Over the past months in the Eshkol region, Avi, one of our new volunteers who joined in Septemner 2025, found himself moving between very different corners of life in the Gaza Envelope – agriculture, family resilience, and community recovery. Each encounter revealed another side of the region’s challenges and strength.
Understanding the Farmers’ Reality – Visit to the Southern R&D Center
As part of building cohesion among the volunteer group, Avi organised a visit to the Southern R&D Center (מו”פ דרום), a regional agricultural research unit serving Eshkol, Merhavim, and Sha’ar HaNegev. The group met with CEO Lior Katari, who has led the center for over a decade, and learned about the achievements and harsh realities facing local farmers before 7.10 and even more so after.
They heard about the departure of second-generation farmers who, after evacuation, no longer wish to return to the area or continue agricultural work because of drought, water shortages, government quotas, and ongoing security instability. They also learned about the dramatic loss of Thai agricultural workers, many of whom were harmed, killed, or kidnapped on 7.10, leaving farms without the manpower they relied on.
Touring the experimental greenhouses, the volunteers saw innovative efforts to adapt to global agricultural challenges, including new pineapple varieties, Israel’s first above-ground strawberry variety, and even cacao, now in global shortage due to widespread crop disease.
This visit gave Avi and the group a clearer understanding of the immense difficulties facing local farmers and the resilience required to keep going.
A Father’s Haven – Doron’s Farm in Kibbutz Magen
A very different kind of resilience appeared in Kibbutz Magen, where Avi visited “Doron’s Farm,” built by Moti for his son Doron, who was diagnosed with low-functioning autism at age two and a half. Over the years, Moti created an entire therapeutic environment for him: outdoor play structures, musical instruments, and a surprising variety of animals, a giant tortoise, a bearded dragon, pigeons (including the smallest pigeon in the world), parrots, snakes, and chickens.
Today, Doron is functioning at a much higher level, and Moti decided to open the farm for free visits, offering inspiration to other families with children on the spectrum as well as to professional teams. Avi and Smadar took their grandson Omer to visit, sharing in the warmth and creativity that this father built for his son.
It was a reminder that healing, growth, and hope often begin quietly, in homes, yards, and family spaces shaped with care.
Rebuilding Economic Resilience – Restarting Pa’amonim in the Gaza Envelope
The third encounter grew directly from Avi’s own background. For 16 years he has volunteered with Pa’amonim, a nonprofit focused on improving families’ financial resilience. Knowing the economic strain families in the Gaza Envelope faced after 7.10, he immediately felt that this was where he could contribute most.
He discovered that the once-active Pa’amonim branch in the area, with more than 10 mentors and many families in long-term support, collapsed completely after 7.10. Families were evacuated; mentors scattered across the country; and many who returned were unable to resume mentoring due to emotional exhaustion or grief. Families themselves were not yet able to confront financial issues, being fully immersed in coping with trauma and loss.
Shortly after arriving, Avi contacted the Southern Region Director, shared his vision for relaunching the branch, and received full support. He met with Lito from Nir Yitzhak, who had led the branch for 15 years, and took on the role of the new team leader for Pa’amonim in the Gaza Envelope and Netivot.
Avi spoke with former mentors, identified who could continue, and partnered with Eshkol Council to create information sheets notifying residents that Pa’amonim’s activity had resumed and inviting new volunteers to train as mentors. Families have already begun reaching out, and new mentors have registered, early signs of a renewed support network taking shape.
One Tapestry of Life in the Envelope
These three encounters, with farmers fighting to keep their fields alive, with a father building a therapeutic world for his son, and with families rebuilding their financial stability, form a single, interconnected story.
Avi’s first few months in the Gaza Envelope reveal a place facing profound challenges, yet filled with people who continue to create, rebuild, adapt, and support one another.
Different threads, agriculture, family, economics, but one shared truth:
this is a community that refuses to give up on itself.
