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Jul 13th, 2005 - 11:58:17 |
Itai Roffman
Second page of the petition
Jul 13th, 2005 - 11:54:34 |
Itai Roffman
First Page of Ragar Petition to the UN
Jul 13th, 2005 - 11:22:41 |
Itai Roffman
International Petition signed for helping Ragar Village sent to Kofi Annan UN Secretary General from the 12th Annual International Conference on Ecology of War & Peace/ The International Youth Conference on Conflict Resolution - St. Petersburg, Russia, May 2004 see word document as follows:
19/5/04
Cc: Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace
Dear Mr. Kofi Annan,
We write to you on behalf of the 1,900 inhabitants of the ragar village, a Syrian village until the 1967 war, being under full Israeli rule in the years 1967-2000. In the year 2000 after the retreat of Israel from southern Lebanon, the village was divided by the United Nations into two parts: 2/3 in Lebanon and 1/3 in Israel. The new border was set in accordance with the 1923 maps of the former Britsih and French mandate areas, not reflecting the interest of the villagers. As a result of that act, a fence and a checkpoint gate were set in the southern entrance to the village, and the lives of the Ragar villagers became unbearable.
Since the year 2000 the Ragar villagers continuously suffer from deprivation of their basic needs and their human rights are badly effected, as the Israeli government regards the Lebanese side of the village a dangerous zone, especially due to the possible free access of the militants of southern Lebanon to this region.
As a result, Israeli medical and technical services do not reach 2/3 of the Ragar village, Israeli ambulances fear to enter the Lebanese area in this village, damaged infrastructure is not repaired and the people suffer. There are no services to deal with traumas related to bombing in the area, and the villagers have to face daily military and police searches at the Israeli checkpoint as they go to school or to the fields outside of the village, the unemployment rate of the make work force has increased to 40% and the grim financial situation affects all aspects of life in the village.
Therefore, we, the international community represented in the conferences together with the village council, ask you, Mr. Secretary General, to take action to reverse this tragic mistake of border lining and to unify the Ragar village including its lands under one govermental municial authority.
Hoping for your support, many thanks
From all the participants of the International Conference on Conflict Resolution and the First Youth Conference of the Ecology of War and Peace
St. Petersburg, Russia May 2004
Jul 5th, 2005 - 18:11:59 |
Itai Roffman
Gorilla named Michael proves need for his legal standing personhood rights in a court of law by proof of capacity to giving testimony, in American Sign Language, of his mothers murder in Africa. Michael Gorilla ( 1973 - 2000 ). See this heart tearing testimony on video at:
http://www.koko.org/world/michael_story_vid.html
More info on subject can be found on the "project documents" section (see chimpanzee personhood & legal standing link for the factual theoretical 2012 supreme court case of Evelyn Hart)
Jul 5th, 2005 - 18:03:54 |
Itai Roffman
5 Year Progress Report for JGI/R&S Israel:
See more info on:
http://www.volvoadventure.org/oldsites/2003/site/PROGRESSOVERVIEW..doc
ROOTS & SHOOTS - ISRAEL CAPTIVE CHIMPANZEE AWARENESS DAY JULY 17TH 2002
WHAT A DAY!!!
Finally after very hard work the great day has come, where all the R&S
"Brother Chimpanzee" groups enjoy a day of conservation, education and love
for our sibling hominids!! An astonishing 47 kids and coordinators (ages
12-19) from all over the area spent the 17th of July from morning till
afternoon participating in lectures I gave, writing eye watering letters of
love and support to the chimpanzees of the safari park on posters and
finally engaging in the funnest and most exciting part of the day: making
enrichment games, programmes and social enrichment initiatives such as
bamboo stems filled with peanut butter, dried fruit, raisins and banana
leaves for the Israeli chimpanzee family!!
The day started at 9:30 AM with an introduction about our partners in action
the "Fauna Foundation" - and all the magnificent things you are doing for
our hominid brothers. Afterwards, as you can see in the photos, I gave a two
hour lecture about captive chimps - that seemed to captivate the children so
much that they wanted to hear more and more about chimpanzees that you are
working with today, and Washoe's family and my stories about spending time
with the Israeli Chimps. - The group coordinators had to pull the kids from
their seats so we could move to next activity. During my lecture the kids
understood the chimps so well that they started immediately to call them
people, our brothers and sisters. I was so happy and at the end of the
lecture we had a great big group hug to share our feelings about our
brothers in captivity and the wild.
Before the lecture, we even had a short show from one of the group
coordinators who actiually spent 20 minutes with me behind the sceens to
learn 'chimpanzeee' and to walk their walk. He even bashed the walls and
windows with his hands and feet to show his strength - and even managed to
run on all fours on his knuckles, everyone laughed so hard and clapped their
hands for so long after. It gave them a chance to see a 'chimp' in action.
We loved it.
At 11:30 everyone gathered to write letters of support "to stay stong" for
the Israeli chimps, and the kids and coordinators wrote the most amazing
heartwarming letters such as:
(1.) "We need to let the chimps live in peace, they are like our brothers ,
and we need to set them free...
they have a heart and feelings exactly like we do. Please don't take them
away from their home, let them live in the rainforests where they belong!"
(2.) "(Ment for the visitors at the zoo)How would you feel if they made
biomedical expiriments on you! We are against expirimenting on
chimpanzees!!"
(3.) "Please treat the chimps (=people) with the utmost respect. We love you
brothers!"
(4.) "Dear zoo visitors, we request that you appreciate the chimps and don't
harm their health"
(5.) "Chimps Chimps we are friends"
(6.) "Please don't harm the chimps. They are our brothers they act and
behaive like us and love us. But if you harm or murder the chimpanzees for
money or any other reason - it's as if you're murdering one of your family
members. Please give them love and give them respect like you do your oun
family. If you go by these rules with warmth and love maybe you'll gain
their respect and love. - With thanks, Danit Barelle age 12."
The letters just seemed to flow in and the amount of posters to be glued on
the chimpanzee enclosure walls fills it up completely!!
At around 12:30 they heard more of my stories working with the chimps and
more about The residents at Fauna and Washoe. It was enchanting and the
questions and excitment didn't stop for hours! Finally after the questions
and stories came the moment we've all been waiting for! Chimp-Enrichment
time! Everyone gathered around the tables cuttimng and pealling bamboo stems
and sugar cane and banana leaves, filling the hollow interrior of the Bamboo
shoots with leaves and raisins and peanut butter etc. They even checked if
it was chimpproof by trying to see if if breaks. It does not, it was all
hard as a rock. Everyone added sticks to their presents so the chimps will
use them as a spoon. At the end of the day abit after 2:00 PM all the
presents were put in the car heading for the safari park chimps! At the end
everyone shared project ideas to raise money for building the chimps a lodge
and organized a pettition to build them one. Which I will give to the zoo
managers in a few days time. No one wanted to leave and gave a big loud
goodbye hoot and pant that I think even the Chimps in central Africa heard,
it was so loud.
