Shalom Clubs – 2001-2

Shalom Club members and the Club's president, Dr. Byron Sanchez, frequently organize assistance and support activities in the most underprivileged neighborhoods of the city. This past November, 25 young men and women graduated from a first aid course, organized by the Club and given in Zabala-Calderon, a remote village near Quito. This course provided some basic first aid information to the people of the village where some 4,000 people live with no medical assistance of any kind (no doctors, clinics or nurses). The graduates' certificates were prepared at the Israeli Embassy and signed by Ambassador Yosef Haseen. The Board of Directors of the Shalom Club donated a medicine cabinet containing basic medical equipment. Following this successful activity, the Board decided to establish Health Brigades to offer medical assistance to other regions: in February 2001, 6 doctors and 9 nurses and medical personnel checked and treated over 150 people of Calderon. Medicines were given free of charge following contributions from drug manufacturers and distributors.

Shalom Club members, including 8 doctors, recently offered medical assistance to people over 65 years old in Sabana Perdida, an underprivileged neighborhood of Santo Domingo. Among those assisting them with donations of medicines, food and clothing was the local lottery organization. The group checked blood sugar levels, blood pressure and basic vital signs. Prescriptions for one month were given out free of charge and letters of referral to the local hospital were given to those requiring further treatment.

Club members also organized and distributed 45 wheelchairs donated by an international American organization. Another project was in the Haina region where Club members organized dental care for over 200 people. The Shalom Club cooperated with SONRISA ("smile" in Spanish) Clinic, an NGO that deals with preventive dental care, and also with Colgate (toothpaste company). In Villa Duarte dental care was provided for 80 local children, including complete check-ups, cleaning and filling cavities. Here again the Shalom Club cooperated with SONRISA. The Colgate Company donated toothbrushes and toothpaste to all the children. Two days later, in the same area, they offered medical check-ups for the elderly population.

The Shalom Club in San Salvador has been tirelessly working for the benefit of the victims of the earthquake that shook the country in the beginning of the year. Among the many impressive humanitarian activities organized by Shalom Club members this year are:

January-March: a call to all the Shalom Club members to donate food supplies, cloths and water.

February: The Israeli Ambassador to El Salvador, Arye Zur, his wife and the Israeli Embassy staff, together with the Club members and representatives from the Jewish community, traveled to the village of Jerusalem located 30 km east of the capital. Over 600 families in the village were in severe need following the devastating earthquake. The delegation donated food supplies and clothing.

February: Club members offered assistance to 400 families from the city of San Vicente that was severely damaged during the second earthquake.

March: Shalom Club members visited the Maternity Hospital in San Vicente, bringing with them baby garments and baby food, benefiting over 300 mothers and newborns.

April: A Health Brigade consisting of 26 doctors, 8 dentists and 6 pharmacists traveled to the Tasajera Island, in the Usulutan District. Over 450 people received medical assistance and medications. The political party Arena took care of the crew's transportation and donated the medicines. Shalom Club members provided further assistance in the form of metal sheets for the reconstruction of over 300 roofs purchased with a donation made by friends of the Shalom Club from Miami, USA.

These humanitarian actions are a concrete realization of the guiding principles of the San Salvador Shalom Club - their commitment to applying the knowledge they acquired in Israel to benefit more vulnerable populations and to sharing this knowledge with others.

The Shalom Club organized a number of medical camps in various provinces. The last one took place in Binh Duong province: 3 doctors and the Club's president examined over 100 infants, children and elderly people at an orphanage and a parents' home. Medication was supplied free of charge, as was a modest donation of fresh milk, powdered milk and soap.

This past January 2001, the Abidjan Shalom Club members held a work session with Acting Israeli Ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire Benny Omar and the Israeli Embassy staff regarding next year activities. Some of the ideas to be implemented in the future are: registering an e-mail address for the Shalom Club to maintain regular contact with Club members; organizing a Shalom Club members' reunion; establishing an annual activities plan to serve as the Shalom Club's framework.

This past January 2001, MASHAV office staff in Riga, together with the local Shalom Club, visited the library opened six months earlier by Club members in an underprivileged neighborhood of Riga. A women's club and a children's club operate from the library. MASHAV graduates from medical courses will lecture at the women's club on aspects of breast cancer and general medicine issues.

