Kaima Nahalal

Kaima Nahalal is a non-profit educational farm, located in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. Kaima Nahalal (sustainability in Aramaic) is committed to re-engaging and empowering girls (ages 15-18) who have dropped out of school or are on the cusp of doing so as well as young women (18-21) whose challenges continue into young adulthood. By tapping into the healing power of nature and utilizing the tool of employment, we can change the downward trajectory of their lives and redirect them to normative educational and social frameworks.

Our multifaceted programming combines organic farming, business learning, personal enrichment, and community activities as a means of sustaining the individual and the land. The farm’s yield is sold to the general public through the internationally recognized CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) platform which guarantees an income stream to help underwrite our educational initiatives. We are guided by a multi-generational, all-woman professional team of social activists, agriculturalists, and pedagogues focused on advancing the first girl-run farm in the Kaima growing alternative educational network, founded in 2013, just outside of Jerusalem.

Aims
Provide employment (a powerful tool for self-improvement) and cultivate other practical skills which foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking for girls and young women facing significant barriers to social and academic advancement.

Create a safe environment to help heal past traumas and reconnect to society by encouraging people to trust themselves, their peers, and particularly adults.

Encourage teamwork and leadership development and cultivate a sense of personal value, self-confidence, and collective accountability.

Support girls (15-18) return to some form of formal educational setting and the pursuit of matriculation and encourage army/national service as a path toward social inclusion.

Provide a transition from adolescence to young adulthood for young women (18-21) not yet equipped to enter society with full autonomy.

Advance the concept of Yesh Meain (“Creating Something from Nothing”) in fostering environmental and social awareness and promoting change regarding agricultural consumption and perceptions of abundance within Israeli society.

Tap into the healing power of nature, promote healthy and mindful eco-friendly lifestyles, and offer the community access to organically-grown vegetables.

Demonstrate that girls and women can assume ownership and leadership in an arena such as agriculture, typically dominated by men.

Serve as a gathering place in a region of diverse communities and ecosystems where people of all backgrounds can come together to learn about environmentalism and social and agricultural diversity.

Provide high-quality, sustainably-grown vegetables to a public increasingly more interested in farm-to-table produce.

Each year, some 1,000 people of all ages and backgrounds (including Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druzim) take part in these programs. Such inter-community activities position Lavender participants front and center as they demonstrate their newfound knowledge by helping to lead agricultural workshops.