JUMP Start in Israel

Reported by Kate Tsubata

On Sunday, February 13, a team of 24 participants from the United States arrived in Tel Aviv, including a mix of WAIT and Service For Peace volunteers, as part of JUMP, the Jerusalem-US Multicultural Project, an exchange activity between the Municipality of Jerusalem 's At Risk Youth Department, and the U.S. organizations.

We were met by Baruch Shalev, the Service For Peace coordinator in Israel , and several staff members from the Municipality. After traveling to the Hotel Knesset Towers in Jerusalem, we had a short introductory meeting with Shabtai Amedi, Director of the Municipality's Youth department, and Hezi Shilo, Director of Facilities, as well as a social worker who was to be our translator and constant companion for our stay, Stacey Miller, and the "Get it done guy" Eli. We were quite tired, so after dinner, we tumbled into bed for a deep sleep, and enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast the next morning.

Stacey arrived to walk us to the Har Herzl memorial, which commemorates the graves of many of the founders and key figures in Israel 's more recent history. We visited the site of Theodore Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, and Itzaak Rabin, former prime minister, assassinated at a peace rally in 1995 by a Jewish man who saw his peace efforts as a threat against Israel . We placed a rock upon their graves, and we visited the site commemorating the deaths of the victims of terrorism as well.

We were accompanied by two female soldiers, Elinor and Anat, who are teacher/soldiers. Their assignment is to help with the care of the young people served by the At-Risk Youth Department, a totally mixed population of some 5,000 young people.

Then, we walked over to Yad VaShem, the memorial and museum dedicated to telling the story of the holocaust. It was a searing and heart wrenching experience for many on the team, and we were re-reminded of the mission we take on, the genocide posed by AIDS. To balance the depravity of the Nazi mass extermination of the Jewish people, as well as the gypsies, handicapped and other minorities, we were refreshed by the many trees planted to the memory of those called "The Righteous," those who risked their own safety and survival to protect or save Jewish lives. After, we shared some of our reactions to these memorials, and once again we recognized that AIDS is taking out people in even greater numbers today, so that our work is a lifesaving mission.

Later that day, we went to the Kagan Centre in the Katamonium area of Jerusalem , a neighborhood of recent immigrants, largely from Ethiopia . After a short rehearsal, we met briefly some of the kids from the Multicultural Dance Troupe, who, we quickly discovered, spoke almost no English, with only a few exceptions. Yet, when our joint performances began, we quickly saw that we had dance and movement as a common language.

During supper, we were addressed by Dr. Inon Schenker, Israel Medical Association, head of the Jerusalem AIDS Project, the most active AIDS organization in Israel . He shared some facts with us: Every day in Israel , one person is infected. The immigrant populations (Ethiopian and Russian especially) are the most at-risk. Drug use is a significant factor. He provided posters and literature in both Hebrew and Arabic for us to use, and he praised the team for their dedication to help stop the pandemic. He also offered to connect us with people in the Education Ministry and elsewhere to share our methods of education.

After supper, we went over to the dance troupe's studio, a former bomb shelter pressed into service as a place to shelter youth and arts. With music and some "disco type" lights, the kids began dancing, but we soon realized they thought we would be like the stereotypical Americans shown on TV and films: pairing off, dancing in explicit ways, etc. The team quickly organized boys groups to do break dance and share cool moves from both groups, and the girls did the same with some hip hop dancing. Despite the fun, we were all still exhausted from our travels and the time differences, so we left after a couple of hours and gladly hit our beds.

On Tuesday, we took vans over to the Old City, and passed into the tunnels unearthed from excavating the portions of the Western Wall hidden for centuries by the underground arch system built by the Muslims about a thousand years ago, upon which most of the current Muslim quarter of the city is built. These arches lifted the level of the houses and shops to be close to the top of the wall, which was originally about 9 stories tall, and would have shadowed and dwarfed the Arab quarter. Like a honeycomb of layered arches, this subterranean structure is now being excavated, using only manual means. We were honored to be allowed to enter this area: Most Israeli citizens have never seen it, and it includes the spot on the wall directly across from the Holy of Holies in the ancient temple, considered the holiest site in the city.

The tunnels also led to the waterways and reservoir built by King Herod to shunt water away from the wall and the construction area of the temple and his palace. It served as a moat to protect him as well, since he was extremely fearful of attacks and assassinations.