Sao Paulo, Brazil is the venue of the Latin American Congress of Shalom Clubs of Graduates of MASHAV Training Courses, to be held from August 14 to 18, 2001. Our clear intention is promoting and adapting an ever-greater interchange between peoples, not only in professional fields, but in all human exchanges.

Because of our geographic characteristics, Brazil has three Shalom Clubs or groups: Sao Paulo and South of Brazil Group, the organizer of the Congress, the Rio de Janeiro Shalom Group and the Brasilia Shalom Group. The topics to be covered will be: Agriculture, Education, Environment, Health, Trade Unionism, Cooperative Movements and Leadership, and Tourism. They will be oriented to community and voluntary works, encompassing all organizations representative of the Civil Society.

Continuity is our prime objective, presented here by some projects in Brazil which follow on the knowledge acquired in Israel. To give you an idea, the Communal Settlement Project - the Communal Beehive Project, developed by recent graduates, Mr. Carlos de A Silva, who participated in the "Non-traditional Business Projects in Rural Zones Course" last year, 2000, at the International Institute - Histadrut, near Kfar Saba, in collaboration with Ms Annex Achieng (Kenya), Ms Narcisa Castro Zhindon (Ecuador), Mr. Felix Gonzales Polar (Peru) and various other authorities, such as Mr. Joarez Lima Henrichs (Prefect of the City of Barracao).

Conceptually, a Settlement Project is about the life of people who wish to work the land in an economically advantageous manner. The greatest challenge is the complete development by the beneficiaries. A natural cooperation then springs up between the government (INCRA - National Institute for Land Settlement and Reform) and the municipalities (Prefecture of the City of Barracao), endeavoring to minimize the difficulties arising in the administrative sphere. In the governmental sphere, jurisdiction for land appropriation and for financial resources ability to generate a certain stability for the settler families has been confirmed.

Situated in the City of Barracao, southeast of the State of Parana, the settlement has an area of 116 hectares, distributed among 25 families (many who used to be rural workers, tenants or cooperative production workers). The homes of these families are being built collectively, in three nuclei, and the internal roads are being paved. Because land is a restrictive factor, with 4.6 hectares per family, it was decided that production would be effected collectively and profits distributed proportionally according to the hours worked by the families.

The strategy of this project is defined by the introduction of activities that favor the entry of monthly, bimonthly, quarterly and half-yearly income corresponding to the economic sectors: dairy farming, silk-worm raising, poultry farming, vegetables and pig rearing, complemented by fish farming. Since the main project activities (dairy, silk-worm raising and horticulture) are manpower intensive, the need for family and youth labor is foreseen. To allow women to take part in the labor force, a childcare center will be implemented, as well as a recreation area and a community restaurant where lunch will be served (prepared by only three people for all the families). Other meals will be taken separately in each of the homes.

Other activities will also have to be developed in project areas (agribusiness, handicrafts, homemade food products, fruit and fruit growing, and reforestation) for marketing in the Rural Shopping Center, which will be open around the clock and contain a Colonial Café. This Shopping Center will be finished this year and will constitute a commercial center that will take in all the local production. It should be stressed that Barracao borders on Argentina and the State of Santa Catarina. This geographic configuration involves an average daily traffic of 2,500 vehicles. Also planned is the recovery of degraded areas by planting vegetation and protection of growing shrubs, with the reforestation of native trees out of the 70% remaining, with the production of wood for energy consumption.

This development represents the aim of the Settlement Project, its final objective is to improve the quality of life. As you can see, this is just one of the projects that we wish to share, since "we believe in the cooperation between peoples and together we will motivate our people to work for a Better World." We should like to place on record all the care accorded to our MASHAV graduates by Mr. Meidad Medina, Consul General of Israel in Sao Paulo, Mr. Ran Yaakobi, Israeli Consul in Sao Paulo, and all the members of the team of the Diplomatic Corps, who spared no effort for the better integration and growth of the Shalom Groups/Clubs, whether in Sao Paulo or in any place in Brazil. An especially big and very sincere toda raba from all the graduates to Mr. Sergio Gryn and all the people of the International Institute - Histadrut, Israel, who made possible and gave momentum to the development of our people in Brazil.

Don't forget, we in Brazil are awaiting you with an open heart and a great deal of samba in our feet. Shalom!!!