AICAT - The Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training

Learning is an ongoing process. We learn new words, facts, skills and techniques every day, at home, in the work environment, on the Internet and through social media. People are then at liberty to incorporate what they have learnt into their lives as they see fit. Each individual is also blessed with the ability to seek out learning opportunities and experiences in order to enrich his life.

When I was in the Arava at the end of 2013 with a group of Australian volunteers from the Arava Australia Partnership, we visited AICAT – the Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training – which is located on Sapir, a community settlement in the Central Arava Sapir. I met the centre’s director, Chani Arnon, a dynamic and energetic woman who has built up a learning centre of note. She is revered by students and colleagues alike and is always looking for ways to improve and further develop AICAT.

AICAT’s student body is made up of young people from eight different countries – Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Indonesia and most recently, Ethiopia and South Sudan. The students are engaged in tertiary education in the area of agriculture and are enrolled at AICAT for a ten month diploma in agriculture. Although most of their studies take place in the field itself, they also attend lectures in various areas of agriculture as well as in business innovation and marketing. At the end of their course, they will return to their countries to implement the knowledge they have acquired and hopefully impact positively on their own communities.

In February, I attended the Arava community’s open day held at the Research and Development Centre in Hatzevah. This event offers a veritable smorgasbord of all the business ventures, fresh produce, manufactured and handcrafted items that the Arava has to offer, as well as a snapshot of the educational institutions such as the Shittim School and AICAT. Following the open day, I initiated a meeting with Chani. I really wanted to get involved in some way with AICAT and was convinced that I had something to offer them.

G-d, the universe and luck were all on my side! AICAT recently pioneered a Master’s degree program in conjunction with Tel Aviv University and fifteen Vietnamese students are registered on the course. They found themselves short of an English teacher for the second semester (which runs from the beginning of March to the end of June) and these students have their classes on a Sunday, the one day of the week that I don’t teach at the Shittim School!

I continue to seek out learning opportunities and new experiences and am always very excited when an interesting one comes my way! I start teaching at AICAT this coming Sunday!