popping open champagne by the Jaffa beach

Enjoying Yafo at night.

Next week I will officially select my volunteering spots (probably four or five places). I can’t wait to get started!