Page 3 PHASE 1 (Rotary Global Grant 1524017)

In 2014 the Southwest Center and Rotary  clubs in the US and Israel under the field direction of Dr Amnon Shefi   expanded the water education and peace building program into the current Hands Across Waters Program. This greatly expanded the scope of the earlier Lod pilot project while building on lessons learned. It was anticipated that this would be a 3 phase program reaching 10 schools in the first phase, 20 in the second phase and 30 in the 3rd phase.

Peace building : Arab and Jewish teachers worked together to collaborate on a number of projects. Thirteen outdoor trips were carried out for the Arab and Jewish students . Eighteen projects were worked on together including eight cross cultural exchange events. Focus on educational subject matter with actual learning and research work provides a solid foundation for Arab and Jewish students to work together. Over time it leads to the building of trust which has been able to sustain the program despite conflict situations which occur in the society as a whole.

Education: Ten schools took part in the Youth Water and Knowledge program. . Field trips were made to see water desalination plants, sewage, water reclamation facilities, ancient water works , modern wells and pumping facilities.

Six teacher training programs  with 45 teachers were conducted and fourteen science projects were presented . Arab and Jewish teachers worked together with students comparing water quality from across the country.  Some of the schools even won National and International prizes!

Water conservation:  The outstanding Arab school in Shfaram built a model of Gray Water reuse for toilet flushing which won national recognition. Two schools in the western Galilee collaborated on the study of the functionality of advanced hydraulic valves. This was supported by Bermad , a producer of pressure valves. Among water issues studied by students were desalination, impact of irrigation using reclaimed sewage water, leakage percentage and water quality measurement.

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