From Education to Diplomacy

Newly-appointed Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Guatemala in Israel, Dr. Marco Tulio Zuñiga Morales, and his wife, Mrs. Marta Lidia Abal de Zuniga, arrived in Israel in July, 2000. Both husband and wife are graduates of MASHAV training courses. Until recently Dr. Zuñiga Morales was President of the Latin American Shalom Clubs and Coordinator of the Second Latin American Congress of Shalom Clubs, held in Guatemala.

"We are not career diplomats. Basically, both my wife and I are educators," noted the new Guatemalan Ambassador to Israel, Dr. Marco Tulio Zuñiga Morales. The interview took place in the tastefully appointed offices of the Embassy, situated in Herzliya Pituah, the northern suburb of Tel Aviv, with its predominantly ultra-modern architecture of dazzling green glass and phosphorescent metal. "I hold a Law and History degree and was a researcher at the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences of the University of San Carlos, in Guatemala City." He adds with a smile: "But I am retired." Faced with the journalist's incomprehension, given Dr. Zuñiga's patent youth and vigor, the Ambassador proceeds to explain: "I served for 20 years in public education and technically, according to my country's social laws, I am retired. Naturally, I continue to teach. My wife, Marta Lidia Abal de Zuñiga, is also deeply involved in education and teaches at primary and secondary level. In addition, we are education entrepreneurs; we have founded a private institution that I head and that is managed by my wife. Likewise, we created and direct the Jerusalem Camp,' a program for youth, whose philosophy is the teaching of faith in a natural setting."

"We visited Israel for the first time in 1994 as tourists. Then, in 1996, I was awarded a MASHAV scholarship to participate in the Community Education Course given by the Aharon Ofri International Training Center at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem. This was an unforgettable and formative experience. There I became acquainted with the late (and greatly missed) Arieh Dagan who, in addition to the formal course subjects, introduced me to the inner functioning of Israeli democracy and the mechanisms of socioeconomic development in Israel. On my return to Guatemala, I continued to participate in MASHAV-related events through the Shalom Alumni Club in my city, and also in celebrations of a Jewish and Israeli nature at the Israeli Embassy receptions. This led to my friendship with Ambassador Shlomo Cohen. This natural process of rapprochement was strengthened when my wife also received a scholarship, in 1997, for the Education for Science and Technology Course at Aharon Ofri Training Center. She thus also became a MASHAV graduate, and it could be said that the Shalom Club is for us now a family project."

When asked if the courses were of benefit and applicable in her work in Guatemala, Mrs. Abal de Zuñiga replied: "The course was really practical and productive, as was fully shown when its principles were implemented at our school in Guatemala City. For instance, we created a computer laboratory, but unlike the situation in other institutes that also introduced computers, we do not teach computer studies as a subject, but as a universal tool that serves for study of all the other subjects -mathematics, natural science, biology. In other words, the computer in the classroom is an educational tool -a means and not an end in itself. We put this innovative concept into practice: we took the interactive computer laboratory out of the specialized classroom that it was, and converted it into a universal tool for study of any subject, from which the student learns everything. The concept has been very successful in Guatemala."

"One of the aspects that greatly attracted our attention in the Israeli education system is that of the mechanisms used in school evaluation. The automatic advancement of the student to the next grade is conducive to his broad development, leaving him in his environment even if he fails to meet the objectives set in each subject. This is shown in the interest that the teacher must take in the child's success in learning and not only in complying with curriculum contents. Our education system considers only the evaluation of the student and not of the teacher, without taking into account individual differences. Consequently, the child frequently loses motivation when he is unable to grasp the knowledge offered to him in the group. This leads to a high percentage of children who repeat a school year and a high dropout rate. As teachers, we feel satisfied that we were able to implement these changes within the staff of our educational establishment. In recent years we have achieved highly positive results, with the teacher using every means available to him to succeed in imparting learning to the greatest percentage of the students. This also benefited the student."

"As regards my activities in the framework of the Shalom Club," continues Ambassador Zuñiga, "in Guatemala, the Shalom Clubs hold a series of community outreach activities, such as health days, with the students of San Carlos University, who provide medical care to the poorer population groups that normally do not have access to these services. Dental days have also been held, with cleaning of teeth, fluoride treatment, guidance on dental care and other basic health services. Another activity is the forming of work groups. This relates to joint activities of the Shalom Clubs on behalf of the community. The Shalom Clubs provide a framework for volunteer work, and we find that the effect achieved by the group work is far greater than individual and isolated activity. The work groups are formed according to requests deriving from the local requirements in Guatemala. For instance, consulting activities were afforded in the fields of agriculture, in economic undertakings in education, and we could say in all the specializations in which the graduates from Israeli courses were trained. The clubs also hold meetings for integration of the MASHAV Alumni. We usually carry out this activity with the celebration of historic and cultural events in which both countries, Israel and Guatemala, are involved. As regards organization, a meeting is also held at least once a month and special meetings on the last Friday of each month, where we combine socio-cultural evenings, attracting large numbers. It should be emphasized that all the activities of the Shalom Clubs are voluntary, based on the good will and initiative of each of the actual MASHAV graduates."