Emerging from the tunnels into the Old City and the Via Dolorosa (Street of Sorrow), we did some short shopping, and then gathered for lunch in a sunlit square, then on to Ammunition Hill, a well-known center of the fighting during the 1967 War, which is currently an army installation. The group was hearing stories of how the area survived the attacks when one of our group suffered an injury herself: Hannah De Groot, our willowy ballet dancer, twisted her ankle, putting her out of commission for some days. The group quickly wrapped the ankle, put ice on it, and elevated the leg, so it was able to heal quickly.

At this point I should explain that most of the members of the group experienced some form of physical challenge during the trip. So many flu and cold and sore throat symptoms were experienced, so our able medic, Michele Burton, really kept busy dosing people with the homeopathic remedies we brought along, and dealing with the sore muscles from dancing or hiking, or other incidental issues. However, the group kept the spirit of working hard and giving out, no matter what.

After supper, we hiked over to a park for a bonfire with the Dance Troupe kids. With the able assistance of outdoorsmen like Matt, Wongil and others, we soon had a good blaze going, and we began learning each other's songs. We all sang one called "Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu" which means "One day, peace will surely come," and we taught them the four part round "Love, love, love, love."

The next day began with a tour of several churches at En Karem, commemorating the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, as they were pregnant with Jesus and John the Baptist. Then we went to the Hadassah En Karem Hospital for a service project for kids and adults with cancer and surgeries. We broke into smaller groups to perform for the different wards. We did singing, dancing, breakdance and juggling for children being treated for cancer, adults with cancer, children recovering from surgery, and the families of the patients. Patients were both Jews and Arabs, as well as from many ethnic populations, and we saw their faces change from that of worry to that of relaxation and enjoyment through just a few minutes of song or dance or juggling. Many patients offered prayers or thanks for us, and several decided to entertain us, wanting to make us laugh too! It was a beautiful experience. Choreographer Micha Nes, whose son is now receiving treatment for brain cancer, had tears in his eyes when he saw the patients' reactions. He told us that we had made so many people happy, including his son.

Then, we dropped off Uncle Scott Simonds, Nancy Gallegos, Heather Simonds and Lan Tsubata at the Jerusalem YMCA for a Rotary meeting, and later, a visit with Baruch Shalev to the Knesset where they met with key national leaders.  They introduced the work of Service For Peace and WAIT, and described the JUMP project to the various representatives of the political and business communities. The response was very positive, and they arranged for a performance of WAIT at the YMCA for the following week.

The rest of the team traveled an hour to Jaffa , to participate in the Jeru SEA lem project, a youth intervention program teaching sea skills as a way to engage and create positive experiences for at-risk youth.  We climbed into kayaks, sailboats, and for the adventurous ones, wind sail boards.  Luckily, it was pretty warm, and we had nice weather. Nevertheless, the team ended up pretty damp, and pleasantly exhausted. The teachers of this program were amazing. They are social workers, but they take unpaid time and work extra hours to teach these kids. I asked one of them, Dorit, why she does this. She said "I want to give Arab and Jewish kids the experience of really knowing each other. Some of these kids didn't know even one person of the other population, so they could believe anything that was told to them. I think we have to build peace by letting young people work together and get to know each other personally. I felt I need to be a part of that by giving kids a new way of experiencing each other."

We found out this is only one program the At-Risk Youth department has, to do the same goal. They also have a program teaching kids horseback skills, soccer teams, arts and crafts, martial arts, belly dancing, and the dance troupe. The inspiration behind this, ironically, came from an experience that the director had while working in New York with social workers under Mayor Rudy Giulani. Shabtai Amedi developed the idea that they should go out to the kids, and involve them proactively, instead of just working with them when they are in trouble; intervention and prevention rather than putting out fires afterwards.

For instance, the department runs a series of coffee houses in neighborhoods with high risk populations, where the wait staff are all social workers. Kids come in to hang out and drink coffee, and they get to know and trust the social workers, who hook them up with some of these positive programs. By the way, one of the key at-risk populations are North American or other English-speaking immigrants whose parents emigrate to Israel . The parents become ultra-religious, but the kids feel alienated, and end up imitating the thug behavior of the American inner cities, getting into IV drugs, promiscuity, and lots of other problems. The coffee houses attract such kids, and they get connected to programs to help them with life goals.

