Hear the Drum(Drom)of Africa to Eretz Yisrael

By Bev Jaffe

As the plane touches down at Ben Gurion, I give a sigh of relief.

This is it…this is my 14 year dream, Martin, Sivana, Rishon and myself have landed in Eretz Yisrael.

The place we are going to grow old in, see our children through school in, and eventually pass away in.

As new Olim, we are extremely lucky to have been chosen for the B’ayit Rishon B’Moledet program, under the auspices of Elena Kovarsky.

From the day of the Aliyah Expo in Cape Town, we knew that we wanted to have our first experience in Israel on a kibbutz.

Our integration into Israeli society was very important to us. Learning the language as soon as possible, was of the utmost importance, and where better to do it ,than on a kibbutz where people virtually only speak Evreet.

The children have adapted unbelievably well, with all the freedoms, once not allowed to them.

There are 2 other new olim families that arrived around the same time as us, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we have all settled in very well.

“Drom Africa” is a very different place to Israel, the lifestyle is different, the culture, the people, everything…and that isn’t always a bad thing.

We are definitely more spoilt in Africa, and I have learnt to appreciate a lot of the things I have previously taken for granted.

Living on a kibbutz definitely makes settling into Israel a lot easier, where you have the support of so many different people, like Nira and Vietta, from the kibbutz, who have made sure that we are comfortable, and have the necessities we require, our neighbors-Lee and Letithia Kaplan, who also made aliyah a year ago, they have really been pillars of strength, showing us the ropes, all the places to get good bargains, and have become good friends, also the plenty of other members of the kibbutz, who have befriended us ,making us feel really at home.

Making Aliyah is’nt always an easy decision, but when you know you have people there to support you every step of the way, it makes the world of difference, knowing that should there be anything you are unsure of, concerned about ,there is always someone to discuss the situation with.

Toda Raba to all those who made our dream of coming to Israel come true,

Elena, Susan, Talia, Moshe, Yossi and everyone else.

Shalom