Who can become a Heart to Heart participant?
Heart to Heart summer camp participants are youth who have just completed Grade 9 and who have participated in Givat Haviva's Children Teaching Children (CTC) program. Eligible youth will be invited to apply by their CTC facilitators and teachers. Applicants will submit a written essay and participate in an interview held in their first language and in English. Selected candidates will be youth who demonstrate curiosity and openness, interest in the themes of the program, leadership qualities, and the capacity to navigate an experience abroad in English. Participants are expected to commit to ongoing alumni programming following summer camp throughout the next school year.
Where do Heart to Heart participants come from?
All Heart to Heart participants are citizens of the State of Israel living in Wadi Ara, also known as the Northern Triangle around Kfar Qara, Umm al-Fahm, and Baqa al-Gharbiyee. This area is characterized by the geographic proximity of many Arab and Jewish communities, towns, kibbutzim, and moshavim. Despite the geographic proximity of these communities, there is a high degree of social segregation as a result of systemic separation, language barriers, fear, mistrust, and a general culture of habitual non-interaction. Heart to Heart aims to transform this reality and takes advantage of the opportunities presented by working with youth who live five to twenty-five minutes away from one another.
Why doesn't Heart to Heart work with youth from the West Bank and Gaza?
Although our participants are co-citizens, they do not experience that citizenship uniformly or equally. Heart to Heart is dedicated to creating an equitable, truly democratic and shared society for all citizens of Israel. We believe that this program can serve as a spark for the next generation of leaders, both Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel, that will connect them on a path toward an inclusive shared society.
We also believe that working toward Palestinian self-determination on a national scale, and ending the occupation is a central part of achieving our larger goal of all people in the region living with peace, security, dignity and liberation. Communities living under occupation and blockade have different needs that require different solutions. We admire and commend many of the organizations that are working towards these various solutions and with these communities, and consider Heart to Heart to be one initiative in this network. We are an active participant in ALLMEP (Alliance for Middle East Peace) forums and look for opportunities to connect and collaborate with other organizations who work on both sides of the Green Line and in Gaza.
Involving participants from the West Bank and Gaza is beyond the scope of the Heart to Heart program, which works within time, resource and political limitations. In addition, by involving youth who are geographically close to one another and who share citizenship, we believe that there is a greater opportunity for a small program, such as Heart to Heart, to make a lasting impact.
How are parents and families involved?
Heart to Heart engages the whole family in formal and informal ways. Parents develop a sense of community through pre-camp parent meetings, daily communication while their teens are abroad, and ongoing parent and family gatherings after the youth return home. Siblings and cousins often attend family programming as well. Camp is such a powerful experience that participants can't help but talk about it when they get home so families often report that dinner table conversation becomes focused on Heart to Heart and the values of the program long after camp ends.
Heart to Heart summer camp participants are youth who have just completed Grade 9 and who have participated in Givat Haviva's Children Teaching Children (CTC) program. Eligible youth will be invited to apply by their CTC facilitators and teachers. Applicants will submit a written essay and participate in an interview held in their first language and in English. Selected candidates will be youth who demonstrate curiosity and openness, interest in the themes of the program, leadership qualities, and the capacity to navigate an experience abroad in English. Participants are expected to commit to ongoing alumni programming following summer camp throughout the next school year.
Where do Heart to Heart participants come from?
All Heart to Heart participants are citizens of the State of Israel living in Wadi Ara, also known as the Northern Triangle around Kfar Qara, Umm al-Fahm, and Baqa al-Gharbiyee. This area is characterized by the geographic proximity of many Arab and Jewish communities, towns, kibbutzim, and moshavim. Despite the geographic proximity of these communities, there is a high degree of social segregation as a result of systemic separation, language barriers, fear, mistrust, and a general culture of habitual non-interaction. Heart to Heart aims to transform this reality and takes advantage of the opportunities presented by working with youth who live five to twenty-five minutes away from one another.
Why doesn't Heart to Heart work with youth from the West Bank and Gaza?
Although our participants are co-citizens, they do not experience that citizenship uniformly or equally. Heart to Heart is dedicated to creating an equitable, truly democratic and shared society for all citizens of Israel. We believe that this program can serve as a spark for the next generation of leaders, both Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel, that will connect them on a path toward an inclusive shared society.
We also believe that working toward Palestinian self-determination on a national scale, and ending the occupation is a central part of achieving our larger goal of all people in the region living with peace, security, dignity and liberation. Communities living under occupation and blockade have different needs that require different solutions. We admire and commend many of the organizations that are working towards these various solutions and with these communities, and consider Heart to Heart to be one initiative in this network. We are an active participant in ALLMEP (Alliance for Middle East Peace) forums and look for opportunities to connect and collaborate with other organizations who work on both sides of the Green Line and in Gaza.
Involving participants from the West Bank and Gaza is beyond the scope of the Heart to Heart program, which works within time, resource and political limitations. In addition, by involving youth who are geographically close to one another and who share citizenship, we believe that there is a greater opportunity for a small program, such as Heart to Heart, to make a lasting impact.
How are parents and families involved?
Heart to Heart engages the whole family in formal and informal ways. Parents develop a sense of community through pre-camp parent meetings, daily communication while their teens are abroad, and ongoing parent and family gatherings after the youth return home. Siblings and cousins often attend family programming as well. Camp is such a powerful experience that participants can't help but talk about it when they get home so families often report that dinner table conversation becomes focused on Heart to Heart and the values of the program long after camp ends.