A year has passed, and the date of the Annual Assembly arrived.

According to the tradition, we combine the meeting with a tour to get to know Israel and visit ethnic communities in Israel. This time – Wadi Ara area – the Arab villages Kafr Kara and Umm al-Fahm, and Kibbutz Givat Oz.

The meeting point was at the entrance to Kafr Kara. More than 70 friends arrived,

Families with children arrived early to visit the authentic bakery in the village – Abu Ali and his sons. There, they got the task pages that Nirit and Nurit had prepared for them and started working on them immediately, while the adults tasted and bought sweets at the bakery.

Immediately after the visit to the bakery, we set out – most of the members on the bus hired by the organization, the rest in private cars traveled in a convoy after the bus.

The first stop – the house / gallery “Arabesc”, in Kafr Kara. The calligrapher Muhammad Sa’ish Kalash is artisan in material and form, he paints on glass, but his true love is wood. He studied and uses INLAY wood transplant technique, using different types of wood from different trees, and embeds one into the other. In his woodwork of, he portrays Arabic calligraphy, geometry shapes, figures of animals and plants.

From there we drove on a beautiful road, to an observation point looking over the village of Barta’a. Our guide, Eyal, explained about the area and its history.

We continued through the Reihan forest and entered Umm al-Fahm on our way to the local gallery.

The Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery is the only art gallery in the Arab sector in Israel. The gallery was established in 1996 in the heart of the city at the initiative of a member of the community, the artist Said Abu Shakra, who also serves as its director and chief curator. The view of the city from the third floor, where workshops for art, painting and ceramics take place, compensated for the steep rise walk to the gallery building.

From there straight to lunch at Kibbutz Givat Oz. The dining table was quickly organized, and as usual, the dishes brought by the members were delicious and were “devoured” by the hungry friends

.It was also time to meet up with old friends and get to know new ones.

After lunch, we gathered together for the Annual Assembly. Thanks to the excellent organization, everything flowed smoothly. Children continued with their tasks, while, we, the adults, attended the meeting.

Gabi, one of the founders of the organization in Israel, conducted the Annual Assembly with expertise and patience. Nirit recorded the minutes, Claudia, Yishai and Israel presented the organization’s activities, the financial statements and the audit committee report for 2017, respectively.

Finally, representatives of the new secretariat were elected – Claudia, Yishai, Nurit, Orna, Uri, Yossi, and a young member joined – Oren. The members of the audit committee – Israel, Eli and Ovadia – were again elected. Good luck to everyone.

Thanks to the organizers for the tour and the enjoyable meeting.

Tamar Reder, Haifa