ESRA's "Students Building a Community" in Netanya took all of the students and children (100 kids and 30 students) on our end-of-year trip to the Orange Trail in the heart of nature near Hadera. We all really enjoyed the trip and the visit and I wanted to share our experience.
The Orange Trail is an outdoor attraction site for all ages. In the children's park are wide lawns for picnics, playgrounds for children, seating for students along with the children. It was really lovely and such fun to see all the kids having fun, going from one challenging activity to another, getting wet from all the water attractions - which was perfect on such a hot day, running, getting to know each other, and having fun together.
The experience was very cohesive for everyone, showing that together the ESRA Students Build a Community population was really "a big deal". The children from the four different groups finally met with each other, all the students got together to chat and exchange experiences in the project and it was also a great way of bonding for each student and their group of four children. It was a wonderful end to a very challenging year. The children really enjoyed themselves and kept thanking us and talking about their experiences weeks after and asking to go back there. It was a great and highly recommended experience, both for the children and us students.
Thank you to ESRA, the coordinators and all the students who took part in this experience.
Orna Mekonen is a student in SBC Netanya