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Background
Lev Yafo is the only area of Jaffa where equal numbers of Jewish and Arab children live together as neighbours and the two schools are developing as an extension to this reality. Indeed, where the municipality had proposed a wall separating the schools, the two headmistresses united in disagreement and now Jewish and Arab children from both schools share in many activities on a daily basis. The simple aim is that children should live together without losing identity and culture, but retaining their sense of pride.
The Project
One to One Israel is supporting an after-school centre for Arab and Jewish children from both schools.
So far 60 children from Grades 2 and 3, (30 Jewish and 30 Arab from each school), are participating in the programme which operates 4 days a week from 14.30 to 17.00.
Supervised by six highly qualified teachers (three Arab and three Jewish), the programme includes lunch, homework, computers, English language, therapy sessions and games. The warm working relationship established by all the teachers exerts a positive influence on the children.
Co-operative nourishment
Each child is provided with a substantial hot meal for lunch (with sufficient leftovers to take home for the evening). Before eating, blessings are sung in Arabic and Hebrew.
Each school has different homework requirements, approached separately. But English and computers are taught in two groups each containing five children from each school, meaning that Arab and Jewish children are constantly working together. Two special needs therapists (one for Arab and one for Jewish children) are employed to work with individual children or in small groups, according to needs. And when not otherwise occupied, the sixty children play games together.
The programme has run throughout the year so that Arab children can continue to attend during Jewish school holidays and vice versa. During holidays, organised activities like cycling, school trips, Budo for Peace are but a few examples which keep children positively occupied. And on selected religious holidays like Ramadan and Passover, special meals are organised with parents involved. Each child pays a participation fee of NIS100 (£12 sterling) per month.
Achievements
The programme scores well in multiple areas: improving academic achievement, relationships with peers, teachers and parents. There has been an increase in shared activities between the two schools, often at the request of pupils. And, at the after-school centre, improvements have been noted in general behaviour.
But perhaps the most significant symbol is the playground, once the proposed site of a separation wall, happily buzzing with children playing together.
Where next?
Now the programme's third year moves into a new phase with the introduction of a joint cycling project for some older children (12 Arab and 12 Jewish) from both schools. There will also be an extension of One to One's Budo for Peace programme (six Arab and six Jewish children) that has achieved so much elsewhere in the region. There will also be a strengthening of the Parents School project, fully financed by One to One Israel, where Arab and Jewish parents can interact around a common interest such as child-raising and education.
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