Reflecting on experience: Kibbutz Ketura

The Arava Region outside Kibbutz Ketura (and the Jordanian Mountains)

I have benefitted from so many privileges in life – I have been made acutely aware of this from my time here at my program.

First it should be said that we are living in the Negev desert. If nature had its way, we would not be able to live here at all. As such, not many people do live in this region. In addition, Israel is only about the size of New Jersey and only formed as a nation in the last century.

Jerusalem (in the Old City)

In my ecology class, we have been identifying insects and spiders (and a couple tiny scorpions)… the only problem is that there are no insect identification books for the Middle East area. Stores, facilities, and offices are open at irregular times (due to lack of workers and culture). In general, it has been hard to find everyday supplies.

The Kibbutz facility hours

In my ecology class, we have been identifying insects and spiders (and a couple tiny scorpions)… the only problem is that there are no insect identification books for the Middle East area. Stores, facilities, and offices are open at irregular times (due to lack of workers and culture). In general, it has been hard to find everyday supplies.

A student here has told me they were pulled out of elementary school to start working. He was seen as a failure because he refused to go through with an arranged marriage and continue school. He only had the opportunity to continue school because his boss (who had owned this classmate’s grandfather as a slave) singled him out as smart and offered to pay for it if my classmate worked for him for a year.

Multiple people here have to worry about their citizenship. One is worried about where they will go, because they won’t go back to Venezuela, with the current regime. They feel survivor’s guilt because they know their family and friends are still there and are dealing with food scarcity (not just a problem for the poor there). One of the volunteers at the Kibbutz said they had immigrated to Israel because he didn’t want to be drafted into the Russian army.

Another student here, whose family immigrated to Israel from Russia, told me she was worried about safety in both places (as a soldier herself, she had been really affected by the story of a soldier on a bus line being stabbed while they were sleeping).

On the regional bus to Jerusalem...
notice the gun in the background?

Safety was also a concern for a volunteer from Guatemala, who said those riding public transport had an 80% chance of being mugged (but he still has had to ride it on several occasions) and had known a person who had been shot in the exact place he had been, not five minutes after he had passed.

I would not classify what I’ve been hearing as ‘White Privilege’, in the sense that the author of “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” meant, but I would say that both of the barriers to safe, happy, productive, and equitable lives are real and for those who find themselves on the advantaged side, they can be hard to recognize. I’m grateful for the privilege to have others open my eyes.