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Written by Esther
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Today we had our service day at the Absorption Center in Mevasseret Zion. At the Absorption Center, Ethiopian immigrants (olim) receive 10 months of Hebrew education, and stay for 1-2 years before joining Israel society. After a briefing from JAFI, we began our service, painting murals on the walls.
All of the tracks were assigned mural painting work outside, except, ironically, the Environment Track. We were given a series of murals in the hallway of the school. The artists told us that they had consulted with the leadership and participants at the Absorption Center to design the murals, and the outlines of the murals were drawn for us, so our task was to "color in the lines."
For me, there was something satisfying and simple about painting: about long, colorful strokes along the walls, about filling within lines that someone else had drawn for me. As an "innovator," I spend so much of my time trying to create new things. Taking the time to draw purple on the cloak of a man reaching toward the sky is an entirely different type of skill, one that takes patience and some
conformity – skills that maybe I need to learn a bit more of.
Still, the environmentalists were not without our innovations. Some of our group felt that the trip wanted to get to know the community more and hear more of the stories of the olim who had recently
arrived. They wished that Ethiopian olim who had completed the program could have been the one giving the opening presentation. In order to strengthen our connection to the Absorption Center, we tried to meet some of the olim who were being taught at the center. We came into their classroom and tried to speak to them. Unfortunately the olim that we met did not speak Hebrew yet. However, the teacher of the classroom offered to translate for us, and some of the participants had interesting conversations with several of the olim.
When the conversation was complete and the class was over, we offered to let them help paint the mural, and for a short while several women took their hands with the paint. I must say that they really seemed to enjoy it, just as I had. I felt that they experienced that same joy at drawing beautiful colors on the wall. (Next time my three-year-old wants to take a crayon for this purpose, maybe I'll be
a bit more understanding.)
Evonne Marzouk is Executive Director of Canfei Nesharim.
[For another perspective on the visit to the absorption center, see this post.]
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