The kids involved have a wide variety of family problems or cultural struggles. Recent immigrants from Ethiopia , Russia , Morocco , France or South Africa are all transitioning into the language and culture of Israel , and class issues are as serious as cultural ones. In such a way, the American experience and the Israeli one are virtual mirrors of each other.

Of course, this was an excellent arena for WAIT; our experience with inner-city and struggling youth prepares us to work very well with such kids. The fact that "American" kids had come, doing the cool stuff like breakdance and hip hop and music, was a huge calling card. The standard we had broke a lot of concepts. They expected us to be smoking, drinking, pairing off and piercing every available patch of flesh. When they saw how straight we were, they had a double-take reaction. Many said "How refreshing to hear American young people promoting abstinence. This is our message (the parents') but we don't usually hear this from America ." It really helped create more trust in the motives of Americans.

Also, they were very inspired by the reaction of the youth audiences to the WAIT performances. To see their own kids jump up and dance with us really moved the teachers and parents. It was like "intercultural, but spontaneous" and they were amazed. Many offered their complete support for a team to come and teach in their schools, districts, etc.

After a long day of service and seafaring lessons, we were tired, but managed to go out and find the internet café in the main bus terminal. 14 of us mobbed the available computers, but catching up was very therapeutic for most of us.

The next day, the group went to an open-air fruit and vegetable market, followed by horseback riding at the ranch the Municpality uses for their horsemanship outreach. Lan seemed to provide the example of humble leadership as she rode the smallest horse, and got the most ribbing for it. The kids noticed that her horse's head was going lower and lower as the various jokes were made, so we hope that we didn't cause a major loss of equestrian equanimity at poor Lan's expense.

Later, we met back at the Neve Yakov Community Center for a rehearsal and joint performance for the surrounding community, mostly Russian immigrants. The response, again, was quite good, and a local cable news channel interviewed several of the team members and showed parts of our performance on their news show.

The head of that community center thanked me with tears in her eyes, mentioning how many of the young people of that area were involved in the high risk behaviors, and were given hope by our strong message.

The next day, we were up early to leave for a trip to En Gedi, which we were warned would be led by a soldier teacher, so we were prepared for an arduous hike. The entry was to a lovely national park, and we did climb up some hills and hiking trails to the sweet water falls and pools of the En Gedi springs. We had just gotten to a particularly lovely spot when another group also arrived, which seemed to be of students and teachers similar in age to our group. Baruch started chatting with one teacher and introduced him to me as the leader of that Druze school expedition, and we offered to do a performance for their group down at the entrance to the park, and their group quickly accepted.

Despite the natural tiredness after a hike, our kids gamely pulled out the performance gear and set up for an on the spot performance, which gathered a crowd as other travelers also came and watched. The school group responded enthusiastically, and soon we had a spontaneous "Debka" dance line formed, with all kinds of people joining into the dancing and singing. This was winding all around the plaza in front of the park, and one visitor called the mayor of that area to tell him about our performance. He immediately invited us to perform at an international marathon for peace being held the next day at the famous En Gedi Springs Spa, which we accepted. Baruch then suggested we be given a complimentary visit to the Spa, which they did, and we trooped into the warm sulfurous baths and coated ourselves with Dead Sea mud, washing off in salt and fresh water showers.

From here, we went down to Arad, to the Levahim community, where we performed for a mixed girls and boys scout gathering, where parents also came, first to pick up their kids but then to stay and watch. This was a well-educated, middle-class area, so many of the parents were professors and professionals. They were thrilled with their children's enthusiastic response to the performance, many buying t-shirts or CDs and wanting to learn how to do a similar team there.

That night, we stayed at the Inbal hotel, which was filled with several other groups, including a nurses' group from the Arab community, and some Korean Catholic visitors. The nurses loved out message, and wanted to see us perform, but Shabbat rules made it difficult to use electricity to let us perform.

The next morning, we traveled back to En Gedi, and did two performances, spreading the breakdance mats out under the limited shade of the palm trees to allow kids to sit and watch. Our bus driver, Isham, had by this time become a full team member. He helped our artistic team create several signs for Service for Peace and WAIT in Arabic as well as the Hebrew written by Baruch, so that we could have an information table understandable to all participants in the 8 nation race. So many parents and teachers approached us, impressed by our message and asking if we could manage a visit to their areas and schools.

