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Last update - 12:40 22/10/2007

From Darfur to a kibbutz oasis

By David Wainer

KIBBUTZ KETURA - Fawzi Sadiq, a ten year old refugee from Darfur, conspicuously waits for his food alongside the other Kibbutz children. Holding his purple cafeteria tray, standing in a reticent pose, Fawzi chatters with the other kids using a basic melange of Hebrew and English words.

Tall and slender, he stands up close to the food, scrutinizing his options through his large and ingenuous dark eyes. As his turn comes up, he orders, "2 piece of chicken ve zeh (and this)," as he points to the meat tray.

It has only been 3 months since Kibbutz Ketura welcomed Fawzi and his parents Sadiq Yusef and Saadia Abdel for an indefinite stay. Founded by a group of North Americans in 1973 and still a socialist enterprise at a time when most other kibbutzim have opted to privatize, Ketura has acquired a distinct reputation for initiatives taken by its members.

Known for its Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, its Algae Factory, its Experimental Orchard, and its egalitarian outlook on Judaism, Kibbutz Ketura has been involved in a fair share of undertakings. But in its recent absorption of two Darfur refugee families, the Kibbutz is sending out a message to the Israel community at large- a message of compassion and understanding towards those who most need it.

"These families have only been here for 3 months and they are already making a tremendous contribution to the Kibbutz. They work hard and they are genuinely good families to have around," says 25 year old Asher Whitman, a resident of the Kibbutz. Currently, Yusef works at the Algae factory and Saadia works at the hotel while Fawzi goes to school at nearby Kibbutz Yotvatah with the rest of the children.

Fawzi is quickly becoming acclimated. He can frequently be found exhibiting his breathtaking skills in the soccer field or riding his bike around the Kibbutz with his friends. His Hebrew is progressively getting better and his comfort level at the Kibbutz is high, says his father.

Today, as the belated autumn sets on the sun-scorched Negev, the Sadiq family seems eager and ready to turn the page. But the fascinating and poignant story that oddly brought this Sudanese family all the way to Ketura beseeches to be told.

Only one year ago, Fawzi was growing up in a world hardly familiar with the Hebrew language and the greasy Cafeteria food. Only one year ago, the collection season for nuts and sorghum was just emerging at Yusef's farm in Gar Sila, Darfur.

Just towards the end of 2006, the Darfur conflict began to effervesce to levels not seen since the inception of the conflict in 2003. And as collection season was just entering, the Janjaweed onslaught began to direct its way towards Yusef's village mainly populated by members of the Fur tribe.

When the Janjaweed began to target Yusef's village it all happened too fast, describes Yusef. "When they came, they attacked our women and our animals and old people. They killed my father and my father's brothers immediately." When the Janjaweed came to loot Yusef's farm, they decided not to kill him. Instead, they took him away into a government cell to interrogate him. "They thought I have information about the Sudan Liberation Army because I am Fur also. But I just grow my Farm and family," explains Yusef.

For two weeks, the Janjaweed held Yusef in prison for interrogation through torture. "Sometimes at night they would come and beat me. Sometimes they put cold water on my body." Finally, in a miraculous turn, Yusef was released. Immediately, he returned to his village and upon finding Saadia and Fawzi alive and well, he took the next bus with them to Khartoum. In Khartoum, Yusef was able to obtain passports for his family by "paying someone money". From Khartoum they set to Halfa, where on the same day, they would take a boat to Aswan, Egypt. Upon arriving in Egypt, the Sadiq family took a bus to Cairo and obtained a yellow card for asylum seekers in the United Nations office.

But the Sadiq family found no asylum in Cairo. "They offered us no protection," Yusef denounces, "we would wait on the street for jobs and we would be called names like gorilla or chocolate for being African. Sometimes we would get hit by people for no reason." After 3 months of misery in Cairo, Yusef decided to attempt an escape with his family into Israel. Dreadful of the consequences of being caught sneaking through the border, they took a bus to Arish where they trudged through the desert for two days. Upon arriving to the frontier, they tried to penetrate into Israel amid broad daylight whereupon Egyptian snipers immediately shot in their direction forcing a retreat into the mountains. Stealthily they hid in the desert, only creeping back towards the border at around 3AM and finally succeeding to cross through.

Upon arriving in Israel, Yusef recounts, they were welcomed immediately by Israeli soldiers who sent them to an absorption center in Beer Sheba. Eventually, after living in Jerusalem for 20 days, the Christian Embassy managed to arrange for the Sadiq family to relocate into Ketura.

Today, a continent apart from the land that still holds the fate of his living mother, two brothers, and two sisters, Yusef is grateful for his life in Ketura but vexed by a gruesome and never ending conflict back home. "Life in Ketura is good," says Yusef, "people here are good and work is not hard. Fawzi is playing with friends and learning Hebrew. We hope to one day return to Darfur only if there is peace and a change of government." But until then, he implores, "the government of Israel should let the Darfur people to stay in Israel until they can be safe in Darfur."

The temperature in the Negev is gradually declining below 20 degrees and some of the Kibbutz kids can already be seen sporting sweaters as they play outside by the expired but still erect Sukkah. The entrance of the autumn signals the end of the Dates collecting season. Desert nights will soon shift from mild to wintry temperatures. Meanwhile, disaster continues to loom in Darfur with no palpable end. For Israel, whether to take full responsibility and care for those who miraculously traversed through its borders is a question that will continually arise. In addition to its many other cogitations, the Jewish people will have to decide whether or not to give Fawzi and his kindred, jackets for the forthcoming winter

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