News from World Habonim

    Habo Uk

Things here in the UK are pretty good. As well as the garin much is else in going on. We have just finished our winter machaneh which we took to Israel. We had 150 chevrai on machaneh, we were based on K. Mashabei Sade
and had a most supreme time. The reason for doing our machaneh in Israel was to celebrate the start of the 70th b-day of Habo in Britain.

The machaneh consisted of 2 1/2 days of tiyulim and 5 1/2 of peulot on issues around Israel 50 and the history of Habonim. For the first time we ran a separate hadracha machaneh for our junior madrichim and were able to include our shnatties in the machaneh. It was truly great but we are all absolutely exhausted.

Love

Adam Ognall, Mazkir Habonim Dror UK

SOUTHERN AFRICA

Time and time again the Habonim Dror Machaneh formula creates summer
machanot that keep our chanichim coming back; this past year seems to have been no different. Habonim Dror's Machaneh Dor Chadash, recently held at our beautiful campsite in Onrus, was an amazing success.
As a response to the changing Zionist world, Habonim chose "New Generation" as the theme of our machaneh. During the machaneh we addressed issues such as the changing Kibbutz movement and the rapidly altering Israeli political spectrum. We also seized the opportunity to begin bringing a new generation
of leadership into the movement.

Of course the machaneh was not without some old favourites; Shtilim learning about the IDF, Bonim's recreation of illegal emigration, Amelim's survival night, Sollelim's Machaneh Party, Sayarim's Carnival and Shomrim's Mifkad Eish.

One also cannot fail to mention machaneh wide activities such as Tiyul (a one day hike in the Hermanus / Kleinmond area), Projects Day (a machaneh wide tochniet focussing on Human Rights and culminating in an evening concert) & the machaneh talent show.

Interestingly enough, our chanichim are not the only people who learn at machaneh. This machaneh again highlighted for us how important it is to
create a safe and secure environment for Jewish youth. At Habonim we continue to strive to create an environment free of unnatural social pressures (such as drugs or alcohol) for Jews from around the country (and
Zimbabwe) to congregate and celebrate their Judaism and Zionism.

In conclusion, we would like to thank all those involved in organising and "producing" this machaneh, our shlichim and those involved in the national
movement during the year. Over and above these, we would like to thank all of you who help Habonim, be it financially, in kind or simply by being a
member, parent or chaver of the movement.

                   GERMANY

Dear Habonimer's all over the world,

In the following article I want to tell you shortly about the Machaneh Choref and the situation of the German movement
In Germany, we have 3 Snifim (Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt) and are in the
progress of opening one in Cologne. Every Saturday/Sunday they are doing
Peulot and afterwards Chugim. The average of the Chanichim attending the
activities every week, are as follows:
Munich about 75-85 Chanichim (10 Madrichim) Frankfurt about 45-50 Chanichim (8 Madrichim) Berlin about 20-30 Chanichim (2 Madrichim plus Schlichonit) >From Cologne 11 Chanichim attended the Machaneh Choref Since September, we have the first Schlicha since 10 years. She is working from our headquarters in Frankfurt. There we have a Moadon (which is a loan from the city of Frankfurt).

For the Machaneh Choref we stayed 12 days in Schuepfheim, a small village
in Switzerland. We, that have been 102 Chanichim from all over Germany, in
the ages of 12 till 19, and a team of 20 people, consisting of 9 Madrichim (for 5 Kvutzot), one Boger, one Rosh, our Schlicha from Frankfurt, our
Schlichonit from Berlin, one Shomer, one Rofeh, two cooks (all from Israel), two Israelis from Frankfurt (whom were helping us with the Chugim) and finally the Shaliach from Holland (he visited us for the last 5 days.  In the preparation seminar the Madrichim, the Boger and the Rosh decided to take the following as the main theme for the Machaneh:
Tel Aviv in focus!
In the Peulot the Kvutzot were dealing about Tel Aviv, which doesn't mean
they spoke only about Nightlife, "the city without break", vacation in
Israel and soon. This was specially to attract the Chanichim. But in
general they spoke/discussed about for example: the clash of cultures, 90
years Tel Aviv-history, its role in Israeli history, the Qirya, Kikar Rabin, and so on.   Every evening we prepared evening programs, we went skiing, we had Chugim (Radio, newspaper, dancing and singing, politics, arts and crafts, Yiddish,
sports and Gadna).

I hope this very short report about our movement and the Machaneh helped
you to get a small overview and insight over/into the German movement. If you want to get to know anything further about our movement or you need
anything, just write an e-mail to: jaron_p@mail.aquanet.co.il
I'm now living in Israel, but still working for the movement. so don't be
ashamed!

Aleh v'hagshem

Jaron

   NEW ZEALAND

Aaaaaaah , summer camp with Habonim in New Zealand....
Well we were lucky this time because no cyclones hit us and it only began to rain on the last day. You see summer in New Zealand Is a bit unsure at times and the weather likes to confuse us - keep us on our toes I guess [and those toes in dry shoes].

This year the site was about 8 hours out of Auckland and 4 out of Wellington, near a town called Wonganui. Every year, we look for farms with rivers running through them, and ask the farmer if we may recreate his land into a camp site for approximately 100 Jewish youth from all over new Zealand. The numbers this year were pretty good - 85 chanichim and about 15 madrichim [including machsan,1st aid and mitbach staff] we set up on what is called senior camp - dig long drops for toilets then cover them with actual toilet seats so the only difference with a real toilet is that they don't flush. We also have gas cookers in the mitbach tent so food doesn't get very exciting - mainly pastas and salads.