Among the participants who saw us perform happened to be the headmaster of the Anglican International School in Jerusalem . Arriving back at his workplace the next day, he found a fax about our team, so he called and reserved us for a date at the end of our stay.

The Mayor was extremely impressed by our group and our message. He immediately invited us to come back anytime, and he suggested to Baruch that the IPSF be held at the Dead Sea location, with the theme of Peace in the Middle East . He is a strong worker for peace, and has actively supported various seminars and initiatives to bring various representatives of the arab nations and populations together with the Israeli ones, to create better understanding. The Service For Peace message resonated very strongly with him.

We gave him a DVD and a CD of our team, and promised to work together in the future.

We then traveled for a while down to Rahad, a Bedouin community of 38,000 former nomads who have settled in one area, building a town of impressive numbers of schools, with a large population of college-educated clan members as a result. We had a male-only audience, numbering about 300 by the end, who encored the breakdancers, and who led us in a Debka of their particular tribe, which our brothers joined in. We accepted the leader's invitation to come back for a snack, which turned out to be a feast complete with large platters of cooked rice and chicken and vegetables which we ate communally, some braving the new experience of eating with the hands.

The leader, Ahmad, shared a lot of the Bedouin culture and history with us, and expressed deep gratitude for our message of abstinence and lifetime marriage, which is a strong pillar of their culture. The girls and women of our team wanted to visit the women of their community, so we did, meeting the lovely wives and mothers who had made the delicious food for us, staying separate from the men and visitors for modesty's sake.

At that time, an imam of the city began preaching to me about the importance of our message, and said that we were ordained by God to bring this message to all the world, and that God would bless and protect us for this holy work.

Our bus driver, by the way, had become a translator for us during the presentation, and as we drove back, he and the team were having a grand old time doing the wave when he would turn on the inside lights of the bus.

Back in Jerusalem , we met up with Simon Kinney and Mike Balcomb, newly arrived from the States, there to represent Service For Peace and to film the next few days' events.

On Sunday, we met with Yigal Amedi, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem , and he welcomed us to the city and gave each of us golden lion pins, the symbol of Jerusalem .
We presented him with a DVD and CD, and a t-shirt (new WAIT team member!)and then, the girls hopped over the very proper tables, which were set up in a large
circle with the center empty, and they did the "Rose is still a Rose" dance with the fans.  The deputy mayor said afterwards "I think you should become the official dance troupe of the Municipality of Jerusalem , because it would make the City Meetings much more interesting to watch!" 

In the afternoon, the kids participated in workshops to learn some of the dance forms and other skills the multicultural dance troupe uses, such as Capoeira (martial arts dancing) and belly dancing and modern dance, and a segment on art.  The studio that they work in is quite small and cramped, but the two mirrored dance rooms are fairly large, and afterwards, the kids did some spontaneous practice to music like "Gangsta Paradise." A potluck dinner followed, contributed by the kids of the multicultural dance troupe, and we filled ourselves to the brim with the delicious dishes they prepared for us. (Note to all: go on a diet after visiting Israel .)

Later, the adult Service for Peace and WAIT coordinators met with Deputy Mayor Amedi again (who is the brother, by the way, of the division's director Shabi Amedi) and he discussed more thoroughly the promising nature of the collaboration. We urged him to become a part of the delegation visiting the U.S. with the dance troupe, and he said he'd consider it. He promised his support for the project to the Knesset members and various government ministries, and we had a lot of fun with him too.

Meanwhile, Baruch arranged for us to visit the Knesset the next day, where we met with 4 members of the parliament, including 2 who have been working actively on the AIDS issue: Ilan Leibovitch, Secular party; Eti Levni, Secular party; Gila Gamliel, Likud; Naomi Blumenthal, Likud.   They were extremely encouraging and welcoming.  We again wanted to dance for one of them, but due to the security procedures, we didn't have our CD player.  However, one of the City officials who had come with us at the last minute happened to bring his laptop, and he jumped up and said "I can play the CD!" so we put a mike next to the laptop and the girls did "One Girl Revolution" in the parliament!  The photographer was going wild taking shots that certainly were more interesting than the ones she normally takes of the meet and greet sessions.  Also, people started coming in from the hall, etc.  A lot were reading our shirts, asking the kids what they were waiting for, and when they told them it was to wait for sex until marriage to stop HIV, then they were very happy, saying "That's great!  Keep it up!" 

