Today has been another amazing day in the desert. After a decent night's sleep (for those of us who went to bed early!) and a traditional hearty Israeli breakfast (with vegetables and cheese galore), we boarded our buses and went straight to Yerucham, the development town in which some of us did JNF/KKL forest work yesterday. We piled into the community center where we met with Yerucham's mayor, Amram Mitzna, who told us about the work that he has been doing to improve the quality of life in this small but lively town. Two years ago, Israel's Minister of Interior Affairs asked Mayor Mitzna to leave his position as the mayor of Haifa to move down south and lead the city of Yerucham. All of us greatly enjoyed hearing him speak and we asked him many questions until he had to leave.

After Yerucham we continued our journey to our work destination for the day: the city of Dimona, another Negev development town. Our first stop there was Yad Lebanim, the memorial center for all Dimona residents who have fought and died in Israel's many wars. Here we were received and greeted by Meir Chazan, the city's Director of Youth and Tourism Activities. Meir told us his personal story of arriving in Israel as a child with his parents from Morocco, going straight to Dimona, and never leaving. His obvious love and passion for Dimona, a town whose name appears in the Bible, was touching and motivated us to start our work. After Meir spoke, Miriam, a young Israeli who has chosen to leave her home town of Tel Aviv and come live in Dimona, told us about a young new nonprofit organization called the Ayalim Association, which was founded with the goal of developing the Negev and the Galilee. 

Inspired by their dedication to the land and communities of the Negev, we proceeded to downtown Dimona to help Ayalim with their project rehabilitating an impoverished neighborhood and renovating the local playground. After many hours painting, building, and cleaning, we were thrilled to see the children playing in their new playground and the neighborhood residents returning from work to a newly colorful apartment complex.

After a brief rest and shower at our home base at the S'de Boker Field School, we met with our individual busses to learn more about the history of JNF—did you know that JNF/KKL has planted over 240 million trees in the last 107 years and that "Blueprint Negev" is a ten-year initiative to develop and populate the desert? Then we had a quick dinner and were off to a gorgeous nighttime hike through the desert. Walking through the wadi, the participants experienced the beauty of the Negev at night.

After a long day of hard work and a lot of fun, we relaxed in the courtyard for some time before going to bed to rest up for a busy and work filled day tomorrow.