Eli is only 11, but he has more hardships in his life than many grown-ups. His parents are poorly educated and unemployed, with medical problems. They can barely meet Eli’s most basic material needs. Eli has complained to the police of parental violence. His parents claim that he curses and hits them. It’s not surprising that his attendance at school is erratic, and he’s fallen behind his classmates in all subjects.

But there’s hope on the horizon. Eli is one of 400 elementary school students in a pioneer extended school-day program supported by United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ at the Ha’giva School in Ofakim, one of MetroWest’s partnership communities in Israel. Most of the students are from struggling, low-income families.

In Israel, the school day ends at 1 p.m., and usually there’s no school lunch program. The MetroWest-sponsored extended school day continues until 4 p.m. and provides a hot meal for the students – often their only one of the day. Activities include music, computer, and cooking classes, homework help and individual tutoring, and field trips. Therapists visit the school to assist students, like Eli, who need special attention.

The extended school day also gives parents more time to work or seek employment.

At the Moriah Kindergarten in Ofakim, energetic five year olds play happily, much like their counterparts in New Jersey. Here, too, UJC MetroWest has initiated a pace-setting program, similar to a “Head Start” program in the United States, to give the youngsters a better chance in life.

Some children live in poverty so distressing that it’s difficult to imagine. When a MetroWest mission visited Ofakim recently, a teacher shared a letter written by a third-grade Ethiopian student:

“I’m not writing to you to ask for anything for myself, but things are very difficult at home. Sometimes my brothers, sisters and I don’t have bread to eat or enough clothes and life is very hard. I don’t know where else to turn because my sister doesn’t have a bed to sleep in and my brother sleeps on the couch in the living room. There are nine children in my family and we have so little, but if there is any way you can help get a bed for my sister, I would be so happy.”

Mission participants quickly came up with the money to buy a bed. While they were glad that they could help in this instance, they left with a new realization of the great challenges faced by so many families in Ofakim.

The “Head Start” and the extended school day program are only two of some 25 UJC MetroWest projects improving life for the residents of Ofakim/Merchavim. Most focus on providing young people with educational, cultural, recreational, and social opportunities that will enable them to have a better life than their parents.