The spectacular beach of Sharon Coast National Park
Let me introduce myself, my name is Itai Roffman, 20 years old, and I'm Roots & Shoots Israel's overall project coordinator.
I'm so pleased to say that Tuesday's 'clean-up-the-beach' day was a total success! 550 meters of coastline were cleaned, and just in time for the sea turtle egg-laying season. The "Brother Chimpanzee'', a group of sixteen year-olds, did such a good job that somehow they seemed to return the yellow glow back into the sand; it was spectacular. The kids had great fun and were rewarded with an Israeli wild gazelle safari at the end, in which we spent one whole hour searching amongst the brush for them. We spotted a pair in the distance; the suspense was amazing.
The significance of that day was to save the lives of the few remaining dolphins, whales, and sea turtles who live in these waters. The importance of this project has increased as two weeks ago a Mediterranean bottle-nosed whale died on the shore of the N.P. from suffocation from plastic bags. Something had to be done to stop humans' wrong doing, and we did it!
The day started at 13:00 with a trip down the coastline, and after getting all the gear together, we started cleaning by 14:00. Altogether we were twelve people - nine of whom were from "Brother Chimpanzee". After every bag of garbage was filled, we took a dip in the lagoon for two minutes. You'll be glad to hear that we collected 10 big bags full of garbage! After five hours of cleaning, we all spent an hour-and-a-half looking at the local marine life in the lagoon. The kids were told about the importance to our well-being, of healthy marine ecosystems, and the plight of endangered marine mammals, turtles, and all other wildlife around the globe.
We were all so excited to be part of a new generation, one which respects, admires and cares for its planet. We were also honoured to be the first to raise awareness, by being the first ones in years to clean that coastline.
Our local projects are, I'm excited to say, a part of the "ROOTS & SHOOTS GLOBAL CELEBRATION IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CHILDREN EARTH’S SUMMIT" and thus have an extra realm of spiritual motivation to them. By 19:00 the job was done, and a great difference made. It filled us all with great satisfaction and left our spirits very high - ready for next week's project! But until then, we went off to search for the park's most elusive being - the gazelle. At the end of the day we all sat down to watch the sun set over the spectacular sea of blue, with a very symbolic 'yellow brick road' touching the sun as it set, leading us to the future. Hope.
Chimp Sanctuary
“I was so very busy with r&s for the past few weeks, we now have a new group of staff and volunteers who are helping spread r&s all around Israel. We are in the process of getting official r&s office status (with the amazing help of Peter from JGI Germany). 12 more schools and groups have signed up, and many summer camps are showing interest in the programme for summer 2003. Partnerships are being built - a mobile phone company ("Cellcom") has agreed to sponsor some of our programmes, a local wildlife conservation organization called "to Nature with Love" is helping r&s spread, organizing festivals and fundraising concerts with us.
Apart from that, r&s group members will be regularly appearing on a hit children's T.V. show "Hanna's Room" (an Israeli "Mr Rogers Neighbourhood" equivalent) to present their latest projects to all the children of Israel (all kids will participate only if their parents approve). Three articles are going to be written about our progress in Israel in NatGeo. Israel Magazine, 'the Nature of Things' and Traveller. I have been asked to talk about our r&s Israeli efforts on several news broadcasts on national television. - Several Israeli celebrities are thrilled to help in public relations.
Moreover, when my father got better he and I were invited to a meeting with the director of the Tel-Aviv National Park (Yossie Zemertov) - he has offered us the parks' 1 acre forested island in the middle of the lake for our r&s initiatives, we immediately asked if the island could turn into a island sanctuary for the five neglected and caged chimpanzee-beings of Rishon-Le'zion (a chimpanzee-being was shot dead over there three years ago for biting a human aggressor) & Petach-Tikvah zoos. After an hour of explaining the whole issue of treating our brother hominids humanely, and showing him the translated captive chimpanzee enrichment manual the director AGREED to our proposal. Now we need all the help we can get to save these chimpanzees, we need help regarding how many funds are needed, staff, medical attention, specialist advisors, blue print of existing island chimpanzee sanctuaries etc.
THE PACK
“Every night as I write emails, reports and so forth in my little house/r&s office in the meadows of the Hermon mountain range beside the Syrian border - I hear howling voices of a pack echoing in the walls. The pack separates often so this is their only means of contact in total darkness. One afternoon after lecturing about our brother chimpanzees at a local r&s school I felt a sudden urge to look for clues as to where the pack's territory might be. I have never met a pack in my life. I was sure that they could smell me. I found many paw prints and animal paths in the grass. As I kept on walking through the tall vegetation I suddenly heard soft barks and the sound of someone pouncing on dry leaves, I went over to get a better look, hiding behind some bamboo I spotted a family of seven Jackals: two large old Jackals (the alpha male & female) and five smaller jackals. Every individual has a different coat pattern and coloring, one individual I named "Thyli" (as she looks so much like a Tasmanian tiger or thylacine with her short hair) is almost totally red - she is the only one I managed to recognize up to now. Next time I'll bring my binoculars with me to identify the rest. It was four o'clock in the afternoon and the juveniles were playing, one game I liked the best was "surprise", it's when one of the juveniles walks away from his playmate showing no more interest in the silly game of catch and when his partner turns around to find something else to do the young jackal shoots out and crashes into the unsuspecting. This was too much for me and I started laughing they all heard me yet didn't get up. I wonder why, I was 18 yards away. I always wear light brown safari clothes but everything around me was green from the winter rains. During that whole time I imagined I was in Tanzania with the lush green mountains and the endless sky. After a short while I didn't feel like spectator anymore as two young Jackals ran along their well trodden on paths and like a maze they somehow appeared one meter away from me. They are so peaceful, unafraid of humans. I felt honoured to be recognized by them...”
** the photo shows Thyli & mate in courtship 4/27/03 04:30PM
Saving the Animal Beings of Gil'adie Village Petting Zoo
At the JGI’s Sons & Daughters’ group meeting (the group consists of students aged 6-24 from the Gil'adie village, northern Israel border) one thing was one the agenda: for the past year and a half, the village has had no interest in properly taking care of the animal-beings at the small park. The animals have stopped receiving essential hygienic treatment. Apart from regular feedings given by a young man once a day, at best, the animals were suffering. We were all deeply disturbed by the 4 green vervet monkey family members, of which the dominant male is stricken with a kidney illness. So the kids collected money to call in a vet and the $65 US was enough to get an adequate doctor in. Since we started the project, the R&S kids have been spending an hour everyday with the monkey family, providing them with enrichment programmes and suitable meals to get them back in shape.
R&S took charge of the park and changed its name from "petting zoo" to “Roots & Shoots Israel's Fauna Sanctuary for sick, injured and neglected animal beings”. The group tore down the old sign and set up the new one.
