Dear friends and colleagues

The non-profit organization A New Way is happy to present an update on its activities during the past months. The update summarizes the main part of the activity of A New Way at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 and is evidence of a particularly wide range of activities.

During the past months we have extended our activities and the fields in which the organization is active, alongside ongoing professionalization and development. We hope that you will find the present issue of interest and wish that the year 2012 will be a year blessed with activity and progress in the interest of a better future for all of us.

 

Yours,

 

Tikva Bracha

Executive Director, A New Way

A. The development and running of a program for personal responsibility in multicultural groups at Alon High School in Ramat Hasharon and at Tomashin High School in Tira

A new project

The program on personal responsibility for the eighth grade enables the pupils to choose a field of voluntary work in the community and to give 60 hours to this project during the school year.

The inclusion of the project of A New Way in the framework of projects on personal responsibility makes it possible to extend it and to deepen the connections between the pupils of the two schools. During the project we added meetings in the afternoons which involved voluntary community work in Jaffa and voluntary work on the restoration of the Carmel forest.

 

B.  The development and running of the project for kindergartens in Upper Nazereth

A new project

The annual project is intended for the children of kindergarten age, both Jews and Arabs, from the age of two to four. In the framework of the project the children meet (one day a week) for joint activities in the fields of drama and creativity. Due to the program the children become aware of what they have in common and what is similar and learn to accept the other. The young age of the participants is a great advantage.

During the year two meetings were held for the parents which enabled  wider social contacts between the communities. These meetings were facilitated by a team of experts and they included workshop on subjects which are relevant for both communities.

The work with the team of kindergarten teachers continues throughout the year and its aim is to give them support and to promote and to instill the value of multiculturalism.

The meetings are led by two facilitators, one a Jew and one an Arab, who explain and demonstrate the activities while ensuring a bilingual presentation.

 

C.  Multicultural leadership for high-school pupils

Ongoing projects

Six high schools from the center participated in our projects,  Rothberg School for Science with Jaljulia High School for Science, Alon High School in Ramat Hasharon with the School for Science in Tira, and the Lady Davis High School in Tel Aviv with the High School in Taibe, both of which belong to the Amal network. Another two Amal schools in the north participated: the comprehensive multidisciplinary School for Science and Arts in Hadera and the comprehensive school in Kaabiya.

 

This year again the meetings began with a unicultural meeting at each of the schools, and continued with joint meetings at the schools, on an alternating basis.

 

At the Outdoor Workshop at Kerem Maharal the pupils were exposed to the subject of environmental science, a topic in which there is a common interest. Apart from the meetings of pupils there was a  parents' evening and a staff room meeting – the height of activity for all involved -- pupils, teachers, and parents.

 

D. Multicultural leadership in primary schools

Ongoing projects

Four schools in the north participated in our program -- the pupils, the parents, and the staff of two primary schools from Yafiya and two schools from Ramat Yishai and Nahalal.  Apart from the tools and contents which were developed over the years in drama, music, and art we further enriched our cultural scene.

 

A visit to Harduf: deepening the intercultural contacts -- environmental science, living in and with nature, building up a cooperative community and an alternative and ecological life style. An emphasis is on the experience and on learning basic life skills in nature. This activity also took place in the high schools.

 

A visit to the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, to the White Mosque and to a synagogue: A visit to this church and to the White Mosque in Nazereth and to the synagogue at Nahalal exposes the pupils, and also the teachers, to another culture and its symbols. The visit shows the children the past history of both Nazereth and Nahalal and is  accompanied by explanations which enrich all participants.

 

A visit to a circus school:

This year for the first time we decided to visit the school for circus skills at Kefar Yehoshua for an unusual experience of integration. The pupils tried their hand at various skills such as juggling, acrobatics, acrobalance, and more. This activity was also held at the high schools.

 

E. Multicultural programs at schools for special education

Ongoing projects

This is the third year of the project at three schools for special education in Tel Aviv-Jaffa -- 'Broshim', 'Neve Sha'anan', and 'Metzada'. These schools are defined as Jewish schools but in fact their population is very heterogeneous. Our activity enables every child to to express his unique cultural identity and gain recognition from the others.

Unique activities held at the school during the year:

 

Family Day: The celebration of Family Day at the schools was held under the banner of multiculturalism, and was accompanied by the instructors of A New Way who worked in parallel with both the pupils and with their parents.

 

Visit to The Arab-Hebrew Theater in Jaffa: The pupils were given the chance to participate in exercises in drama and to rehearse on a real theater stage with props and stage sets.

 

Music Carnival: A day devoted solely to multicultural music was held at three schools. It was attended by all of the pupils at these schools.

F. One hundred and twenty teachers from the north and the center participate in a school continuation course for teachers

Ongoing project:

The school year 2010-2011was marked by an impressive rise in the number of staff rooms participating in the continuation courses of the school on the subject of  coexistence. The project is held in conjunction with the Kremnitzer Shenhar division in the Ministry of Education. The course covered 22-30 hours in the staff rooms of five schools: Kalansawa High School, Jaljulia High School, and the the Junior High Schools at Yafiya, Shefaram, and Ilut.

 

The course emphasizes the principles of multicultural democracy which must form the basis for the relationship between the two sides; the development of a positive attitude;  a reduction of the negative stereotypes and the negative views of each side about the other; the development of understanding, acceptance, and even empathy for the suffering, and experiences of each side; legitimization of the collective narrative of each side; recognition by each side of its contribution to the relationship between the two communities; and the encouragement of initiatives by the schools for meetings of Jews and Arabs within the educational framework.

 

G. Cooperation with Universities

A New program

The Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University on  Mount Scopus will play a role in the multicultural project to be held at the high schools at Abu Gosh and at Mevaseret Zion. Scholars at the Truman Institute will play part in developing the program.

 

The team at The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University will take part in a follow-up survey of the pupils from those schools which participated in the multicultural projects. The research will begin in the year 2011.

H. Advanced training courses for facilitators

 

Facilitators of the organization attend continuation courses 3 times a year in order to help them with the difficult work in the multicultural projects. The courses deal with questions of identity, culture, and working methods with pupils.

The courses are given by leading professionals in the field, and include  learning from colleagues.

 

I.  Publications

This year many articles were published in newspapers, both in Hebrew and in Arabic, about the meetings of our projects: three articles appeared in the local newspaper 'Kol Barama',  two in the newspaper 'Panet' in Arabic, and one article was published in the paper  of the Emek Yisrael local council. Likewise there were two articles in the local papers of Ramat Yishai  and  of Upper Nazereth, and also in the journal of the Amal network. The journal, Hed HaHinuch will publish an article on the project of the children at kindergartens in Upper Nazareth.

 

Heartfelt thanks

1) A big thank you to our volunteers whose role in the success of the projects and in the progress of A New Way is critical. Their varied talents, their feeling of obligation and their investment are a source of pride for

A New Way.

 

2)  We would like to thank our many donors who enable us to realize our plans -- the Beracha Foundation, the Wingate Foundation, the Levy Lassen Foundation, the Anna Frank Foundation, the Jewish Federation of New York and of the Dears Foundation. Among the business enterprises which support us are Orian , Check Point, Marvell, the Dizengoff Center, Boeing Airlines, and the law firms of Adv. M. Rosenberg and Co., and of Adv. Dan Ofer and Shabnon Ofer