In July of this year, for the tenth consecutive year, a happy and excited group of 10th grade students from Shittim School in the Arava embarked on a visit their peers in Australia. The delegation was led by Ms. Horia Niv, who has been teaching history at Shittim for the past 25 years. Horia left her home in Beit Zayit near Jerusalem almost 40 years ago to join one of the first groups of young soldiers that founded the pioneering settlement in the Arava that was to become Moshav Hazeva.

Horia and the 15 young ambassadors arrived in Melbourne on July 19th, tired from the long trip, but raring to go. Their stay in Melbourne was chock-full of activities, one of the most intense of which was the visit to the Holocaust Museum, where they met with Tuvia, a Holocaust survivor. Hearing Tuvia made a very deep impression on the youngsters, who peppered him with questions after his talk, and hugged him tearfully when they left.

In addition to touring Melbourne, its sites and institutions, and meeting with children from the Jewish schools of Melbourne, the students also visited a non-Jewish agricultural school, where they gave a presentation on Israeli agriculture. As always the Arava delegation was wonderfully cared for by the host families and by the UIA, led by the lovely Miriam Suss. One of the most important things that the young people from the Arava took away with them was the realization of how hard their Australian counterparts have to work to preserve their Jewish identities, and how very, very important it is to them.

After fond farewells from their new friends in Melbourne, the students flew to Sydney, where they were greeted at the airport by Ruth Jacobs from the UIA, who continued to assist them in every way possible during their stay. Of particular interest were the meetings with the shlichim and the madrichim of the youth movements, the visits to several schools, and of course, the famous sites of the city and surrounding areas.

After three memorable weeks Down Under the youngsters returned home with many, many experiences to digest, and we all look forward to reciprocal visits to the Arava.