First activity was freedom. Last Tuesday, the group of R&S kids walked into the sanctuary with a lock breaker. One thing was on our minds - exodus. The animals were in bad shape. The pheasants (a local bird), the sheep, and the goats, were all kept locked up in cages filled with filth. As we entered the place one girl spotted a key on the ground. We tried to open the first cage on our right where two beautiful yet weak Lady Amhearsts' Pheasants laid. The key opened and the birds ran out of the cage in amazing whistles. We then proceeded to the other cages where we freed more pairs of golden pheasants and game hens. We then kept on opening more and more cages with local bird species and farm animals. We then reached a medium sized cage filled with fourteen white doves who haven't left their cage in years. We opened the lock and they all took to the air and landed around us. The goats and sheep were also released from their awful pens.
Regarding non-native and sick animals, we've been spending the last week cleaning up their cages. The petting zoo finally looked like a SANCTUARY, with groups of ducks swimming in the pond and the doves beginning their mating rituals. The sheep are now roaming the once “out-of-limit” park, and the big turkey has the entire park to himself.
This park will no longer serve as entertainment for family outings but is now a sanctuary, raising awareness and educating the public. We've contacted the nature authority, and in a few days, injured animals will enter the sanctuary where they will be able to receive love, compassion, and respect. The enclosures are big, very clean and ready for occupants - for the ones who actually need it (blind owls, poisoned hawks, wingless falcons, three-legged hedgehogs, a group of neglected ibexes, etc).
We've shown the village the difference we made, and we were even offered financial assistance to better help the animals. Surrounding schools are asking us about programmes they can undertake in the sanctuary. We have requested funding to build Israel's first 'R&S global awareness centre which will serve as a nature centre and headquarters for R&S groups of northern Israel.
*** GREAT NEWS VERVET MONKEY FAMILY SAFELY TRANSFERRED TO PRIMATE *** SANCTUARY IN JERUSALEM FOREST - CASE CLOSED.
Israel's leading newspaper Maariv, read by more than 3.5 million people, has written a page long article in its weekend edition about Itai’s conservation work.
Here's the paper's full translation:
______________________________________________________________________
Written by Tomer Pratt of Maariv National Press
KING OF THE WETLAND
Behind the Mall in Herzeliyya there's a huge swamp filled with treasure. Itai Roffman spends his time there from six in the morning until two o'clock at night, calling the frogs until they answer.
on a stormy night Itai Roffman heads out to the huge swamp which has been filled up since the start of winter behind the Seven Stars Mall in Herzeliyya. Rain pours down relentlessly, the clothes are wet, and it’s freezing cold. But 20-year-old Itai, armed with a crooked stretched umbrella, rubber boots and a contraption that resembles a butterfly-catching net, doesn't seem the bit bothered. He hops over rocks, careful not to slip on the mud and shoots out an array of sentences with no period or comma in sight mostly about pond frogs, tree frogs, toads, newts - especially on one amphibian he's most closely connected to and has devoted his life to - the Syrian Cat-Eyed Spade-Foot. Behind this complicated name hides a frog. Chubby and smooth, green and mottled as an American soldier in Kuwait. Digs burrows underground (Hence the name) and spends most of her spare time there, which she has lots of. Her eyes' pupils are diagonal as a cat or a snake's. From her hind leg grows a long nail of a guitar player which is used for burrowing. Behind those evil-looking eyes hides an innocent auntish being. She can't even jump like a normal frog, and progresses in a slow walk, leaving her burrows only at dark. Her call is soothing and quiet. In short, a true froglight, who's quickly disappearing from sight, amongst other things mostly due to wetland drainage and the flow of chemical Fertilizers to them. Figures show, that for every 100 spade-foots living fifty years ago in Israel barely even one remains today.
Africa in Herzeliyya
In one of "The Simpsons" episodes, Bart catches a three-eyed fish. Nuclear waste from the plant where his genius father Homer works, spills into a river adjacent to the city, and wreaks havoc on the genetic diversity of the river waters' wildlife. We need not go so far as Springfield. Itai Roffman has already found in various wetlands around Israel - eyeless tree frogs, a toad with one big eye and one small eye, legless frogs and Newts (a salamander like animal) with missing eyes and fingers. Others, he takes to the University where blood samples are taken and they are then returned home. Moreover, the pollution causes a phenomenon named here first as "Peter Pan Syndrome". Millions of Israeli tadpoles will never grow up into the real thing. The chemicals leave them at the first stage of their development, and in their baby state will finally pass away. The Hezeliyya wetlands are called the Bassa - swamp in Arabic. And stretch out to 75 Acres. A few weeks after the rains start they fill up with toads, ducks, egrets, herons and storks. Itai swears he even saw Flamingos. A true African nature reserve, 200 yards away from the coast highway. Itai spends some days over there from six in the morning to two o'clock at night. He relocates the tadpoles and adult toads to the Tel-Aviv University’s zoological gardens, where a small breeding colony exists looked after by Dr. Sarig Gafny, a zoologist and international researcher. Itai has a way of locating toads. Occasionally he stops his flow of words, listens a second or two to the silence and starts to croak. These are croaks deep from within the heart and stomach, which then cause the toads of the area to immediately respond to him in a great chorus. It's amazing how they answer so perfectly coordinated and precise. Every once in a while you'll hear a pond frog or a tree frog (their calls sound different), but unfortunately, no Spadefoot, whose voice Itai can even recognize in his sleep, responds to his croaks. Toads abound, spadefoots are truly a rarity in the swamp. When it rains, the toads mate. Itai finds them here hooked on each other in a labyrinth of passion. Even in his hands they don't stop making out. Back when he was a seventh grade student studying in a school near the swamp he was set on saving them. "In the middle of the lesson I heard them calling from down below," he remembers. "I looked out the window and saw them mating on the road separating the two swamps. There were run-over frogs and toads there. Those who tried crossing the road, and those who mated on it. I began to cry. I'm a very emotional person in these circumstances. "I understood that this road was a death trap. At recess I went over there and collected the adult frogs from the asphalt and took them to the water. After that, I collected tadpoles and raised them at home, so their fate won't be the same. Since then, I collect tadpoles of all sorts of amphibians, raise them at home and return them as adults back into the wild. My dad claims I was born with a butterfly net in my hand." One day, rainy as ever, we travel north in search of newts. The Israeli newt is called Tritton named after the god of the sea (son of Poseidon) from the Greek Mythology, and was depicted as having the body of a human and a tail of a fish. First we search for them in Mairon mountain nature reserve, there you find salamanders, but no Trittons. After that we drive off to Quibutz Sasa, towards the pond Froggers call "Sasa pool".
