Miriam and I drove south from Kinneret to spend the afternoon at Sachne, “warm springs” (Arabic), a water park with several pools of pleasantly warm and absolutely gorgeously turquoise- blue water. The springs continue on in a river that flows through the adjacent Kibbutz Nir David.
39 years ago, a few days after I turned 20, I came and spent a summer on Kibbutz Nir David as a volunteer. My Microbiology prof at UBC had a friend who’d worked there before, and that’s how I made contact…through letter writing in those days, with long periods of waiting for responses! (I recall there may have been one brief phone call too, when someone on the other end just said : “yes, come!”) Somehow, it all came together, and the local bus on route 669 dropped me at the gate of Nir David in late May 1978; i hopped off the bus; entered through the pishpash k’tan and had one of the most formative 3 months of my young life….still find myself reflecting upon that season.
One of my early jobs was being assigned to clean out the kiosk at Sachne to prepare it for the start of the warmer summer tourist season. I spent a week working under the pleasant supervision of Gidon, an older man who ran the kiosk. I recall he did not know much, if any, English, so we didn’t speak much, but the week went well, I scrubbed and swept and organized, and by the end of the week, the kiosk was ready for summer business. Gidon made and served me my first iced coffee…the creamy flavourful light brown aromatic and refreshing drink was an experience still vivid in my senses today!
We volunteers did not frequent Sachne; we had busy work days and the kibbutz had it’s own grassy bank along the turquoise river bank where we could relax and swim. Apart from my week of work there, I only went back once for Sunday night folkdancing.
So coming to the park yesterday with Miriam and paying an entrance fee did not jog any particular memories. I did wonder where the kiosk may have been, but saw nothing familiar.
Miriam and I swam, we ate and strolled along the paths enjoying watching the local families, friends and lovers relaxing in the beauty and BBQing. As the path began to leave the more popular swimming areas, we met an elderly man. Miriam asked him what was further on down the path, and he explained there was a Museum and also Tel Amal, and that we could go and see and circle back. He then told us he’d worked for over 40 years at Sachne in the admission booth, and he’d learned some English, German and Arabic through local and foreign tourists.
My Sachne kiosk experience of so many years ago popped back into my mind, and I asked Miriam to please ask him if he might know a man called Gidon, whom I’d helped at the kiosk so many years ago. “Yes, of course I knew Gidon; he worked at the kiosk for many years!” Then in Hebrew he told Miriam that about 30 years ago, Gidon had died….someone was hunting birds on the kibbutz and accidentally shot and killed him 😦
My friend Miriam found this entry on Gidon Valtera on Nir David’s website: nirdavid.org.il
דף הנצחה לגדעון וולטרה ז”ל
(12/05/1921 – 08/08/1985) כא אב תשמ”ה
It turns out Gidon was of Italian Jewish descent…no wonder he made such awesome iced coffee!!
The gentleman continued on his way home down the path. Miriam and I followed slowly and pensively; my thoughts cast back to the summer of 1978…shedding a tear for Gidon and wondering about others I’d met and worked with during those months and what paths their lives had taken….
We passed beautiful pomegranite trees, and looked briefly at Tel Amal, admirimg the extremely challenging work of raising a stockade and tower settlement overnight!!
http://www.gemsinisrael.com/the-gems/the-beit-shean-and-jezreel-valleys/stockade-and-tower-tel-amal/
Yesterday was a day off work for Miriam, and she had requested we go to Sachne, a lovely place to sit on the grass, relax and swim, and enjoy continuing our visit together.
Remembering Gidon and then actually hearing from a passerby of his passing, and being reminded of the risky and determined early pioneers in the Tel Amal community, somehow connected the 1930’s, 1980’s and now 2017!
We drove home with a stunning view of Mt. Gilboa in the late afternoon sun and fields of hay and sunflowers in the long shadows of evening falling. A quiet family evening in Karmiel, with a home cooked meal and re-connecting with Miriam’s son Eshkhar was a gentle way to end a day of reflection on the challenges and experiences of our lives, and the reminder that one day they will come to an end.
JenniEliz 