"In the Shalom Clubs we also work closely with the Israeli Embassy, especially in the celebration of the Jewish festivals and the Israeli national holidays, such as the 50th anniversary celebrations of the State of Israel in 1998. We also supported the inauguration of a monument to Israel in the Avenida Reforma Square. This takes the form of a huge Star of David. Symbolically, the avenue opens onto Jerusalem Street."

"A prominent aspect of the Shalom Club activities is that of the Latin American Congresses," continues Ambassador Zuñiga. "The first Congress was held in 1997 in Argentina, with 120 participants, who came especially from all the countries of the continent. The second Congress was held in 1999 in Guatemala, and we were able to bring together a large number of participants -300 Latin American MASHAV graduates. The next Congress, to be held in 2001 in Brazil, is being organized currently. My impression is that the Latin American Congresses are being consolidated and have adopted a permanent pattern, with biannual meetings held in different countries. This continental activity is leading towards the development of a more defined organization and an internal division of work. The President of the Latin American Shalom Clubs was elected at the last continental Congress. The central theme of the Congress was The Role of the MASHAV Graduate and his Influence in the Community.' The reunion of the MASHAV graduates led to closer friendship ties and allows the consolidation of the feeling of comradeship born of the experience shared in the courses in Israel. The Congress is an open forum for an exchange of experiences in the practical application in Latin America of the principles acquired in Israel. It nurtures constant progress. The reunion is also a very important experience, because is standardizes and consolidates the process. In June 2000, a meeting of Shalom Club presidents was held, with the aim of delineating future activities, in particular planning of the Third Congress and the consolidation of Shalom-Latin America."

"The Guatemala Congress was of a dual nature: academic and social. The program encompassed 4 nights and 5 days. In the academic part, the program dealt with the themes of health, agro-industry, education, tourism, and economic development in general. The work of the Congress was structured in four committees. Among those present was Shmuel Ben Gal, Israeli expert on youth organization and development who was working at that time in Costa Rica. One of the aims of these meetings was to bring together the over 2,000 MASHAV graduates living in Guatemala."

"In the context of this conceptual focus, we organized in Guatemala four Shalom Club branch headquarters, located in the four cardinal points of the country: in the north, in Alta Verapaz; in the south, in Escuintla; in the east, in Zacapa; and in the west, in Quezaltenango. The branch headquarters in the south and the east of the country are still currently in the organizational stage. Even though I have been away from the Shalom Club for over seven months, I am sure that its directors are continuing the projects that we planned together and that ultimately this will benefit our beloved country. I should like to emphasize that nobody receives payment for his work, and each of the graduates belonging to the Shalom Clubs has his job. What he does for the community is entirely on a volunteer basis. This fact has served to give a very special moral force to our activity and has strengthened our capacity to influence our respective communities."

"As I said, I am not a career diplomat," stresses Ambassador Zuñiga. "My appointment was a government decision, supported by some Institutions. The diplomatic work is made easier for me by my career in the judicial and social sciences, as well as by my degree in history; by my familiarity with the relevant fields such as jurisprudence, history, education; my basic legal training and my knowledge of international public and private law. Further, there is in Israel a very unified community of Latin American diplomats, and I feel the warmth and support of my colleagues."

"As regards my family, we live in the residential zone of Herzliya Pituah, close to the Mediterranean Coast, where most of the Ambassadors and other members of the diplomatic corps are concentrated. We are currently integrating into our diplomatic work and the social circuit, and our children, aged 19, 18 and 16, are in the process of adapting to Israel and are looking for appropriate educational frameworks that will allow them to continue their academic studies."

"The school, which incidentally is called Jerusalem,' has been leased. A very experienced principal, who will continue with the philosophic lines that we traced out, directs it. Our other initiatives, for instance the Jerusalem Camp' that is an eco-tourist activity for youth with a Christian educational orientation, will continue to exist. It has extensive grounds with a large expanse of water and trees, with sports fields and swimming pools. The camp is located at a distance of 50 kilometers from the capital and has room for 150 participants. It is attended mainly by youngsters aged 7 to 18, who study at schools around the country. They come for two or three days, accompanied by their teachers, and have an integrated program. In the future we are considering the creation within the camp of an experimental unit especially for children, where they can come into contact with animals. They will be able to learn, for instance, to milk a cow, see the birth of a chick, feed the animals and, in particular, the fish in a lake."

"In a certain way, I could say that we have not made a basic change: we were in a Jerusalem there and we have come to another Jerusalem. The camp philosophy is to form the individual's character: not only to transmit scientific and technical knowledge that will then allow the participant to succeed in modern life, but also to instill in him the moral, ethical and religious values that constitute our human essence. The entire process takes place in a natural setting, creating that harmonious unity of the material and the spiritual symbolized by the concept of Jerusalem."