Israel Active

(Thanks to Stuart Palmer) The 1st Early Childhood Education training course took place in May in Accra. The MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation) program focuses on using proven Israeli knowledge and experience to train qualified teachers in Ghana with skill sets that focus on studying through play.

The inaugural Africa's Voices in Israel mission has arrived in Israel and features a delegation of Bank Governors from Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Zambia, Ghana and Swaziland. The tour will include Save A Child's Heart, where 40 percent of the patients are young children from Africa.

Israeli students are unique. They go from high school into the army; then many get married, go to university, have children and get degrees. Weird sequence? This article by writer and childbirth expert Wendy Blumfield explains how it works. And it works very well.

The Israeli cabinet has approved extending free dental care for children (previously up to 10 years old) to the age of twelve. It includes examinations, x-rays, removing plaque, fluoride treatments, fillings, first aid, reconstructions, root canal, extractions, crowns, and other treatments.

A quarter of a million Israeli 3-4 year-olds will benefit from the free education law in the coming year. The three-year plan has been implemented two years ahead of schedule. The cabinet also discussed Israeli Book Week and Hebrew literature, integration of minorities and natural gas.

Legendary actor Chaim Topol was one of several celebrities who inaugurated the 60-acre campus overlooking the Yavne’el valley in the Galilee. The village will provide respite for children with serious or life threatening illnesses and was the dream of Hollywood legend Paul Newman.

Haifa University’s 40th Meeting of the Board of Governors enjoyed a festive and exciting opening ceremony to celebrate “The Israeli Mosaic“. Nine honorary doctorates were conferred on people who have contributed to humanity and have made the world a better place.

Peter Magabe’s first job after leaving school was as a tea-picker in Kenya. Now Dr. Magabe returns to his homeland from Israel, trained as one of the two interventional radiologists in East Africa, an area of 1.8 million square kilometers with a combined population of more than 130 million.

The keynote speaker at the 4th annual Israel Wikipedia Academy conference at the Herzliya IDC was Jay Walsh, Head of Communications at the Wikimedia Foundation. He said that the Israeli Wikipedia community is a great model for success to look at. We have a lot to learn from what’s going on here.”

Israel has sent a 66-member delegation Rio de Janeiro for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan said, “Our main goal is to present Israel’s solution to the world crisis. We want to focus on giving them our knowledge”.