Each group goes on a one day hike and sleeps at their destination - usually a paddock with sheep or cows nearby. A bonfire is held and the smell of burnt marshmallows lingers in the air. As there are no shower facilities [remember we are on a farm ], everyone rises early in the morning and washes in the river. The madrichim have to strip wash [a liberating experience] and the chanichim are encouraged to.

Last year was Habo new Zealand 's 50th, so a weekend was held in Wellington and then was concluded at summer camp when they all came for a visitors and parents day. [Where the smell of kosher chicken lingers in the air].

There is also a day at camp called Yom Hadracha where the oldest group [bonim] take over the sight for the day and night and we, the madrichim make a fast getaway. All in all a great camp and a good time had by all.
Hope to be seeing some of you this side of the world some time soon .

Aleh v'hagshem
Rosh Ken Auckland
Lee-At Blumber

 

Habonim Dror North America

Winter Seminar 1998 Update:
The Movement's moving!!

by: Jared Matas, Former Mazkir t'nua.

Habonim Dror North America ended 1998 with a flurry of activity and excitement on a level not experienced for many years. From December 22nd - 28th, one hundred and thirty movement members from across Canada and the U.S. gathered at the Clearpool Outdoor Centre in Carmel, N.Y. for our annual Winter Seminar. Exploring the theme of "Building a Personal Relationship With Israel," this seminar proved to be a tremendous success, raising the standard of what future participants can expect in a national movement seminar. Many participants left the seminar feeling that they
experienced a historic turning point for the North American Labour Zionist youth movement. With the creation of Garin 2000, HDNA is indeed living up to its claim of being a Labor Zionist youth movement.

One important contributing factor to the success of the seminar was the presence of netzigim (representatives) from other youth movements. Gili Yani and Sivan Goldman from the Israeli youth movement HaNoar HaOved v'HaLomed came from Israel to teach HDNA about their movement. Gili and Sivan's presence gave momentum to the already deeply-rooted sentiment amongst many seminar participants that it was time for the movement to move beyond our ideological and activist inertia.

The other youth movement represented at our seminar was Hashomer Hatzair. We welcomed to our seminar six members of Hashomer Hatzair, from New Jersey and Ontario. Their presence allowed both movements to learn from each other. The Hashies contributed their thoughts to our discussions about the role of a Labor Zionist youth movement in contemporary North America. They also taught us some of their movement songs and initiated us into their flag-thievery tradition. The success of their participation in our seminar bodes well for our plans to increase co-operation between our movements.

Over sixty-five of the seminar participants were participants this past summer in M.B.I, Habonim Dror's Israel summer program for 16 year olds. More than just an MBI reunion, these individuals participated in a "Pre-Madatz seminar," to prepare them for next summer when they will be returning to their home machanot (summer camps) to participate in Madatz, Habonim Dror's C.I.T. leadership training program. One of the highlights of this seminar was allowing the participants to take leadership roles by planning an Ash Laylah (out-door hike in the dark) for the rest of seminar.

About twenty-five twelfth graders participated in the "Pre-Workshop Seminar." This seminar gave a detailed introduction to the structure and content of Workshop, Habonim Dror's year-long post-high school Israel program. The pre-Workshoppers learnt what awaits them next year on Workshop, from previous Workshoppers, as well as Sivan of Noar HaOved who told them what to expect for the six weeks they will spend living at Noar HaOved chavot chasharah.

Over thirty-five ma'apilim (college-aged movement members) participated in our Ma'apilim Seminar, run by Labor Zionist Administrator (LZA) Stephane Acel. The seminar allowed ma'apilim to reflect on the direction of the movement as well as their own personal connection and commitment to the movement and its ideology. The seminar was also highly informative, bring to ma'apilim other organizations that actualize ideology similar to ours. Guest speaker Avram Lyon of the Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) told ma'apilim about some current labor union struggles and the role of the JLC as the bridge between the American Jewish community and the labor union movement. Ma'apilim also learned about the LZA and discussed the up-coming referendum on the Mazkirut Artzit's proposal to create a college LZA chapter for Habonim Dror ma'apilim. Much attention was paid during this seminar towards re-activating the movement. The presence of Noar HaOved neztigim further
motivated ma'apilim to take action. Meanwhile, movement ma'apilim heard the inspirational history of the Israeli movement's rejuvenation over the past decade. The ma'apilim also benefited from the presence of Habonim Dror Mazkir Olami Silvio Joskovitch who contributed inspiration tricks and Labor Zionist yo-yo tricks.

The most exciting development of the seminar was the creation of Garin 2000
(pronounced: Alpa'yim). The concept is an urban garin which would work with
Noar HaOved and continue involvement with Habonim Dror North America. Eight
individuals have personally committed to be a part of Garin 2000, and plan to Israel in the fall of 2000. The Garin members (from Vancouver, Ottawa, New Jersey, Baltimore and New York) are motivated by the desire to actualize Habonim Dror's Labor Zionist ideology, and see this as the best way to live Socialist-Zionist lives.

Other highlights of the seminar included high-energy Shabbat rikudei'am, a visit by David Raz of the Jewish Agency, and a k'tovet eish (fire-sign) at the closing ceremonies.

The seminar is destined to be remembered for years to come as being the fuse to a re-invigoration of Habonim Dror North America. Garin 2000 is but the most obvious example of how HDNA's 1998 Winter Seminar motivated movement members to become active, and got the movement moving, once again.