Searching for Newts
The pond is situated in one of Northern Galilee's cattle grazing areas, and one of its traits is that it's made up of some mud and lots of cow dung. But what's a little filth compared to all the newts rummaging around the territory. The Side-striped Newt (as the endemic local species is called) don't swim in water, but rather crawl under rocks that are scattered around the pond. Almost under every rock sleeps a friendly phlegmatic newt. These beings are slow in a manner that leaves you truly awe-struck. Similar to lizards, yet enjoy their own piece of temperament. You pick up a newt from his hideout, and he simply lifts his head slowly and stares boredly at the aggressor. Biting is completely out of the question. You place him back under his rock, and with no problem he goes back to sleep.
Roffman is a cereal sender of protest and notice letters to companies that harm natural treasures. He isn't ashamed to trouble city mayors or corporations. He writes to international nature conservation centers and builds relationships with their directors. Lately, he has become Israel's representative of the worldwide "Roots & Shoots" environmental and humanitarian movement for youth founded by world-renowned anthropologist Jane Goodall. Here in Israel we call him Nevatim ve Shorashim. Several schools in Israel have already joined the ecological program. He won his last victory at the facility where he studies, Tel-Hai University. Surprisingly, he managed to convince the lab people to stop their unethical habit of dissecting live frogs. He gave them a graphical computer program in which they conduct virtual dissections of the frogs on the screen. The wetlands have never felt any better.
The NARKISSIM Kindergarten group December project
They have done so much in just one month! They are a group of 20 4-6 year old children from the Syrian border in a village called Goshrim'. Hope you like their success story.
It has been a very exciting 2003 for our newest addition to R&S Israeli-Groups. Looking back at what has been achieved simply fills us all with hope for a brighter future. A group of just 20 4-6 year olds managed all by themselves to save their local frog population, make their kindergarten environmentally sustainable and raise awareness all around their community!
It all started with an enthusiastic kindergarten teacher named Alicia Reichard who fell in love with the R&S program. Since then, the kids haven't stopped making a difference - even when they leave for home.
On the 2nd of December, after Itai Roffman came to their class for a motivational talk, a short lecture was given about the environmental problems of our world and the story of Dr. Jane's lifetime conservation/humanitarian work -- the group immediately got excited and came up with outstanding ideas for change.
Their achievements are as follows:
1. First, after the group learned all about Sustainable Development they wanted to implement some groundbreaking ideas in their classroom. Henceforth, they built four compost heaps for their Organic Garden. Instead of throwing away leftover food they turn it in to compost. This shows everyone that there's no need for chemical fertilizers to grow vegetables. Moreover, they have also convinced their teachers to switch to 100% biodegradable cleaning products. They hate the fact that chemical cleaning appliances pollute water sources and that factories cause ozone depletion as well as add to the ever-posing threat of the increasing greenhouse effect. So, the group bought a one-year supply of ECOVER cleaning products, a company which is ecologically sustainable and gives 15% of its proceeds to WWF International. Now the group can clean its classroom with a clean conscience... That's not all, the kindergarten class is now rationing its water resources -- after washing the dishes with "ecover" they take their water filled bucket and water the Organic Garden! The same goes for laundry and multi-surface cleaning. These individuals are making so much of a difference!
2. After hearing about the plight of amphibians around the world and learning about Israel's critically endangered Frogs, Toads, Newts and Salamanders, the group got straight to work to establish its very own frog pond sanctuary. Some of the kids spotted a frog or two jumping about in the rain, and that was enough to spark a two-week long "Frog-Pond-Project". Initially, they thought of the best place to establish such a sanctuary (safe from development). When asked where the pond should be built, surprisingly enough, everyone shouted the "Sand Box" (Such altruism at such a young age! They were willing to sacrifice their playground in order to save the Frogs!). And so they did. Two weeks of hard work of planting vegetation, placing frog-hideouts in the form of old plastic tubs (Recycling) strategically placed around the pond. They brought in buckets after buckets filled with organic material from rotting leaves left over from autumn, and after days and days of planting and building and having fun, they all waited for the rains to come and fill up the plastic covered waterhole. The rains came, the frogs came, and hopefully in February they'll have tadpoles! And by doing so the kids and teachers learned all about making and undertaking a species survival plan. With nowhere to lay their eggs, these wonderful frogs won't have a future. The Narkissim R&S group changed that, locally speaking.
Hope you all enjoy the pictures! At night when we came to look at our finished pond the kids learned how to talk "Frog". Itai came that night and taught the group how to say "hello" -- it's very simple you just squinch your mouth to the right and say RRREWEEEEE-RRRRRREWEEEE-RRRRREWEEEEE ... We received an answer from the Israeli Green-Treefrog, and we all celebrated in a froggystyle dance!
The Roots & Shoots group learnt a valuable lesson for the new year: even when all hope is lost for saving an animal being's natural home -- NEVER SAY NEVER -- work hard and keep persisting at the end nature will give us the final push we need to succeed.
Narkissim R&S group wishes everyone at the Jane Goodall Institute and all the R&S groups of the world a very productive green year filled with raised awareness to the highest level and peace at last. Happy New Year from our R&S family to yours! We send you all our love!
P.S. They've even cleaned up they're local National park trails from rubbish, on the 12th of Dec (see picture).
R&S Israel, Brother Chimpanzee Progress Report
Ocean-View Roots & Shoots Elementary School coordinator and Educational/Social advisor to the school: Shlomit Roffman Feb 15, 2003
These past few months have been very productive for all of the R&S 'Brother Chimpanzee' Ocean-View Elementary school students. They started off with a "Compassion Parade" on the 5th of Dec around their community in Herzeliyya promoting love and respect towards all living beings. More than 700 people from the community participated and the R&S students led the march. Every student held a banner with a kind word or gesture on it. The kids reminded people about the importance of being kind and polite to each other. Kids held up posters with words like: "Thank you", "Please", "Sorry", and "May I"... It's interesting that the students had to remind their parents about the importance of understanding and using these words. Excitement was felt in the air as hundreds of people marched down the roads of this small city chanting and holding up banners with Dr. Jane's message of hope. Here's what one of the banners said: "KINDNESS, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING IS THE LANGUAGE THAT THOSE WHO CAN'T SPEAK TALK AND THE DEAF HEAR". Love and understanding were in the air, and many people felt that this was a sort of "Compassion-Revolution", therefore torches were lit to state the important cause. Many more people were swept by the crowds. These amazing R&S children were even rewarded with an unexpected appearance by the City Mayor Mrs. Yael German who joined most of the parade. Everyone knew that a difference was being made, and you could hear the kids’ happiness for miles. They achieved their goal! Spreading love and raising awareness to all life on earth, and especially enjoyed the scores of people of all ages from the community having the time of their lives and forgetting about the wars - they won their battle and to the greatest extent! The air was filled with the spirit of friendship, and no one wanted to go home. A small march led by 360 students that was supposed to last an afternoon more than doubled and lasted until eight o'clock at night. It's amazing to think how much kids can influence the older generation, and it's even more spectacular that they have changed the way they look at the world around them and the way they treat their fellow human and non-human beings.
