(Don't) Deport(ed) (Me)

Spending a Saturday at the New Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv is like...not being in Israel. It's the end of the weekend, the time when all the caregivers and domestic workers in the city are returning to the homes of the employers. And the Station is absolutely flooded with Indian, Sri Lankan, Filipino, Chinese and Nepalese workers...I barely saw Israelis there at all, or they were hidden among the foreign faces. It's like an entire underground population has risen out of no where. Even though I see the migrant workers all the time in the office, it was shocking to witness the massive numbers of them, momentarily stepping out of their usual invisibility.

These are some posters/street art that can be found around this area, where many of the migrants live. There are so many opinions on this: the migrants are good, bad, useful, sly, naive, smart, strong, weak. Whether or not you think they deserve to be here, to work and live and create families here, no one can deny the fact that immigration is a pressing issue in Tel Aviv. An Israeli woman told me to not forget that in my work with Kav La'Oved, I am "only seeing one side of Israel." Absolutely--it is only one side, but one I am glad to be aware of. More than that, I'm proud to be a part of the cause.

A new campaign to protect the children of migrants. These posters are everywhere--car windshields, restaurant and store windows, street corners, building walls, back of bikes...

"גירוש עכשיו" means "Deportation now!"