Naama, Naama and I started our day with a drive south to Sderot. We met at a student village called "Ayalim" that is base on the model of community. Everyone lives in small student houses and is expected to volunteer work toward the community. They also have a goal to make the community accessible to persons with disabilities. There are paved paths to get around the "campus". There is handicap parking. We visited an apartment that also has a lift that brings someone in a wheelchair up high to the sink, allowing them to wash dishes and cook. The furniture is strong wood so it won't break from someone transferring themselves from a chair to a bed etc. A lot of the design has someone with a wheelchair in mind.
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| Some of the people that live in the student village |
The purpose is due to the fact that there are people that live in this community that experience a disability. Again, this is to show people with and without disabilities living together as equals, with some accommodations in mind. The three people we spoke to all want to attend Michlelet Sapir college. They have also volunteered in national service. The interesting thing is that they had to fight just to volunteer.
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| Naama and I at the Oasis |
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| Ayalim- Student village | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Later in Sderot, we had a tour of the Keshet Center. It is a cross-disability recreation center that provides an accessible place for people with disabilities to do different types of art. They feel that art offers a way of self expression accessible to anyone.
We met with a woman from the program that started our conversation with a song. She is blind and works in a factory. She is fighting for fair payment for the work she is doing. She facilitated the meeting and ran a workshop that is part of a project she is involved in. The goal is to give people that may not experience a disability empathy on what it would be like. She asked for a volunteer to be blindfolded, and a volunteer to be the assistant. Naama stated she would like to be blindfolded to give up some control, and Shmulik was her assistant. Her mission was to make coffee, and Shmulik couldn't assist her unless she asked. I also participated. It made me realize that making coffee can be terrifying...
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| Keshet Center |
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| Keshet Center |
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| Keshet Center |
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We ended our tour at Kehilat Migvan or Community of variety. It is an urban Kibbutz that has individuals with disabilities living in the community. Everyone shared in resources to make the community. An example, was that everyone had to pay to have a nice road constructed. It was similar to cobblestone. You can share all of your money, or you don't have to. There was a dining hall in the middle of the community that had a large communal kitchen, and there was food set out buffet style. She explained that everyone shares the food and anyone in the community can come and eat. At the end of the month, they just pay their share. They had a freezer full of meat and a pantry fully stocked. Anyone can come get whatever they want. This community houses a large variety of people, most are educated and have strong ideologies. It felt very comfortable and inviting and everyone seemed genuinely happy when they saw each other in passing. This is a way of living that is becoming more and more common in Israel.
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| Lunch |
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