Moreover, together with their arts teacher the students of the 3rd grade learnt all about our world’s limited resources and the importance of recycling, reusing and reducing the amount of rubbish they produce. Hence, the kids are working hard to build statues and artwork from trash they bring from home. The children learnt also about Picasso and were inspired by his artwork using recycled materials. They have made amazing artwork, and a brilliant statue garden. Homeroom #1 created a fantastic tree and hung notes with prayers for a better world for trees and animals, and hoped there would be no more endangered species in the world. Some notes said, "We will never forget all the extinct animals who died at the hands of man". The whole school is admiring their art work at thus a huge step in raising awareness has been made by them. 1st grade students are in charge of turning the school nicer and greener (painting rainforests, animals and important conservation issues on all walls). 2nd graders adopt kindergarteners in an aim to strengthen the bonds within the community - they teach them about the importance of loving animals, and bring their friend rabbits into the kindergarten to nurture compassion and respect towards all animals. 4th graders are working hard to establish their school's R&S nature room which includes a computer, Partnerships in Understanding Bulletin Board, maps, wildlife posters, and books about animals, the environment and anthropology. 5th graders are adopting "Horizon" school for the mentally handicapped, they spend a few hours every week making these children happy: the 4th graders put up puppet shows regarding environmental concerns for the kids, create art work together with them all about our natural world and show these special kids that they care about them and accept them to their society as equals. What more can these kids ask for? Some of the disabled children even established secret languages with their friends and they really are blooming. 6 graders are strengthening the bonds between the young generation and the old, 60 6 graders pair up with people from their local old folks home, and meet with them twice a month for the whole day. Many elderly have no family to be with so these young R&S are doing a very special project, and themselves are the only family they have. The kids give presents to their elderly friends on each and every holiday and celebrate their birthday with great joy, inviting friends to celebrate with them. On Israeli Earth Day 18th of January they came with presents to their friends - Organic dried fruit in a basket! It was amazing to see the elderly people sharing stories about the old days when pesticides weren't in use, and the open spaces and wildernesses were all around them. The elders are teaching the young their favourite songs and the young are teaching the old their favourite songs. And this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship! These kids are learning so much from their new friends, they are even learning something about themselves. Some kids said that this quality time is very enriching and giving them more to think about and be thankful for.
The whole school is working on a project: establishing a R&S Fauna Sanctuary for handicapped animals, they have raised money to build a huge aviary in which the children take care of wingless hawks, blind barn owls etc in an environment free from cages & locks. This is a place where children learn to become compassionate humans. And feel equal with nature. Here animal beings will be given a second chance in life, because otherwise the authorities thinking it is best to put them to sleep claiming that they can not be released back in the wild. But we all know the importance of helping the unfortunate in any way we can, henceforth the school has requested council funding to build the enclosure. And very soon the nature and parks authority will introduce these wonderful animals to their new home, - in the school's backyard. The whole school was involved in the Global Peace Question Project with Kathleen Maleski in New Jersey. Paintings, songs, literature and dances were created by the students to be sent to the Sundance School to be exhibited in a huge exhibition about "How to create peace"? Everyone was so excited to participate in the project, and the kids can't wait for the exhibition to start. It's going to have a lot of media coverage - so we're all thrilled to share our ideas of peace for the world.
Surprisingly enough, Americas Ambassador to Israel will pay a visit this Tuesday to see all the wonderful R&S projects made by Brother Chimpanzee at their school. Great news indeed...
Brother Chimpanzee Monthly Report - March 2003
'Ocean-View' Elementary BC R&S school - contact: Shlomit Roffman BC R&S Coordinator 7 Ha'banim street Herzeliyya, 46379 Israel Tel/Fax.:+972-9-9500485 email: eroffman@netvision.net.il
March was a very productive month for our BCR&S school as all the kids and teachers have made great progress in every way - the "Compassion Parade" affected everyone. First of all, the kids had a brilliant idea to make coming to school and learning much more fun. Every child can bring his or her pet hamster, guinea pig or rabbit to every class! This has made a fantastic difference in the way children with learning disorders started to become more envolved in class and began to participate remarkably in lessons - a true difference has been made. Moreover, kids who didn't have pets at home were not left out as this school has a beautiful garden with rabbits running around without cages and, thus, children and rabbits are treated as equals and all can participate in the lessons. Furthermore, the school children have been bringing their rabbit-friends to their friends at 'Horizon' school for the mentally disabled to interact with and give them something to smile about. We don't know why but suddenly after bringing in animalbeings to their quality-time with the disabled kids, many of them began openning up and started communicating. This was the biggest reward the BCkids could ever receive. As you can see, the BC school really are promoting the love and respect of all animals, this was inhanced by the creation of two very long hallway animal rights walls: one wall is called the 'Wall Of Shame' and the other 'We Love Animal Beings Wall'. Lets start with the loving wall. Here all the kids of the school write letters promoting their love of animals, they fill the wall with letters, stories, poetry and artwork about their pets and favorite animals. Chaim Batzon of the sixth grade wrote: "I reccomend all of you get a friend hamster - I have hamster named Memie, she's very cute but she will bite any aggressor. She loves to run in mazes and play, when I release her around the house she never seems to have a permanent toilet. I play hide-and-go-seek with her in the yard she catches us sometimes but then scratches." Inbar Arielli of the forth grade wrote a story: "Once apon a time there was a dog who had eight pupies. All the pups were given to several homes for care. All of them lived well but one, who had owners which did not love him and they beat him all the time. If he did anything bad he was punished and wasn't fed for a week, they did not take him out on walks and he was harrased all the time. When they've got tired of the pup they sold him off to a biomedical research lab. The lab injected the pup's body with very damaging substances. The good people of the humane society and the Antivivisection society heard of the tragedy and they oraganized a huge demonstration. Thanks to the demonstration the pup managed to get free. The society members took him and adopted him even though his chances of survival were slim. The story ends happily - the pup is still alive to this day and is a very beautiful dog." Finally, the Wall of Shame is filled with posters, brouchers and newspaper clippings all about animal abuse and exploitation. Here the kids show everyone about the horrible cruelty of the farm animals for meat business, fur trade and experimentation and on the other hand the wall promotes organic farming. Amazingly, since the wall was created a wave of vegetarianism washed the school.
