Vision
Afikim provides disadvantaged children and their parents with powerful tools to end the cycle of poverty and become productive individuals. Afikim’s comprehensive approach gives children the love and education that enable them to flourish, while their parents acquire improved parenting and management skills designed to strengthen the family unit. Afikim provides immediate relief for children today while supplying the building blocks for a better future.
Activity
Summer vacation is a time most children look forward to, but for Afikim children (children from troubled and/or impoverished homes), the long days of boredom and lack of structured routine can lead to disaster. With their parents working long hours or unemployed and emotionally unavailable, children at risk often resort to hanging out on the street where they are exposed to the dangers of drugs, alcohol and delinquent behavior. While most Israeli parents take advantage of summer vacation to send their children to day camps and to enjoy a family get-away in a variety of resorts and attractions, children from needy families can only dream of these luxuries…unless they are part of the Afikim family.
In Israel’s southern periphery, Afikim has taken the day camp experience many steps forward and provides a fun-filled, stimulating and structured experience for the junior high and high school Afikim students. For three weeks every summer, Afikim, in partnership with Yeshiva University facilitates an English language camp run by American student volunteers. In the Afikim summer camp, the children enjoy social activities, enrichment workshops, trips to parks and attractions, sports and all in English! In addition to having fun, the youth participate in informal educational classes in English. Now in its third year, it is possible to see the influence of the camp on the students grades in English and overall as they gained confidence over the summer months.