ASB, day 1

I took a trip to Israel with JNF's ASB to spend my spring break in the Negev desert and Jerusalem, working on community service projects to help build Israel. It was such an amazing experience and I participated in several Jewish activities that I would have been unable to experience without this trip. The first day we spent there we went to an absorption center called Earth's Promise, where Ethiopian immigrants come and live in Israel. Many came to israel to escape persecution and now live in government housing that seem like the project's we see here in the US.
We worked on a communal garden that every family in the building is giving a plot of land in. They explained how important this land was to their pride and dignity, and it allows them to feel like their farming skills are making them relevant and useful in today's fast paced, technologically advanced society. They split us into groups and we worked on a bunch of different things like a plot for kids to play and garden in, a fire pit where they have bonfires, we made a brand new elevated garden and loosened up the dirt, added composte and hay and it was just such a rewarding thing. We got to see the people who lived in the community and there were a lot of kids running around and playing so it was really nice to actually see who we were helping. They also brought in some one who works with the ethiopians to tell us about the history and the current situation for the ethiopian people. We also planted an olive tree as a group and its so great knowing that we could come back in 10 years and see the exact tree we helped plant. After the garden we went to Ben Gurian University which felt similar to a school like IU, and our tour guide told us that it gives Israeli students a college experience more similar to in the US because many other kids live at home if the go to school in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. After the university we saw the biggest on going program JNF is working on, a river walk. They have done about 2/5ths of the work and hope to make beer sheva an upcoming place for people to visit and live in. It was very motivating to be in Israel and share such a connection to other Jewish people from the communities we visited and the other participants on the ASB trip. A lot of the work I did this week is going to affect the bigger picture of Israel, and will hopefully make it a more popular place for people to come support and help make even better then it already is.