Written by Risa Brown

Wow! What a day we had today. We started our morning off with a tour of Kibbutz Dalia. Moshe was our amazing tour guide. He has lived on the Kibbutz his whole life. Kibbutz Dalia started in 1939, and he was born in 1941. Next, we went to the Shvilim Center. It is a house on the Kibbutz that was built to have no corners, the designer believed that to have a calm and happy life there must not be any corners in your home. He even designed a lofted round bedroom that is supposed to make you feel like you are in the womb, you know, like a bed womb (that is not my joke). We spent time doing teambuilding exercises with Dotan. It was way out of my comfort zone, but I am really glad we did it.

We had a delicious lunch at Tanduka in Yokneam Moshava. We hopped back on the bus to visit Bait Cham, an after-school program. We brought birthday gifts for the kids, did a craft activity with them, and even had a jam session on the outside drums and xylophone! We spent the rest of the afternoon packing food with teens from the Moshavim. Together with Federation, Leket Israel and the Megido regional council and local teens, a program was created to get fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers and to people in the community that need it. We paired off and had the pleasure of home hospitality. Families in Yokneam hosted us in their homes for dinner and conversation. We had the best time! The generosity and kindness of our host families went above and beyond. Again, the food was unbelievable.

It was a night I will not forget. Our Partnership2gether hosts wanted us to experience the elderly, children, teens, and families of Yokneam, they succeeded and I am so appreciative for all the hard work and effort they put in to making this an amazing two days.