About the Kseifa village

In the words of the English teacher there:

The first thing one would see when coming through the dusty Negev to the village of Kseifa is the old remains of the original Kseifa School. This was one of the first schools in the area and was the place where the first generations of Negev Bedouins achieved their education. Many of the graduates of the old Kseifa school are working today in respectable jobs, including working as educators in the community. Yet overall achievement levels up until now have been low compared to the Israeli average. With your help, the Bedouin community could become a more prosperous one, better able to care for itself, and better able to contribute to Israel as a whole.

Although Kseifa is an old village, it lacks many basic facilities. Like most of the Bedouin villages in Israel, Kseifa has no industrial areas, public parks, community centers, or even a library. Kseifa has one of the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in Israel. Aside from agricultural and livestock work, many of our men not only volunteer in the Israeli army, but make a career out of their Israel army service. However, change has been slow to come to this area. The price of terrorism on Israel's economy has hurt the Bedouin communities in extreme ways. Not only has the handicraft and tourist related economy entirely collapsed, but the austerity measures taken by the government in all areas are particularly felt here where many people are managing on the barest of sustenance levels without much hope. Moreover, the Bedouin community sometimes comes under extreme attack from other Muslim communities that do not appreciate our participation in Israeli democracy and the military.

In a way, the Bedouins have found themselves squeezed between a rock and hard place, without enough support and know-how to overcome this condition. More than half of the Bedouin population live spread out in dozens of encampments or villages that the Israeli government has yet to formally recognize. The Bedouin are people who believe in justice and we do believe that our proven citizenship, loyalty, and army service will eventually help us overcome all sorts of bureaucratic problems. However, for the meantime, nearly half of our Negev Bedouin populations are still living without the rights to basic services such as running water, electricity, or sewage and garbage collection. Our schools in Kseifa educate children from our own village and from the surrounding very impoverished areas.

We know that knowledge of English is essential to enable our children to attain a better future. Without English mastery, higher education is out of the question for our children.

Although our students come from severely low economic backgrounds, they are proud of their Bedouin Israeli identity and of their rich cultural heritage and extensive warm family relationships. They are ambitious and enthusiastic and seek self-improvement. Books would give students in schools in our area an opportunity to widen their perspective and knowledge. Our children have no other access to the world except traveling through books and stories. The lack of electricity and other facilities also means a lack of access to radio, television, and other media. The world-view of our children is thus very small. Give these children the chance to imagine something better than the way they live their lives now.