Then we had to rush over to the Begin Center , where we performed as one of many acts at a Rising Star performance, where kids from the city were competing for a sort of Israeli Idol type thing.  Our breakdancers were one of the last acts, and we got a standing ovation from many in the audience. Impressive in another way, the deputy mayor made a point of mentioning WAIT in his speech and praising our joint project with the municipality, and the efforts of our young people to stop AIDS.

One article written about the event mentioned "a group of performers from America teaching about AIDS through breakdancing" and called the event "the most moving experience I've had all week." We also were pictured in some of the television news footage.

The next day we traveled about an hour to Beit Shimesh, a town of 75,000 where we performed for about 200 school students, and then planted trees as a service project at the Brandon Wise High School , dressed in the JUMP t-shirts. The English teachers suddenly got inspired to bring us into the English language classes, where we sat and talked with the students, who were really disappointed to have us go at the end. The school had prepared a lovely lunch that was so delicious, we were going back again and again. Beit Shimesh has a sister city relationship with Washington and South Africa through a Jewish Federation, and does many exchange programs with these two places as a result. The connection with AIDS is very important for them.

Later, we traveled up to the city of Mevesseret , where we hung out in a mall for a few hours, followed by a performance at an absorption center where recent Ethiopian immigrants are taught the language and living skills for life in Israel . In a very small space, the team performed, joined by the Multicultural Dance Troupe who had a very hard time doing their full choreography in that tiny area. However, both the choreographer, Micha Nes, and the rest of the staff were deeply impressed by the attention the group received from an extremely packed house. On every window, more kids were hanging on the bars, and shouting out what they heard inside to others on the outside, even if they didn't understand the words. The audience responded very warmly to the AIDS message, and they really cheered for the good guys and booed for HIV.

Around this time, we received some feedback that our narration of the skit wasn't clear enough for a non-English speaking audience, so we simplified it. We started saying "Jack and Jill had sex" to make it clear what kind of "closeness" we were talking about. This got some reaction from our interpreters, who eventually gave Mie the "Courage" award for "Saying the word "sex" on stage!"

The next day, we boarded a bus to travel to an army base, where we donned uniforms and experienced the drills and camouflage techniques and exercises of the Israeli army. This base hosts groups of high schoolers nearing their military induction time, but they were extremely impressed by the unity and volunteerism of our group. At one point, several of the officers were amazed by the willingness of our group to take on extra tasks, and they joked in Hebrew "Forget the plane, we're keeping you here.and sending you to the crack troop divisions as well!"

Later, we performed for a group of the officers there, who were highly impressed with both the message and the presentation of the group. Baruch heard some on the phones as we were getting back on the bus, excitedly talking about how inspiring the performance was.  

All throughout our trip, we had several teacher/soldiers who work with the Municipality helping us, translating or accompanying us to various locations. The soldiers are different from our US soldiers. They are more a part of the society here-everyone goes to the army, and everyone knows what is expected, so they are both more welcomed and more casually treated than we view our military.  Also, because there are equal numbers of girls and boys, you see a lot of girl soldiers, which makes it somewhat less intimidating. Everyone stays in the reserves for a long time after military service also, which means that virtually the entire country knows how to fight. The only exceptions are the Arabic populations or the extremely religious ones, who can opt out, although they can choose to enlist if they want. Without military service, job and other opportunities are limited, so it's pretty much a universal conscription. But in practice, the army is doing a lot of social service work, such as working with the at-risk youth department, etc.

That evening, we performed for the consul and leading citizens of both Israel and France , under the auspices of Rabbi Henri Cohen Salal, who does social service to youth in both Paris and Jerusalem , and who has invited the Multicultural Dance Troupe to perform in Paris on their way to America in July.  Claire Masuda emceed the performance in French, and Kate said a few words to describe how the WAIT team works, and to thank the assemblage for their support for the work of stopping AIDS. The audience responded warmly, especially to the dancing, and later expressed gratitude to the group for working for such an important cause.

