Weekly report by the Northern group- Miranda and Sophie Phillips.
The past week has been particularly exciting for Shnat Ma’ayan North, seeing us move from Lotan to Karmiel. Despite the fact that it was our last week, it was still a busy one. A highlight from our final week was an illuminating panel organised by Mark, involving three generations of Lotan residents. The subject was the privatisation of Lotan, a development that had been causing much debate amongst the group. We were able to ask the panel questions regarding the recent changes, and were surprised and touched by the emotion of all the residents regarding this issue, realising that for many, the changes represented an effort to save Lotan, rather than the end of a socialist dream. The next day we took part in a lip sync battle, organised for us by the hatzav kids, which was a hilarious experience. The winning entry, and by far and away most creative, was a rendition from Grease, by Tommy and Charley.
Lotan has had a huge impact on all of us, both as individuals and also our kvutza. We have had the opportunity to meet some amazing and inspiring people, and find new interests that we had never thought about before, giving us a really great start to Shnat.
The transition from Lotan to urban life was made easier through a beautiful sikkum seminar, led by Alice, Chloe, Beth and Sophie Peaterman, which allowed us time to reflect on our experiences on Kibbutz. The seminar culminated with songs around a bonfire on Saturday evening.
And here are some photos from Kibbutz-https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0fnht38r7ncq79u/AACTlb7lljj5NCJC9FKvb1qaa?dl=0
The last sunset on Lotan
It’s been a busy week for Shnat Ma’ayan having moved to Karmiel on Sunday. We spent the weekend having closing seminar on Lotan and all the sessions were really special and thoughtful including our last kabshab in the moadon. Although sorry to leave the beautiful Lotan and also some amazing people especially Mark and Debbie, everyone was anticipant to move to somewhere completely different. We were all very surprised by how pretty Karmiel turned out to be after many people on Lotan tried to convince us that it was rather dull and grey in order for us to stay. We are living in a house of 11 and flat of 7 which are a ten minute walk from each other, and have organised a tochnit (plan) in order to see each other as much as we can. The first day, Queen Galit gave us a tour of all our volunteering placements around Karmiel and today we started working. Although Kibbutz Lotan was very relaxing, everyone’s excited to have more independence going out to volunteering and coming back to our homes making dinner and spending some quality time together.
On the Monday we were taken on a tour of our volunteering placements, which range from working on a farm to working with disabled children and adults. Everyone is very anticipant to start this new chapter in our Shnat journey, and looking forward to the next two months!!
Meeting the Mayor of Karmiel, Mr. Adi Elad