A letter to The Fauna Foundation
You'll be pleased to know that for the past two weeks now, on every
wednesday a special information-desk turns up during a 2.5 hour recess in
the middle of campus. The sign on the top says "The Fauna Foundation" with
your logo, and the pamphlets/brouchers that you sent me are handed-out. I
tell the interested students all about the Fauna Chimp Family and their case
histories, and about all your amaizing altruism going on around the clock at
the sanctuary. I have even organized a petition with 2,000 spaces about
banning expiriments on all primates and all other animals, we've got 100
names on the list up to now. When I start to lecture about the Fauna
Chimpanzees (when a big crowd surrounds), and I get to the part about the
chimp's past I can not hide my sadness and pain and I always end up with
tears running down my cheeks. Some of the students asked me this Wed. why
I'm so deeply saddened by this - it seemed to take me a while to answer
them - but before I got a chance to do so they said they already
knew... -It was this Wednesday after I closed the Fauna-desk for the day that a
young woman came up to me and told me something that made me feel dizzy and
weak. She told me about everything I was always so very gravely afraid of
since the day I entered the college, she said that at every mid term
hundrends of Frogs alive and well enter the college gates and never leave
alive again, hundreds of mice, hundreds of grasshoppers and hundereds of
fish fall victim to the college science professors and lab workers. As I got
up I was taken by that girl to the lab building where I soon found out that
it was all true. And the worst part is that all the doctrate students and
treachers I assisted with my knowlege had hidden it all from me all this
time. I felt so sad about all those countless helpless frogs who like jews
at Aushwitz did not know the fate that awaited them. Those poor mice,
grasshoppers, fish!
-- I, who is so greatly uplifted by the site of a single frog crossing my
path or hearing a sinlge chorous gives me so much hope, I who celebrated
every winter as the frogs of our small wetland mated, who spent countless
sleepless nights with the frogs surveying their population fearing for the
worst at the sign of any danger from pesticides around the area, and I the
one who fought for their right on the land ----- has to now fight for life
itself. The other terrible part is that the Professor (Gadi Dgani) I was
willing to help with undertaking field research about salamander and newt
populations in Israel the same prof. that intrigued me with his appreciation
towards wildlife a few weeks before. I've been told by all the lab workers
that he's the only one giving orders for these murders. My great
appreciation for the Tel Hai Environmental College just disappeared. And as
if that's not enough: I was smart enough to ask the lab workers who is the
one supplying the animal patients and what I heard made me feel weak once
again. They said the name "Mr. Shalom Hayatt", the very same person I
reported to WWF International about and CITES regarding his illeagle
smuggling in endangered amphibians from abroad and his illeagle hunting of
native frog species to be turned into lab subjects for vivasection etc. I
reported him to the local authorities but there's some sort of immunity that
this person has that inables him to keep on going after all my sruggles.
Yes, you guessed it, those frogs at the college are the very same Israeli
frogs I'm so desperatrely trying to save for the past seven years now. And
yes they are an endangered and a protected-by-law species.
Please help me in this matter because I fear that alone I'm too weak, please
help me by writing letters to the professor and the college about the
horrendous crimes being committed, and that there are alternatives these
animals are being sacrificed not in the sake of science or even humanity but
simply for getting a few worthless grades in biology for first year
undergraduate students. Please ask our Fauna family if they can write
letters or help in any way. I don't know how to do this alone, or if I have
the spirits to coupe. Animal beings mean the whole world to me and the pain
that some of them have to endure because of ignorance reflects on me.I love
them so much that I have given my whole life to protecting them, I'm all out
of words.
Promising news:
On the next morning after writing the letter, I went first thing to the
Professors office. First, I spoke with his two doctrate students - we sat
down at the table and I explained the whole matter to them. They completely
agreed with me, and noted that they hated putting down animal beings. I then
told them about the frog's dire situation, and about the person supplying
them. Once again, they totaly agreed (and they regreted having to do it).
After our hour long talk, they spoke with the professor, he was skeptical
about the issue. I then requested to see him. As I told him what I thought,
I saw apathy in his eyes. However, I didn't give up, I went on saying that
as a professor of ecology he should very well have known about the
consiquences of his actions. He was throwing away not only invaluable
genetical diversity of a species (Israeli pond frog) but also a huge library
of knowlege with thousands of books yet unread with every frog he
disregarded. As I felt hopeless in my tireless efforts, he suddenly opened
his eyes wide and said that he understood what I was trying to say -- he
noticed my tears.
He then promised me that no more frogs will be harmed or even enter the
college ever again. I shook my head in agreement and noted that this was a
very wise first step in eradicating all animal experimentation at the
school. I promised him that I will find alternatives for the animal
patients, but I had two conditions for him...
1. He'll need to help me spread my story through the media, newspapers and
all the other colleges and universities across Israel, telling everyone that
one individual CAN make a difference. I felt so sad that no one else has
done at tel-hai what I have.
2. He should find a suitable place in the lab and place a framed message
saying that the laboratory regrets harming so many frogs. - It made the
frogs look like objects without a right to live. Undermining their
importance as a key species in our environment.
I told the professor that I appreciate his understanding, and that I could
no longer study ecology and biology at the school. I've been given
permission to study a different course. Anthropology, psycology and animal
behaviour (I don't want to become a biologist, I never did, I just want to
be an Animal rights activist).
I learned that I can't afford to waste my time on research. Raising
awareness is really what needs to be done!
I placed the frogs as ambassadors of this small fight for justice, and I'm
glad to say that the fight has been won locally. I promised to show Prof.
Dgani the alternatives, be it through computer animation or lifesize plastic
substitutes (no more fish, frogs, worms, mice and grasshopppers need to die
for nothing. I made him see that animal beings are not there for
exploitation, we are all created equal on the earth and we all have a right
to live. Now as the story has a relatively happy ending - we shall all remember those
poor many animals that could not be saved, may they remain in our hearts and souls forever.
Brother Chimpanzee R&S Monthly Report – April 2003
March was a very productive month for our BCR&S school as all the kids and teachers have made great progress in every way - the "Compassion Parade" affected everyone. First of all, the kids had a brilliant idea to make coming to school and learning much more fun. Every child is allowed to bring his or her pet hamster, guinea pig or rabbit to every class! This has made a fantastic difference in the life of the children with learning disorders. They started to become more involved in class and began to participate remarkably in lessons. Moreover, kids who didn't have pets at home were not left out as this school has a beautiful garden with rabbits running around freely. Thus, children and rabbits are treated as equals and all can participate in the lessons. Furthermore, the school children have been bringing their rabbit-friends to their friends at 'Horizon' school for the mentally disabled to interact with and give them something to smile about. We don't know why but suddenly, after bringing in animal beings to their quality-time with the disabled kids, many of them began opening up and started communicating. This was the biggest reward the BC kids could ever receive. As you can see, the BC school is really promoting the love and respect of all animals.
