Our Trip to Ashkelon

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            On July 5th I finally got my chance to go out into the field and interact with some of the community members in Ashkelon. The day started out normally I got into work at 10:00 and at 12:30 we started to head off on our way. The ride itself was about 1 hour and 20 minutes, we also had to pick up an intern from the train station on our way there.
         
          When we finally got to our community center we saw that the gate was still locked, which meant we could not get it. All though this was a bit stressful since we were already running a bit late, we were able to have a quick tour of Ashkelon and learn a little about the community. After our 5-10 minutes tour we were told that the gate was open and we could come in. We then started to set up for our program for the day
              Now before I get into what we were doing that day in Ashkelon let me give a quick background on the town and community. Ashkelon is a more less fortunate neighborhood. At the same time many of the Ethiopian-Israelis were playing football (soccer) in the streets, which is unsafe more several reasons. Because of this we felt it to be necessary to build field in which they could play in.
            Coming in I was not sure what to expect for the days. I knew that we where going in to the center and working on the field but did not know about what the Ethiopian-Israelis would be  like would be like. When I first saw them I saw many similarities between them and African American  American teens. We also met a group of South Africans who were probably the most diverse group of people I have met. 
             The South Africans are a group of 5-16 year old students on a leadership program here  in Israel. They came to the center and learned about the the community and history of the Ethiopian-Israeli people . So as we were preparing everything for when they get here, we find out that they were going to be a little late. When they finally arrived, they first learned a little about the Ethiopian-Israeli community and many of the issues that they face and then were told about the community and the why the field was being build, and then we were given shovels and rakes to work and help on building the field. After about 15 minutes of work they came back in, enjoyed a nice cold cup of water they went back to the room and heard the Aliyah stories of Eli Melech, a staff member who runs a number of the community centers here in Israel. By 6:00 PM the group finally left and we started to head our way back to Jerusalem.

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