On Thursday, we went to visit the Aminadov community that has a free flying parrots program, and they brought out their colorful and clever parrots to show us how they respond to conversation, do shopping, and imitate various vocal sounds of humans. Then we visited the John F. Kennedy Memorial, overlooking a beautiful landscape, and ate dried fruits and nuts in the park where the parrots fly.

We bused back to the YMCA in downtown Jerusalem where we performed and conducted a short training for the kids who wanted to learn breakdancing or hip hop. Then, we rushed over to the Philip Leon Community Center , at 6 p.m. where we performed for about 150 people, culminating in a spontaneous dance winding around the auditorium with the Multicultural dance troupe.

Since that was the end of our official schedule there, we had a dinner with the kids of the dance troupe, back at our hotel to celebrate our activities together. We surprised them by greeting them at the door of the dining room in two lines, clapping and cheering for them as they came in. They were very moved, and the groups sat together, and later, had a party where we played the Name Game: participants got hit with a pillow if they couldn't shout out the name of one of the people from the other group before being hit. Then, we gave each of the dance troupe members a CD of our music, and the leaders a DVD, and they gave us a beautiful engraved plaque.

Although the official part of the trip was over, we continued to perform. On Friday, however, we went out to perform at the Anglican International School , for about 150 students from 35 countries-who spoke English! They loved our performance, and began asking how they could start their own team. The headmaster, Phil Billings, had seen us perform at the En Gedi marathon, and he strongly encouraged our team for putting the abstinence message out there so clearly, which their school also promotes.

Then, we went shopping for an hour, and hopped a bus over to the dance studio for a service project. We cleaned it from top to bottom, including the flat roof that was littered with garbage, and put out tons of old trash. One neighbor stopped by to see who were these busy teens cleaning up the old bomb shelter, and Baruch found it was Shelly, another ambassador for Peace and Women's Federation leader, who kept exclaiming "hallelujah" as she saw the changes we had made on the building. Several of the dance troupe members came to help, and Hannah Selig, Heungkook Stephens and Triton Marks drew outlines of dancers and breakdancers on the walls for the troupe to paint in later. Also, another team made a beautiful poster saying "We love you!" and we all signed it with various messages. Then we went to the bus, catching the last run before Shabbat began. That night, we enjoyed a Shabbat meal at our hotel, and got ready for yet another performance the next day, at the Iseawa Arabic school for Children with Special Needs.

Arriving at the school Saturday morning, we performed for about 200 youth and their teachers and parents, of children with down' syndrome, handicaps and cerebral palsy. As Lan did the sign language for the song "Hero," one older Down's syndrome girl jumped up and began repeating the signs along with her. Later, when we invited the audience to join in the dancing, most of the students came up, and the WAIT members danced with all of them. It was very moving, and the parents and teachers were on fire with joy.

By this time, our team had begun dwindling, as successive groups left on their air travel. But the remaining ones went out for a walk to the Old City , some shopping and hanging out with members of the Dance troupe, and traveling back to the hotel to pack for the last day's travel home.

At breakfast on Sunday, the municipality administrators expressed that the project had far exceeded their expectations, and we discussed the return trip of the troupe to America in July. They like the idea of visiting Washington , New York and Maine (for a rural outdoors experience) and we discussed some of the issues: visas for their participants, airfare, and other expenses.

We spoke about the need for a one or two day preliminary and intensive workshop, to do some dance preparations, get to know each other, set up groundrules, and explain our working methods. They are open to that. Also, they explained that they actually want more touring and exposure to American scenes and culture, and not as much performing as we are used to. One possibility is for them to get a special air ticket that allows them several trips on one ticket. We batted around the idea of them being here for some time, and in Maine for some time, hosted by Scott and the New England SFP team (Heather and Katie!!!) and in New York, whether by plane or by van travel.

One thing we all realized is that they need a controlled rooming arrangement-they are rather rambunctious and the adults need to be able to watch over them pretty closely. So we need to discuss how to do that.

We did a total of 19 performances during the 2-week stay, and three service projects in addition (Children's Cancer hospital, Planting trees in Beit Shimesh, Cleaning and re-organizing studio for Dance Troupe). We experienced several of the outreach programs mounted by the municipality for at-risk youth: the sea project, the horse ranch, the soccer teams, and the various dance groups, including belly dancing, capoeira, modern dance and traditional Arabic Debka's. We connected with several dozen organizations including schools, peace groups, AIDS organizations, the governmental bodies, and humanitarian groups.