This was enhanced by the creation of two very long hallway-animal-rights-walls: one wall is called the 'Wall Of Shame' and the other 'We Love Animal Beings Wall'. Lets start with the loving wall. Here all the kids of the school write letters promoting their love of animals; they filled the wall with letters, stories, poetry and artwork about their pets and favourite animals. Chaim Batzon of the sixth grade wrote: "I recommend all of you to get a friend hamster. I have hamster named Memie. She's very cute but she will bite any aggressor. She loves to run in mazes and play, when I release her around the house she never seems to have a permanent toilet. I play hide-and-seek with her in the yard she catches us sometimes but then scratches." Inbar Arielli of the forth grade wrote a story: "Once upon a time there was a dog who had eight puppies. All the pups were given to several homes for care. All of them lived well but one, who had owners that did not love him and they beat him all the time. If he did anything bad he was punished and wasn't fed for a week, they did not take him out on walks and he was harassed all the time. When they got tired of the pup they sold him off to a biomedical research lab. The lab injected the pup's body with very damaging substances. The good people of the Humane Society and the Antivivisection society heard of the tragedy and they organized a huge demonstration. Thanks to the demonstration the pup managed to get free. The society members took him and adopted him even though his chances of survival were very slim. The story ends happily - the pup is still alive to this day and is a very beautiful dog." Finally, the Wall of Shame is filled with posters, brochures and newspaper clippings all about animal abuse and exploitation. Here the kids show everyone the horrible cruelty done to the farm animals for meat business, fur trade and experimentation. On the other hand, the wall promotes organic farming. Many of the school children have already learned the importance of organic farming, and surprisingly enough the school's Partners in Understanding Roots and Shoots Friends from Trempealeau, Wisconsin received all sorts of organic candy (chosen by the kids!) in the package BC sent them. It was fantastic to hear that a local reporter came to Trempealeau school to write an article in their local paper about the great new partnership. Amazingly, since the wall was created, a wave of vegetarianism washed the school! In fact, Starting April 3rd BCR&S school will become partners with the Anonymous Society (Israel’s humane society), every week volunteers from Anonymous will come in and hold talks with all the school children about ethical issues of the way modern man treats his fellow animals and find ways to turn back the wheel of devastation. A huge declaration against animal cruelty will be signed by all school staff and children and will be put up in the middle of the school in the next couple of days.
Apart from that, after learning about the importance of protecting and preserving native plants the kids immediately went to a very small field near their school which was going to be destroyed for development and saved all the flowers there by getting together with all the school kids and carefully transferred the flowers and plants to their school grounds, planting the native plants all around their school. They managed to save all the flowers of the field! It's beautiful that these r&s children all implementing conservation in action!
And saving the best news for last: the BC school has started their partnership with the Jerusalem zoo's primate department and will now create, collect and deliver enrichment items of manipulation etc to the Chimpanzee family in Jerusalem on a regular basis! Everyone is so excited to help enrich the lives of our BROTHER CHIMPANZEES! Henceforth, the translated JGI Germany’s Captive Hominid Enrichment Manual has been placed all over one of the walls of the school so everyone could get ideas for organizing an enrichment program. Pictures will be sent on our next report!
Lets just end with a small prayer for peace in the middle-east ___________________________________. Everybody at the school has to have their gasmasks with them at all times. May God help us.
___________________________________________________________________________________
From The Fauna Foundation
updates from R&S Israel:
Itai Roffman, Roots & Shoots Coordinator in Israel and a wonderful Fauna supporter has sends us reports of the progress of their group. Read more about Itai Roffman.
Spring 2003
Earth Day was wonderful! R&S Israel signed a formal partnership with the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo and all the R&S schools in Israel will now be adopting the chimpanzee family over there and enrichment programmes, games etc. are flooding in...
A leading internet news website in Israel asked me to run their animal rights news column. It'll be great to promote Fauna through it. I have a meeting with the company's CEO next week and we'll see how it goes. Exciting news...
Moreover, a group of 8th graders in the "Daliot stream conservationists" R&S school in Daliot middle school on the Syrian border organised a "ChimpAid Lemonade" sale in their community and collected $100 USD for the chimpanzees. They are going to adopt one of the Fauna chimps and JGI's African sanctuary orphans. Great title for a lemonade stand.
Thanks Itai for all your hard work on the chimps’ behalf!
Update from Israel — May 07, 2003
Another victory won for the amphibians of Israel
Another victory won for Amphibians! I discovered that professor Gad Degani, apart from killing endemic Israeli frogs for college students (thank God that's over!), was working on a similar path with his doctorate students. This time they were killing Israel's last remaining and endemic IUCN Red Listed Critically Endangered Side-stripped Newt and Fire Salamanders! And this time it was an even more difficult task for me as we were dealing with students trying to get their doctorate degrees.
I had to stop these mass killings of the innocent, so I asked Degani and his doctorate student to help them on their doctorate project — I literally pulled them out of the labs and took them out into the field so they could observe newts and salamanders in their natural habitat and see how amazing their lives are. I knew that if I was going to save these newts and salamanders I had to be kind of a secret agent for the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority.
A question troubled me: "Does scientific discovery come before wildlife conservation?" After befriending these two, I was given their project proposal to review for advice. What I read there made my blood freeze. They actually disguised their biotechnological mission of finding new types of hormones in newts, and studying these and how they function in the mating season, by claiming to look for DNA differences between isolated populations (which does not require killing the newts) and learning their seasonal mating habits in the winter pool ecosystems.
With a likely connection between Degani and one of the board members of the Israeli N&P Authority, and Degani's status as a professor, they could get hold of permits to collect animals. This was getting too tricky. Not only that, but Degani was working on another unjustified project with another doctoral student: studying a 'newly' discovered phenomenon called "the suicidal salamanders of northern Israel". Degani said that in some small, ancient man-made holes in the mountains of northern Israel salamanders go in to give birth to larvae and are unable to come out again, so they die in there. He sent students to observe the dying salamander females. How can anyone in their right mind sit above a beautiful salamander and watch her die, whilst the mother helplessly tries crawling on the walls and slips back down? He's teaching his students to be immoral human beings.
Degani is proposing to save this species by adding a few logs to these three water holes, when as far as I can tell he took those logs out in the first place. Salamanders don't ever enter a water hole if they don't have a safe way to go in - this I know from 20 years of observing salamanders in the wild. What's more troubling is that I heard him request a permit to kill 30 salamanders. He also requested a permit to kill 15 breeding aged newts from each of the 40 remaining winter ponds and pools twice a breeding season and at every pond. He received a permit to collect 50 individual adults if he releases most of the back.
Last winter, before I came to the college, they killed 29 adult newts — these could have easily been the pools' key breeding males/females. This winter I was there to keep an eye out, and after taking Degani and students out into the pools at night to show them wild newt and salamander behavior and mating rituals, they agreed to delay the remaining newt/salamander killings until next winter.
This gave me enough time reveal all my discoveries to the head ranger of Israeli Nature & Parks Authority in northern Israel. After telling him everything I came up with we organized an 'ambush'. If the ranger caught them in the act of breaching their permits they would then be off to court. The doctoral student had also told me that they had killed 40 individual newt larvae in the winter of 2002 for hormone brain sampling, this was not permitted to them by INPA. This was my final key to put an end to Degani's extermination days.
