The Jerusalem Report- "Come True" Project, by Bernard Dichek

8/10/2019 The Jerusalem Report- "Come True" Project, by Bernard Dichek

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THE JERUSALEM REPORT

NOVEMBER 17, 201430

A grassroots initiative has brought 120 South Sudaneserefugee children previously deported from Israel to a boarding

school in Kampala By Bernard Dichek Kampala, Uganda

THE ISRAELIS

OF UGANDA

Israel / Africa


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THE JERUSALEM REPORT NOVEMBER 17, 2014 31

TRINITY COLLEGE in Ugandas capitalcity of Kampala is a boarding school thatfollows the strictest of British educationaltraditions. Classes are taught in English,

students wear neatly-pressed uniformsand corporal punishment is administeredby some of the teachers for transgressionsas slight as failing to do homework.

It seems like an odd place to hearHebrew spoken, but thats what happenswhen deputy headmaster Alex Gumisirizatakes an Israeli visitor on a tour. As theyenter each classroom, the students immedi-ately jump to their feet.

Good morning, class.

Good morning, sir!

We have a visitor here from Israel, saysGumisiriza, turning to his guest who greets

the class in Hebrew. Broad smiles spreadacross the faces of many of the students.Boker or, they reciprocate in Hebrew.

The Hebrew-speaking students at TrinityCollege are the children of South Sudanese

refugees who were deported from Israel in

2012. How these youngsters about 120of them altogether ended up in a board-ing school in Kampala is a tale with manytwists and turns, that sharply contrasts thewarmth of grassroots Israelis with the cold

shoulder of governments in Europe, Egyptand Israel.

The children are the second-generation

survivors of the genocide committed bySudans tyrannical President Omar al-Bashir in South Sudan and in the Darfur re-gion of North Sudan. Since the early 1990s,al-Bashirs militias have killed or starved

to death an estimated two million people,and caused many to ee north across the

border into Egypt.

In Egypt, the refugees have often re-ceived harsh treatment, leading many toseek refuge in other countries. The desire

to leave Egypt grew more intense in 2005after dozens of Sudanese women and chil-dren were killed by police gunre during apeaceful protest in front of the UN build-ing in Cairo. Unable to reach Europe where

Rami Gudovitch (center) with some

of the Israeli students at Trinity

College in Kampala

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NOVEMBER 17, 201432

governments refused to give them sanctu-ary, some of the refugees decided to maketheir way across the Sinai desert and try

their luck in Israel.

In the short-run, it turned out to be a gooddecision. The Israeli government initiallyadopted a laissez-faire attitude. Groups ofIsraelis who sympathized with their suffer-

ing, especially student and youth movementorganizations, befriended them and offeredclothing and support. The hard-workingrefugees quickly found jobs, lling a short-age of workers for hotels and restaurants inTel Aviv, Eilat, Arad, and other cities. The

refugee children were soon attending localschools and striking up warm friendshipswith their Israeli classmates.

But as more and more Africans began topour into Israel, including a large inuxof Eritreans eeing torture and the risk

of death from Eritreas dictatorial regime,groups of Israelis began to object to theirpresence, and politicians looked for ways torepatriate them to Africa.

When South Sudan declared its indepen-

dence in 2011 and established diplomaticrelations with Israel, interior minister EliYishai decided to send the South Sudanese

refugees back to their native country, de-spite objections from the leaders of Israelirefugee organizations who protested thatthe situation in South Sudan was still toovolatile and that their lives would be at risk.

I couldnt understand why we hadto leave Israel, Trinity College studentAywin Gabriel, 17, tells The Jerusalem

Report. All my friends were in Israel andI felt like it was my country, adds Gabri-el, who lived in the southern town of Arad

from the age of 8 to 15.Almost overnight, Gabriel, along with

900 other South Sudanese refugees, whohad lived in Israel for about seven years,found herself in Juba, one of the most im-

poverished cities in the world where livingconditions had been further eroded by adecade of ghting.

I came from a good place and suddenly

there was nothing to eat. You had to boilwater to drink it. There was no electricityor toilets and many were sick with malar-ia, Gabriel recalls. Within a few months

of the childrens arrival in Juba in 2012,some had already perished from diseasesand others had lost their parents in renewedattacks by the militias.

At night it was really scary, you could

hear people being killed, says Gabriel.The sounds of ghting in Juba could be

heard as far away as Israel during phoneconversations the refugees had with theirIsraeli friends.

Some of those friends decided to take ac-

tion. I knew we had to act quickly, Rami

Gudovitch, an Israeli academic who formany years worked as a volunteer with therefugees, relates to The Report.

Jerusalem-born Gudovitch, 45, start-ed making friends in Tel Avivs refugee

community in 2007 when he moved into aneighborhood where many refugees livedafter returning from New York where he

I couldnt understand

why we had to leave

Israel. All my friendswere in Israel and

I felt like it was my

country

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Israel / Africa


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had completed his PhD studies in analyt-ic philosophy at Columbia University. Hisneighborly hospitality soon grew into unof-cial advocacy work on behalf of the refu-

gees in their struggles with the authorities.Gudovitch became a well-known gurein Tel Avivs Levinsky Park at the libraryfor refugees and migrants where he read

stories to young children. He also wasamong those who had tried to convince thegovernment not to send the South Sudaneseback to Juba.

After receiving more and more franticphone calls from the deportees in Juba,

Gudovitch worked out a rescue plan to-gether with fellow refugee activist LeaMiller-Forstat, who had traveled to Juba tosee the situation for herself.

