H4I hosts their 4th annual charity basketball tournament this Saturday! The tournament raises funds to improve the lives of at-risk youth in Israel's most vulnerable Ethiopian communities.
On the last day of our Birthright trip we visited a school in Bat Yam and had fun with the kids. Imagine being completely tired from 10 non-stop days of sight seeing, late nights and early mornings and never wanting to go home. Then on the last day in Israel, maybe you're a little hungover from dancing the night away in Tel Aviv. Maybe you can't handle another group program and long bus ride, and for the first time you are thinking it would be okay to go home. You read "Hoops for Israel" on the itinerary and have no idea what to make of it. Then the group gets off the bus, put on BRI shirts and get to play with kids while feeling completely blessed! It was the best pick-me-up and an amazing experience to have on the last day.
I've always wanted to be part of a large mural, so this was double awesome.
The finished mural of Toronto!
My friend Vanessa wrote a great blog post about her experience in Bat Yam. Read her words here & become a fan of Hoops 4 Israel on Facebook!
"(water) although it is vital to life, it costs almost nothing, whereas diamonds, which are useless for survival, cost a fortune." - Adam Smith
I often dream about water when faced with a big decision. The dream leads me to an ocean, pond or sometimes a pool where the water is either calm and clear blue or dark and murky. Based on intuition I must choose to jump or turn back in fear. I'm my conscious reality I am somewhat afraid of water, almost too aware of the power it holds. When I see violent waves I shiver thinking about how the water can swallow you whole, or how much life lives under the surface that we never see. Or maybe it's not that poetic, and I simply feel this way due to getting stuck under a current on a family vacation circa 1998...
Either way, water means a lot to me and even more after traveling to Israel this January. People in Israel conserve water without thinking twice, it's instilled in them. It's impossible not to when water is a mitzvah in the desert. When staying at the Bedouin tents I saw a young girl scold someone on my trip for leaving the tap running while getting paper towel. She said "there is no water in Israel you know!". It made me happy to see someone feel they couldn't stay silent to make a difference and be passionate enough to speak up. In Canada we have the choice to stand behind a cause that may or may not directly affect our lives. This leads to a disconnect between people and what's happening in the world around us, where ignorance is impossible.
Windy Day, a photo by photographer Elena Kalis.
Her work is so inspiring to me because she has created an extremely esthetically pleasing world based on her vision. Her photos are brilliant and full of colours that please me beyond belief!
I may or may not finish reading Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource by Marq de Villiers. You know me, always at least 5 books on the go. Since coming home from Israel I'm even more conscious about keeping the tap on as short as possible. There's no need to keep it on while brushing your teeth or wasting water when washing dishes. One easy thing you can do is put a 1l bottle full of water in your toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used for each flush.
I have not been able to drink water out of a bottle at all since learning how plastic contains Bisphenol A (BPA) which mimics estrogen. For years I noticed if I drank from a water bottle, especially in the morning, my throat would feel sore. I've always had an aversion to bottled water since I could never ignore the taste of plastic, and some bottles even gave me strange headaches. As someone with a hormonal imbalance where estrogen is more prominent, I finally found out why. I swear by my Kleen Kanteen from Panacea Eco Shop, check them out!