Last Thursday was the day! After months of anticipation I had enough evidence to close the book on Professor Degani. Thursday started off with me joining the doctoral student on his pond water sampling tour. This time was different — as the newts migrated away from the ponds no new observations could be made. The student told me he needed to take 30 newt larvae for testing (once more, no permit for this), and as he was getting ready to get the nets to catch the larvae, I called in the head park ranger and an arrest was made. In my heart I felt like a satisfied policeman who got his murderer. Justice was here! The head ranger interrogated him for the courts and he said a sentence that was music to my ears: "Your amphibian projects are terminated." Degani was charged a $10,000 USD fine and he might face prison. The Israeli amphibians can now live in peace.
Now I can also sleep in peace. This battle was fought for all the countless amphibians who died in the hands of Professor Gad Degani. This goes to show that even professors can be criminals, and no one has the right to threaten already critically endangered species. Scientific discovery, therefore, does not come before conservation. Hundreds of Israeli amphibians are now safe from that lab, and this guy will never ever get anymore permits from INPA.
Magenim Elementary Roots & Shoots School
a year long Program Progress Report for World Refugee Day 2003
Sons & Daugters of Peace R&S school Coordinators: Itai Roffman & Ms. Tarin Paz. R&S Israel 7 Ha'banim street Herzeliya 46379 Israel. eroffman@netvision.net.il
Magenim R&S Elementary School is situated right under the Lebanon border in a low-income industrial city called Qiriat-Shemona, a 170 student school in the western side of the Hula Valley. What was once an extremely vast wetland and drained in 1957. A tremendously rich wetland ecosystem was destroyed all in the name of development. Unfortunately, dry peat moss is unsuitable for agricultural purposes - the main reason for which this environment was drained for. However, restoration can never be fully perfect, even when that day comes we will always remember the endemic species that went extinct from the face of the earth due to that initiative: the Hula Painted Frog and the Hula White-Headed Darter are just two of many. The ground is forever drenched in DDT, and yet hope has come. Roots & Shoots has arrived in the valley, a true sign of hope!!
These Roots & Shoots children are living right in the line of fire. Hizbollah warriors on the Lebanese side are firing missiles and Anti-Aircraft rockets, that always fly over the school, and sometimes even fall on it. The students have grown accustomed to the sound of explosions and seem to ignore the thunderous, chilling sound of it. After a major war a few years ago many families from the Lebanese side were left homeless, displaced, frightened and with no where else to go. If they go back to Lebanon they'll be seen as traitors and will surely die. So, they have found refuge in the Israeli city of Qiriat-Shemona, the government introduced them in to the community, yet the children are the ones who feel the most 'outsiders'. That is why Roots & Shoots came to "Magenim" ("shields" in Hebrew). Two young people, Tarin and Itai who arrived with a mission, a dream to change the hatred into love, to turn saddness into hope to inable the refugee kids to be accepted as equals. Before we tell you our year long story, we want to give you a Reason For Hope: Today, violence has all but vanished in the school; Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Orang-utans & Bonobos are regarded as our brothers there; Animals are now appreciated and respected; Sustainable development has become a common talked about issue; Peace is what we are all waiting for now.
Every Thursday morning the school kids wait in anticipation for six whole hours of Roots & Shoots, every class enjoys one hour of learning, raising awareness and having fun. All it took to get these kids, who seemed troubled and sad on the first day we met in October, was a loud "HELLO" in Chimpanzeee. After that introduction lesson about our brother Chimpanzees and Dr. Jane the school would never be the same again. Every lesson was about a different Global or Local issue: Geography, ecosystems, conservation, sustainable development, humanitarian concerns, endangered species, Interspecies communication (the use of ASL American Sign Language or via computer key board marked with geometric symbols by Washoe, Koko, Kanzi...) different cultures of the world and understanding animals body language. We made it as interesting as we could, using large wildlife photo albums, games we created (crossword puzzles, trivia questions, jokes, riddles and "gameshows" with prizes), videos, posters, writing and signing declarations about sustainable development, animal rights and Peace. The school is participating in Partnerships In Understanding with several US schools and have made drawings and paintings for the "How To Create Peace?" Question exhibit in New Jersey Sundance R&S school.
We organised a schoolwide "Keep An Eye On Your Health" Day to be held on June 23-24. In which each class will be given a course about how to stay healthy whilst keeping their environment healthy as well. Main issues: 1. Protecting yourself from the Sun. Due to Ozone depletion and Israel being a very sunny hot country, Skin Cancer from UV Radiation exposure is one of our most greatest health risks, especially in summer. The kids will learn the importance of wearing sunglasses, long shirts, hats and seeking shade between 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM (and not leaving the house without water of course). 2. Household Chemicals are known to be hazardous to our water sources and to the people using them. Hence, we have put together a - "R&S Household EcoCare List". A pamphlet that includes recipes on how to make non-polluting, very cheap and very effective - household cleaning appliances. For example, Multi-surface cleaner: 1/4 cup vinegar added to 4 litres of warm water. Grease remover: remove grease with a piece of cloth dipped in vinegar after sprinkling baking soda on the spot. Put salt on spills and clean off after 10 min. Apart from that, Pesticides are known to cause cancer and have devastating effects on the immediate environment also they rise into the air and may affect the globe as a whole, we also have a substitute for this: half a cup of borax added with the same amount of powdered sugar, sprinkle where ants or termites crawl in the house, and the house is insect free whilst not harming any insects or the environment.
During the year the students have made quite a difference in the school. After learning about sustainable development, all the students organized a petition demanding that recycling will be an integrate part of school living. They presented the petition to the school principal and one month after that, with alot of pressure on their part, recycling bins were placed all over the school for plastics, paper, used batteries and glass!!! The city council arranged for trucks to pick up the recycled materials regularly. Children even bring their recyclables from home to school. Throughout the year we focused on our brother Chimpanzees, after a few hours of learning about them the kids showed great respect to their fellow students they said it was such a humbling feeling to be able to erase the line between humans and the rest of the animal world. They've made an art gallery for the Chimpanzee-beings of Jerusalem zoo, they've painted drawings of central Africa and we will present the captive chimpanzees with these drawings and put them up in front of their enclosures so they can see, and the visitors to the zoo can see how much the Magenim R&S students care about them. They have even made and written posters to be placed in front of the enclosure saying: "In the name of all humanity we the students of Magenim apologise for our ignorance ", "Dear visitor, look me deep in the eyes and see that we are not beasts, but hominid". The students have also collected many enrichment items, stuffed toys and clothes for them.
To celebrate the success of this r&s program we took the 4th grade special education class kids out to an animal park two weeks ago, we raised enough money to rent a bus and the "Yir'on Living Lake Animal Park " on the Meiron Mountains donated thirty tickets for them. This gave this class the chance to travel outside of their city for the first time and see the beautiful Israeli wilderness, and get a once in a lifetime opportunity to be so close to Red Deer. The kids implemented what they learned about animal rights and immediately went to a nearby cherry tree and collected a big pile of vege
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