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Last update - 00:00 02/04/2008
A kindergarten in a tent
By Mijal Grinberg

In an improvised tent, under the auspices of volunteer kindergarten teachers, a kindergarten for the children of the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Rahma has been operating on a lot belonging to the Yeroham local council.

The villagers are fed up with their ongoing battle with the authorities to get them to open a kindergarten for their children, as well as to meet a host of other unfulfilled promises, and so, with the help of a group of Yeroham residents known as Mirkam Ezori ("regional fabric"), opened the kindergarten.

"Over the last five years, we have approached all the government ministries. The Interior Ministry and Education Ministry told us: 'Okay, open a kindergarten, but you have to contact the local authority to organize it,' and in the meantime they referred our kids to a kindergarten in Dimona, 30 kilometers away, contrary to the law," says Awda Zanon, the head of the al-Rahma tribe, which has been fighting for over seven years to set up a kindergarten for the village's children.
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He says that he contacted the head of the Yeroham local council - in whose jurisdiction the village lies - and received the support of the council head, Amram Mitzna. After receiving approval, the council prepared a formal plan to establish the kindergarten, but the district committee disqualified it.

Disappointed with the government ministries, Zanon decided, together with fellow villagers, to set up a tent to function as a kindergarten. The members of the Mirkam Ezori group - social activists from Yeroham one of whose goals is to assist the Bedouin and establish "a different kind of neighborly relationship with them" - accepted the challenge and began helping build the kindergarten.

Depending on the weather

Out of 100 eligible children, 38 currently attend the kindergarten, and the goal is to expand the service in the future. However, it is clear to all that this is a temporary solution.

"The 'walls' of the kindergarten are opened depending on the weather," complains Leah Shakdiel, a Yeroham resident who is active in the group. She explains that in extreme weather conditions - intense cold or the burning heat of the summer - it will not be possible to operate the kindergarten.

Ahmed Al-Badrai, 29, says that two of his five children go to the improvised kindergarten and are very happy. "Suddenly I feel like every father," he says, "I'm very pleased that we have a kindergarten."

The teacher in charge, Nora Hamda, 20, says that the children are not used to being in a formal setting and the transition was not easy. "They didn't want to separate from their mothers," she says, "but gradually they got used to it."

Yeroham residents from the Mirkam Ezori group also help their neighbors deal with the Goldberg Committee, which was appointed by the Interior Ministry to discuss the matter of Bedouin lands. In recent weeks, group members accompanied Zanon to committee sessions. In addition, they wrote a letter to the committee in which they stressed the importance of finding a solution for their neighbors and discussed possible alternatives.

Amram Mitzna confirmed that he supported the kindergarten's establishment. According to him, the unofficial argument behind the sabotaging of the plan to build a kindergarten is that the kindergarten would signify recognition of an unrecognized village.

"What's happening here is criminal," he stresses. "Dozens of children don't go to kindergarten and everyone is shutting his eyes. Afterward, they wonder why there is such a large gap between Bedouin and Jews in the Negev."

In response, the Interior Ministry said: "We are familiar with the idea, but the plan is contrary to plans and policies that apply in the area."

An Education Ministry statement said: "The ministry has no objection to finding a solution for them within the area of the Yeroham local council, along with the rest of the community's children who are that age. In the event that the Yeroham local council presents to the district an official request to open another kindergarten, it will be reviewed within the framework of existing guidelines."
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