Photo Blog: Planting, Not Uprooting!

While some people prefer tearing down and uprooting it’s nice to know there are plenty of good people that prefer building up and planting.

I’m proud to say I’m living with many of them at Ulpan Etzion. See, there are signs up all over the country about volunteer opportunities to help the homeless of Gush Katif. (Why CNN doesn’t report the humanitarian crimes committed here and why Amnesty International remains silent as well, is beyond me!)



Well one fine student here organized a group to go and volunteer to pack food and supplies for the victims of the Gush Katif crime. But when we were all set to go there we were told that they no longer needed any more volunteers for that particular task. (The outpouring of help in this country is truly heartwarming!)



But, we were told there were other ways to help. For example there was this farmer from the paradise settlement of Ganei Tal.
He owned no less than 40 greenhouses (often poorly translated from Hebrew as “hothouses”) in Gush Katif. Today he owns just 7!



And so today we found ourselves off to this tiny little blip on the map called T’Kumah (no relation to Kumah.org) about a five minute drive from Netivot.



See the farmers were forced to relocate and time was very critical because they were trying to salvage the last few weeks of the summer season.



This particular greenhouse specialized in flowers – in Gush Katif they would export all sorts of flowers all over Europe.




There was a lot of work do to getting the “new” site set up. And they were rushing to get it all done by Friday – not just because the ideal summer season is coming to an end but also because “bein hazmanim” vacation is almost over and many volunteers will be back in Yeshiva soon!



So there were loads of flower pots to fill, with no time to waste.




They had some of us “Bannim” work separately on larger flower pots. In the top picture is a guy from Canada along with a guy from Britain. That bottom picture is my partner from Turkey. And today we all live together in Baka, Jerusalem!



We filled A LOT of pots. (By the way the fertilized soil they use comes from the Golan.)



By A LOT I mean THREE of these tables. (They are even longer than they look!)



With Hashem’s help soon those pots of dirt will look like this! (Truly the Wonders and Miracles of Hashem!)



And this...



Planting sure beats uprooting!


12/27/05 Update: For links to more postings from this photo series click here.