Page 13 - Demo

our sense of community. For the start of the school year, we opened up educational services for the community in Nahariya, Akko and Ma%u2019alot, so at least we could start regathering the community in the north of the country. We opened three schools, one of which is a special needs school. We basically have buses picking up kids from around Haifa, and Krayot, Akko and the surrounding area and taking them to school, so it keeps the community together.What is the mood like? It is really not easy %u2013 people really want to go home, but they understand it is just not possible, as they don%u2019t feel safe in Shlomi at the moment. No matter how many services we provide, in the end people want to be in their homes. People want to be in their house, on their street, at their regular job, with their kids in the schools where they belong. By the way, even when people are able to go back, the houses themselves are also in a really bad condition. Think about hundreds of homes not being lived in for a year %u2013 animals start coming in, there are plumbing issues %u2013 these homes were abandoned in the middle of a war, and it will take a long time to clean up the mess.You said that some people remained in Shlomi %u2013 why did they stay? At the beginning there were about 1,000 people who didn%u2019t want to leave, and some people have been staying there throughout and more have gone back now. They are still in the city now, but the city as a whole feels deserted, waiting for its residents to be able to come home. %u25fcSpecial thanks to the Municipality of Shlomi for the photos in this article. | 13