Israel Brought us Together

by Silvia Akún Ramirez and Ernesto Berthón Sánchez

My name is Silvia Akún Ramirez. I am from Guatemala and a physiotherapist by profession. In November-December 1998 I attended a course on "Psychological and Physical Rehabilitation in the Community" given at the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center, in Haifa, Israel. The participants were 28 professionals from 24 countries. We came from 12 different multidisciplinary professions related to physical and mental rehabilitation.

It was a very interesting month of classes and visits of professional interest. The most important aspect was that of seeing how persons with some physical or mental disability occupy a place in Israeli society, that of a normal person.

We also enjoyed the kindness and hospitality of the Center staff and the beauty of each place that we visited, where we could hear in a very different atmosphere the history of the country, and enjoy physically and spiritually our stay in the Promised Land.

It was an opportunity for sharing with people from different continents and certainly it was a tremendous cultural exchange. The friendship ties established in Israel continue to exist even today.

On my return home, I worked in community rehabilitation in a small city called Coban where I put into practice the knowledge acquired in Israel, working to motivate disabled persons in my community towards normal integration in society.

My name is Ernesto Berthón Sánchez.
I am an economist by profession and Bolivian by birth. In 1995 I received a scholarship to participate in the "Planning of Integrated Regional Rural Development" course at the Development Study Center (DSC) in Rehovot, Israel.

I consider this seven-month postgraduate course as one of the most important and complete offered to my country in the area of rural development, given the theoretical-practical methods that it employed. The theoretical stage that took place in Israel lasted five months; about 20 days were spent at the DSE Food and Agriculture Development Center (ZEL) in Feldafing Germany, to reinforce this theoretical stage; and in the two months of the practical stage in the Republic of Venezuela, we carried out the planning for the Municipality of Caripe in the State of Monagas.

We were 32 participants from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean who enriched our knowledge and shared the experiences of each of our countries. It was something unforgettable.

In June 1999, the Second Latin American Congress of MASHAV Graduates was held in the Republic of Guatemala. The Shalom Club - Guatemala organized this event, which scored a great success for the following reasons, among others: there were approximately 300 participants, very important aspects for the development of our peoples were discussed, each graduate elaborated on a plan for his/her community, and, finally, the establishment of the Latin American and Caribbean Association of Graduates of the State of Israel was consolidated.

Silvia: As a Guatemalan, I attended the Congress, collaborating in its organization, and also, on the other hand, to share experiences and knowledge with Latin American colleagues.
Ernesto: I was part of the Bolivian delegation, made up of seven participants (4 women and 3 men), in which I participated as Secretary General of the Shalom Center of Bolivia.

On the second day of the event, in a recess, we three Bolivians found our attention attracted by a Guatemalan lady who was talking to a group of graduates, explaining about her country. We immediately joined the group and took the opportunity to ask her some questions about the conversation they were having. The lady answered our questions very politely. She told us that her name was Silvia.

On the following day, the organizers of the event had planned a guided tour to the city of Antigua Guatemala and by chance we encountered Silvia and as we talked she joined the group of three Bolivians and two Mexicans. Silvia and Ernesto were together throughout the tour, which lasted all day. In truth they talked about all and everything, it was as if they had always known each other. They talked about their lives openly.

The social reception took place in the evening. It was a very nice and moving farewell event in which authorities of the City of Guatemala and the Israeli Ambassador to Guatemala participated. We saw very little of Silvia at the reception.

On the following morning we took our leave at the end of the event's closing ceremony in one of the halls of the Ramada Hotel. We both decided to stay in touch.

Following my return home, after a few weeks we began to correspond. From this chance meeting in Guatemala grew something larger. At the beginning it was like a good friendship, but in time, in October, we wanted to meet again either in Guatemala or Bolivia. By December we so much wanted to be together that the idea of marriage came into being. So we decided to marry (certainly the reader will think that we were both mad).

On April 29, 2000, at the Mixco town hall in the Guatemala City two MASHAV graduates of the State of Israel were married.

Since then we have been together in the city of La Paz, Bolivia. We share our daily lives, we are a simple couple who are getting on very well, thank God.

It is true that the change for both of us was considerable, since we each had our own lives, habits and activities. Silvia was used to the hot climate of Central America, her work, her family and her friends. Here in La Paz she is trying to adapt to the climate, to make new friends and to find an opening in her profession.

We wished to share our little story with you, because we are very grateful to God and to Israel for having allowed us to study and increase our knowledge in that beautiful country, which gave us this and far more. It gave us life, it gave us a family.

Shalom friends.