Most importantly, we demonstrated that American young people care deeply about the suffering of the world, and that service and joyful cultural outreach can break barriers of all kinds. We were able to empower their traditional structures with the abstinence message, given through the current performing arts enjoyed by the young people of both countries.

Internally, this project was successful as well, utilizing the strengths and assets of various organizations without trampling on the autonomy of each. Service For Peace provided volunteers, structural support, and the vast network of contacts, and the entire project was largely the result of Baruch Shalev's hard work. Virtually none of this would even have been possible were it not for his extensive connections in every area of Israel society, and the work of himself and his wife for peace throughout decades.

Scott Simonds not only contributed his time to help lead the trip, but initiated key relationships with the Rotary, YMCA and some Maine-based organizations, which greatly increased the scope of outreach during the team's work there, and hopefully, in the U.S. for the return trip.

Mike Balcomb, similarly, brought connections to significant U.S. organizations such as the Points of Light Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Children of Abraham, etc. Mike also involved Simon Kinney in the filming of much of the project, to create a documentary on the events of the trip, and interviewed many of the key participants.

The Washington AIDS International Foundation was definitely the main support for the first leg of the two-part project, providing key financial support as well as significant structural help. With the support of Dr. Yang, and the logistical help of Greg Carter and Dieudonne Nkwethat, WAIT was able to take their message to the multicultural youth of Israel . Funds were raised through the hard work of many who were not on the actual trip, as well as by those participating, and this was an effort of substantial international cooperation. Also, the youth involved created many of the technological tools, such as a DVD and CD of the WAIT team's work, with the help of yet another nonprofit organization, Culture Machine.com, through the efforts of Diego Costa.

Acknowledgements:

For the WAIT team, the parents are always the key to success, and this trip was a perfect example. With financial support, logistical help, communications and many excellent suggestions, the parents were able to help navigate potential problems and smooth the snags that occurred.

Finally, and most key, in my estimation, credit must go to the young people who put aside their own daily activities to travel, work hard, and reach out to their counterparts in a country ripped apart by conflicting forces. Over and over, people expressed their amazement that such young people were willing to work so hard, take such adult-level responsibility, behave in such an exemplary fashion, and embrace others with such open hearts. Many people, of very diverse backgrounds, said "this must be a work of God."

In terms of populations reached, we were able to serve nearly every key group in Israel : the native born Israelis, the Russian, Ethiopian, and other immigrant populations, the Arabic populations of Palestinian, Bedouin and Arab-Israelis, the Druze, and even the military.

In terms of education, the kids learned so many things: the history of Israel, Palestine and the roots of the current conflicts, some of the languages of Hebrew and Arabic, the multi-ethnicity of modern Israel, the governmental structure, and a lot about the food and culture in general. They saw archeological sites and museums, social work projects and military service.

Also, they practiced their own independent study activities: several were doing school projects, such as photography, video production, reports, or regular assignments while on the trip.

Even Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed regrets that he couldn't meet with the group during our stay, due to the need for extensive security procedures.

One very interesting phenomenon was mentioned by virtually everyone there: although cold, rainy and snowy weather had preceded our stay, and was forecast for the entire length of our stay there, from the day we arrived the weather was beautiful, warm, sunny and free of rain or snow. Everyone said "you brought the great weather!"

A second phenomenon that some (not all) noticed was that we came at a time when the hostilities had stopped, and when people felt a new atmosphere of hope that peace could actually be created. Some said "you brought a fresh new spirit, and you are showing that young people can make different choices than the past."

(There was a bombing in Tel Aviv during the last few days of our stay, but the Israeli and Palestinian forces cooperated to bring the perpetrators to justice, a first for the two populations.)

We definitely felt strong support and protection, and an amazing congruity of events that can only be called "miraculous."

In summary, I would like to thank everyone.every one.who contributed to the huge success of this trip. We intend to expand upon this, to bring hope to many millions of people. Please know that your efforts are all being woven together, to create an unbreakable and true lifeline for the suffering people of this world.

With sincerest thanks,
Kate Tsubata
Co-Director of WAIF
WAIT team adult coordinator