Meitar hosted a women's march!
Groups and individuals from as far away as Beer Sheva came to walk along a brand new section of our tayelet/promenade, which will eventually go all round Meitar's periphery.
Hundreds of women and children and a few guys registered (with a 20 shekel contribution) and got the white T shirt saying "Nashim tso'adot lema'an yeladim," meaning Women march for the sake of children.
It was a fund-raiser and awareness-builder for the Summit Institute, which works for "psychosocial rehabilitation" and tries to find foster homes for at-risk children.
Foster care is not so well known in Israel, I understand.
A Summit woman came to the march starting point bearing balloons.
She was soon noticed and mobbed by the mothers.
Soon we were all stretched out along the new promenade.
In this section it parallels Nahal Habsor, the Besor River.
The river, or at least its bed, is to the right; the outer-most houses of Meitar's newest neighborhood, under construction, on the left.
The musicians led on and gave us energy with their African drumbeats.
The late afternoon sun was still plenty hot.
You can enlarge these photos, remember.
See two girls in orange?
They walked up behind me, giggled, and said "shalom!"
Their shirts said "Hura Regional Council" so I realized they were Bedouin from the nearby Bedouin town of Hura!
Turns out that their whole class and teacher came to march with us.
More about that in tomorrow's post!
.
Great idea!
ReplyDeleteWhat did the march hope to achieve - stronger legislation? more services? better services? Community awareness?
It looks like a lot of people came out for a good cause. And hot or not, a pleasant place to walk in.
ReplyDeleteI think you must have been very hot! We need to send you some shade.
ReplyDeleteHels, I wish the march organizers had passed out some printed information to answer your questions. One Summit man did ask if I wanted to get involved, which I think meant signing up to give monthly contributions through my bank.
ReplyDeleteUmm, sorry ...
From this article from 2013
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Knesset-passes-bill-regulating-foster-care-system-in-Israel-334118
we learn that only then "The Knesset plenum approved a bill enshrining the State’s legal responsibility toward the foster care system in Israel for the very first time.
. . .
today, the system is primarily controlled by NGOs, under the relatively loose supervision of the Ministry of Social Affairs."
Please forgive me, but I am always skeptical about these things. Anyway it is good to know that Bedouin women and girls where there too.
ReplyDelete