210: With Love in Our Hearts

(1) Namibia's Worst Air Crash
A week ago, Namibia suffered its worst air crash in ten years, and it left our tiny Jewish community devastated by the aftermath.

On Friday afternoon, January 11th, five Israeli diamond-moguls chartered a small plane for a weekend visit to Namibia’s Etosha National Park in the north. The Israelis, all men,* were frequent visitors to Namibia where they teamed up with this country’s largest diamond-polishing factory to provide technical assistance and support. Usually, when they stayed over on weekends they attend synagogue services to help make up a minyan (i.e. ten men need for traditional prayers), but last weekend they decided to give themselves a break and view wildlife, instead.

Unfortunately, five minutes after take-off their little plane started spinning horribly out of control, and crash-landed into a suburban home – missing its occupants by inches. All five passengers and the pilot died instantly.

As the news leaked out, Windhoek’s police force contacted Namibia’s Jewish community for assistance. The local funeral home had to be coached on Jewish customs: simple coffins, no embalming, and a 24-hour-watch by members of the community. The Israeli ambassador flew up from neighboring South Africa to stave off any potential misunderstandings and ensure a proper investigation. Israeli Security needed to access the crash site, in order to counteract speculation that this had been a covert act of terrorism. And ZAKA, the volunteer-force of concerned Jews who comb the scene of every accident in Israel to make sure that all body-parts are correctly identified and interred with their rightful owner, wanted to perform their work for these citizens, as well. Would Namibia grant their cooperation?

Top government leaders in Namibia had to be contacted, and all agreed immediately: The five men who died had given their best to help this country, and their religious rites should be honored. Israeli TV reporters arrived within 24 hours, giving this tragedy top billing on their nightly news. Within two days, the investigators confirmed that the accident had been caused by mechanical failure (no malfeasance involved), and the ZAKA volunteers completed their work -- having also attended to the remains of the (Christian) pilot. Although still in shock, the home-owners where the plane had crashed offered their condolences to the victims’ families, and invited any of them to visit in the future, should they want to pay tribute to the site where their loved ones had died.

An outdoor memorial service was called for last Tuesday evening. The entire Jewish community attended, along with the Mayor of Windhoek, business leaders from the diamond industry, members of the Namibian police, the suburban home-owners, and the entire Israeli contingent that had flown into Namibia after the accident. Later that night, the Israelis left the country with five victims, boarding El Al’s first flight direct from Namibia to Israel. The presence of El Al on Namibian soil should have been cause for celebration, of course, but instead it was accompanied only by tears.

Bernd and I attended the memorial service: it was heartbreaking to see the five coffins lined up, unadorned except for an Israeli flag. One of the men who had died was a new father; another one’s wife was pregnant. Their loss would be felt for generations. Despite all the deaths that have become everyday parlance for this beleaguered country, these felt somehow worse -- so unexpected, premature, more tragic. “Bad things happen to good people, “we were reminded at the memorial service. There is no explanation: just comfort in the support we can offer each other. May the memory of these men and what they accomplished live on forever. Blessed be the Judge of Truth.

(2) Family Events and Fears

Elsita left for the USA en route to Central America this past week. After some weeks in Guatemala and Nicaragua, she’ll be volunteering for 9 months with a non-governmental organization (“Agrisal”) in El Salvador that is trying to teach environmentally- and economically- sustainable farming methods to women-headed households. Many thanks to those of you who provided support for Elsita’s efforts via the American Jewish World Service. She surpassed her fund-raising goal and will now be able to provide additional support where she identifies key needs during her travels.

Bernd is gearing up for another year’s teaching at the Polytechnic (classes start next week), and Lucy has been working on two projects: (1) a curriculum for health-care workers who provide counseling to HIV-positive children and their caregivers, and (2) a manual for older orphans on the practical matters of running a household and caring for younger siblings. She has stayed in touch with her Kenyan friends who mourn the rising tensions in that country. By contrast, we are grateful for the peaceful political transitions we enjoy in Namibia. Soon, Lucy will continue her HIV/AIDS work in Zimbabwe and then Mozambique, and she promises to keep everyone posted with what she observes.

Our final update concerns Sergio, who failed his vocational course last year in Sound Engineering in Cape Town and is determined not to continue studying – neither that subject nor any other. Unable to remain in South Africa except on a college-visa, he decided to separate temporarily from his girlfriend and sign up for the US military instead. Sergio has been talking about joining the military for years, but Omigod: We thought, couldn’t this wait until after troops start coming home from Iraq?**

No it can’t: Sergio is ready now. So last week we reached out to close friends in the States who generously offered to take Sergio into their home while he undergoes the induction process. (This can’t be done overseas, except on US military bases – of which there are none in Africa.) To that end, Sergio must now take an entrance exam, undergo a background check, and take a physical before he can be accepted for either the Army or the Marines (his current choices). Assuming all goes well, he should be in Boot Camp in two months time.

Omigod, once again: Just two months!

The bottom line, as you can imagine, is that – as his parents - we’re scared sh-tless. I’m already having nightmares (wouldn’t you have the same?) and expect that this will only get worse. The military recruiter with whom we spoke made it very clear to us that Sergio will have to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq or both, and -- presumably like yourselves -- we have opposed the military engagement in Iraq from the beginning. (We also disagree with the US government on how they are conducting the invasion of Afghanistan.***) But our own politics have no bearing on this any more; our only role now is to support Sergio as best we can and ask others to do the same.

Last night, when I finally did fall asleep, I dreamt of large yellow ribbons fluttering on cars and doorways, each with big blue lettering on them: "We support our troops." I guess I never thought I would be the kind of Mom who has to fly such a ribbon for her own son or a daughter. Of course, Bernd and I fear the worst – even more than death it’s those images of mentally destroyed amputees wallowing in VA hospitals that flash through our minds and make us want to scream. (I can’t even bear to think how others may die or be maimed by the actions our son may be forced to take...)

Ironically, when we applied to become adoptive parents 23 years ago, the social worker asked us to think about how we would react if our child became a Republican. It was the most “opposite” she could think of, at the time. We answered that we would deal with it with love in our hearts because that’s what parenthood is all about.

And so it has come to pass, but more-so. We shall try to think positively: In many ways, we are really very proud of Sergio, even as we think he is over-romanticizing the hardship and danger he’ll face. Yet, Sergio has always identified as an American first, and he is drawn to the military by their discipline, hands-on training, and ability to excel physically (where he has natural strengths). This analysis makes sense to us, and we appreciate the risks he is willing to take -- to act responsibility, defend the USA, and prove himself as an adult. For Sergio’s sake, we also hope his girlfriend will wait for him and vice versa. But above all, we hope that he is able to avoid the worst of war, and that he will comes back alive and in one piece.

We’re not generally the praying-types, but for those of you who are, we ask you to include our son. We’ll keep you informed.

_______________________

*Shlomo Zilberberg, Shmuel Zigdon, Amit Cohen, Ilan Hadadi, and Avichai Abarov -- of blessed memory

**We’ve even suggested the Israeli military as an alternative, but this doesn’t appeal to him because he has to study Hebrew first – which he doesn’t want to do.

***We are of the opinion that for every dollar being spent on military maneuvers, an equal amount should be spent on schools, clinics, and other forms of foreign aid in order to help raise a more tolerant, pro-American generation of Afghanis… and that the same approach should be copied elsewhere.