We managed to put a group of childrenand parents on a bus heading across the

border into Uganda, he recalls. Followinga harrowing 20-hour ride across bumpy un-paved roads, the children met Gudovitch inKampala where they started knocking ondoors looking for a school that would take

them.The institution that turned out to be the

most promising was Trinity College, a

boarding school housing 600 students.Gumisiriza relates that the children ar-

rived just in the nick of time.When they arrived here, they had been

through a kind of psychological torture,uprooted from one country after another,recalls Gumisiriza, adding that it was morethan just their emotional condition that wasat stake.

I cant guarantee that any of them would

still be alive if they had stayed in Juba, hesays, pointing out that, because the childrenhad grown up in Israel, they were especial-ly vulnerable to the diseases prevalent inAfrica. If you were born in heaven andthen are taken to hell, you may not survive

for a single day, he wryly observes.

TODAY, MORE than two years after ar-riving in Kampala, the refugee children

are still trying to sort out their feelings.They are grateful for having been rescuedfrom the destitute conditions and ghting

in Juba, but complain about the rigorousday-long classes at Trinity and the punish-ments. But their most dominant feeling isa longing for their friends in Israel and the

Israeli way of life. They continue to speak

Hebrew among themselves, and they and

their Ugandan classmates refer to them asthe Israelis.

Sometimes I think it was good that we

came here because we learn English theway it should be taught, but I want to goback to Israel, says Acho, 17, ghting back

tears. Im sad because I know that Illnever be able to see my friends again. Tothis day, I dont understand why we had toleave, it all happened so suddenly.

Tedo, a tall athletically built teen-

ager of 16, is especially disappointedthat there are no basketball courts inKampala since the sport is not played inUganda.

I thought that Israel was where I wouldmake my dream of being a professional

basketball player come true, he reminisc-es, noting that he played competitively in

Tel Aviv and continues to be in touch viathe Internet with Alon, his coach.

Among the long list of things in Israel Kur

says he misses are rollerskating, Mizrahi(Hebrew-Oriental) music and my teach-ers. The teachers in Israel were willing totalk to us about our personal problems andthey would never physically punish us. At

South Sudanese refugee students (above and left) at Trinity College in Kampala

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worst, they would call in your parents fora talk, he points out.

Gumisiriza admits that dealing with theexpectations of the children who wereeducated in Israeli schools has been aneye-opener for his staff.

The kids from Israel are very asser tiveand open, which is contrary to the up-bringing here in Afr ica, he says. Thesekids think that a teacher is somebody whois guiding them, almost as if the kids arethe bosses. But here in Uganda the teach-

er is the boss and it is very challengingfor them because they want an explana-tion for every decision. If somebody doeswrong and you administer a punishment,it is horrible from their point of view.

Gumisiriza adds that the school hastried to nd ways to better understand

the Israeli-educated kids by holding sem-

inars with Gudovitch, who has tried toexplain the Israeli system to them. Wehave come to realize that they are not just

trying to be rebellious or rude. They arejust asking questions, Gumisiriza says.

Gudovitch continues to make regularvisits to see the children and provide

them with advice. He and Miller-Forstathave joined forces with the Become or-ganization to raise funding for the chil-drens tuition.

Many of the contributors are Israe-lis who knew the children while living

alongside them in the same poor neigh-borhoods in Israel, says Gudovitch.They themselves have limited nancial

resources, yet they continue to supportthe Sudanese kids as if they were theirown children.

Gumisiriza points out that he wouldlike to think that the challenges the refu-gee children have faced may have moldedthem into the kind of people who some-day will be able to go back to their coun-

try and change things. They want to be

doctors and social workers, to do the kindof work where you help other people.

As for things changing in Israel, Gudo-vitch is not overly optimistic. Still, hebelieves there is some room for hope as

a result of the recent Supreme Court de-cision to overturn legislation that forcedAfrican refugees and migrants to be de-tained in a holding facility.

It could be that the government mayyet come to a more humane policy, hesays. I am still hoping that the govern-ment will stop looking at the asylumseekers as enemies and recognize themoral opportunity in line with Jewish

history that giving them refuge offers.By granting them work permits, they cancontribute to the Israeli economy withworking hands just like other residents.

Today, Israel remains one of the fewWestern democracies that does not have

a clear refugee policy, leaving refugees ina gray area.

Its clear that a humanitarian policy ofthe kind that Gudovitch advocates would

have saved the South Sudanese and theirIsraeli friends from much sorrow. It alsocould enrich Israeli society itself bygaining people with high-motivation andskills.

Little Light

The displaced South Sudanese students at Trinity Col-lege are not the first group in Kampala to receive rank-and-file support from Israelis. Since 2007, Little Light

Uganda, an organization largely sponsored and run by Is-raelis, has been schooling children in the Kampala slum of

Namuwongo.Because their parents cant afford the school fees, most ofthe children in Namuwongo dont go to school, says RestyKyomukama, explaining that it was Israeli visitors who won-dered why the streets of Namuwongo were full of childrenduring school hours that led to the founding of Little Light.

Today, Little Light runs a nursery program for 60 childrenaged 3-6, and an after-school leadership program for morethan 90 children who go on to primary and high school.

The program has been staffed over the years by morethan 50 post-army Israeli volunteers and sponsors thatinclude kibbutzim, as well as Israeli individuals and com-panies. Kyomukama, who grew up in Namuwongo, is to-day a student in Jerusalem at Hebrew Universitys GlocalProgram in Community Development, a connection madethrough one of the Israeli volunteers at Little Light.

Yael Giar, currently doing a three-month volunteeringstint, notes that her participation in the program has givenher a chance to get to know Africa in a way that would nothave been possible just from touring.

Its also given me ideas about directions for my universi-ty studies and career, she adds.

B.D.

MICKEYNOAMA

LON

Israel / Africa

Documents

The Jerusalem Report- "Come True" Project, by Bernard Dichek