Kfar Alei HaNegev is a small village two kilometers from Ofakim, nestled in the beautiful Southern Israeli plains. Layed out like a college campus, everything in it is specially designed for the mentally and physically handicapped. A fully equipped hospital, with one of the best children’s intensive care units in the region, is on site available for the residents. The residents live in custom made “houses” with twenty-four hour care. Every set of two houses is joined by a large, fenced-in courtyard with outdoor activities. Each fenced-in area is called a “neighborhood”. A unique school sits at the top of a hill for the higher functioning residents, and an arts and crafts center is located next door for those on a slower advancing level. Every door in the village is big enough for a wheelchair to go through. Spacious bedrooms house two residents each. The saintly staff consists of observant and secular Jews, Ethiopians, Russians, Moroccans, Bedouins and black Bedouins; all unified to help those who are in need of a little extra assistance.
The paradise at Kfar Alei HaNegev came crashing down one day with the shreiking siren: “TZEVA ADOM! CODE RED!” The village also happens to be located within rocket range of Gaza. Within thirty seconds the staff must get over eighty physically and mentally hadicapped residents into each house’s bomb shelter. The spacious bedrooms have all been left abandoned, and all the residents sleep crowded together in the bomb shelter, some in adult size cribs and some on mattresses on the floor. The school and arts and craft center have been closed for over a month, as they have no bomb shelter in them. The residents have been cooped up in their houses, going insane from boredom. Many of them suffered trauma from the panic filled alarms shaking their fragile worlds several times a day.
I had the priveledge of volunteering and living with the residents of the village, getting to know these special people and the staff that lovingly cares for them. The four days I spent there felt as though I were in another world, and I hope to take the lessons I learned there for life.
