Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky on Sunday 16 Shevat departed on a five-day trip to Africa to dedicate The Jewish Agency’s new Project TEN volunteer centers in Namulanda, Uganda and Durban, South Africa.

Project TEN, dubbed the “Jewish Peace Corps,” brings together young Jews from Israel and around the world to volunteer in underprivileged areas across the globe. The new centers in Uganda and South Africa join existing centers in Winneba, Ghana; Oaxaca, Mexico; and Kibbutz Harduf, northern Israel.

Volunteers at the Namulanda and Durban centers have already started working on several projects in the fields of formal and informal education, youth empowerment, public health, and sustainable agriculture, most of which are centered on local children. The Namulanda center is run in cooperation with BRIT, a coalition of Israeli and international humanitarian organizations, and the Durban center is operated in partnership with the South African Zionist Federation, the Denis Hurley Centre, the Victor Daitz Foundation, the Domino Foundation, and I Care.

During the course of his visits, Sharansky will meet with volunteers at both centers and will visit several of the projects in which they are engaged. The highlights of both visits will be the festive dedication ceremonies, which will be attended by local dignitaries and representatives of partner organizations. As part of the Jewish Agency chairman’s visit to Uganda, he will speak at a memorial ceremony at Entebbe airport, marking 41 years since the daring Israeli rescue mission there. Sharansky’s visit to South Africa will also bring him to Johannesburg, where he will meet with Jewish community leaders, Jewish Agency emissaries, and non-Jewish supporters of Israel.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)