By Sarah Carnvek
Old shipping containers that are no longer suited for the high seas have been refurbished and turned into homes the world over. Now, Israel has joined the sustainable trend and recently built two student villages out of these retired shipping containers as a solution for the affordable housing shortage.
“There are millions of these containers that can be used,” says Effy Rubin, director of partnership at the student non-profit organization,
Ayalim.
"Our idea is to make a sustainable social change in Israel's periphery, Negev and Galilee. If we could bring university students to the periphery, they can revitalize these places and show there's a reason to stay."
Ayalim volunteers recently built two shipping-container villages in the beleaguered town of Sderot, near the Gaza border, and the crime-ridden city of Lod. These were the 12th and 13th youth villages set up by the association, a grassroots movement set on rejuvenating hard-up areas in Israel.
Each shipping container costs about $2,000 to buy and must undergo some $40,000 of renovations. The cherry on top is that it takes less than six months to construct the apartments, even with fortified bomb shelters for the village in Sderot.
Rubin says it's a win-win situation for the towns and the students. Ayalim participants receive university scholarships and subsidized rent in exchange for volunteer work.
According to Ayalim's website, "Each student will volunteer 10 hours per week with children, youth and seniors in Sderot, which means that eventually 3,000 hours per week will be given to the residents of Sderot. From our experience it will transform the city in many ways. Just imagine hundreds of enthusiastic young Israelis going through the city for 10 hours every week and ‘renovating’ whatever is needed – physically, socially and educationally."
“This is an opportunity that can’t be missed for students in Sderot,” Bar Asaev, a student of industrial management at the local Sapir College, told the Washington Post. “My school does not have student housing, and this really gives us a good solution.”
Shipping containers were repurposed as housing material.Although Sderot should be the defacto stomping grounds for students at Sapir College, Rubin says college students have actually looked elsewhere for housing in nearby moshavim and kibbutzim.
"Because of the image young people have of Sderot, young people don't live there," says Rubin. “Bringing 300 students to the heart of Sderot is very, very exciting. The impact that this will have for this city, which has suffered so much, will be revolutionary."
New life in Sderot
The Ayalim student villages each serve a different and important purpose. In Lod and Kiryat Shmona, for example, the students help curb crime in the neighborhoods in which they're living.
In Sderot, a town bombarded by Hamas-fired rockets from Gaza since 2001, the new student village is a breath of fresh air.
In the 2014-2015 academic year, the Sderot village will house 86 students in 36 three-room apartments made from recycled shipping containers. Another 200 students are expected to fill another 127 units in the 2015-2016 academic year.
"By building a new student village in Sderot and bringing hundreds of young adults to live in Sderot, we will not only be giving an 'energy boost' and renewed hope to this city, we will also send an important message: We do not break, we build," according to an Ayalim statement.
Politicians also cited the new student complex as a victory for Israel in the face of Hamas.
“At the time of Operation Protective Edge, everyone scrambled to find the image that would capture an Israeli victory,” said Finance Minister Yair Lapid at the opening ceremony. “For me, it is you [Ayalim volunteers] who are the picture of victory. You chose to dedicate your lives to something and that’s what you’re doing here; you’re building a new world. It’s only a matter of time before Sderot becomes the best place in Israel for students.”
Said Minister of Development of the Negev and the Galilee Silvan Shalom: “Today marks a massive celebration for Sderot and the area as a whole. The new life that these students will breathe into Sderot will show those terrorists from Gaza that it’s impossible to break the spirit of the nation of Israel.”
Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi believes the Ayalim students, through their volunteerism and sustainable living arrangements, will raise spirits in his town.
“These students are fulfilling Ben-Gurion’s dream of populating the Negev,” Davidi said at the official opening of the village. “They will become part and parcel of how this city functions.”