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Southern Friends
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ESTATE & JEWELRY BUYERS
Your neighborhood experts
for the
Purchase and Sale of
Estate Jewelry, Precious Metals,
Coins and Valuables
Phone: 248.723.4653
33366 Woodward Avenue
Birmingham, MI 48009
(Just north of Fourteen Mile, east side of Woodward)
ww-w.estateandjewelrybuyers.coin
26
June 16
4.
2011
Signs of change are already here.
There are many Israeli companies
in Africa involved in building
roads and hospitals and working
in water management and medi-
cine.
The Israeli irrigation company
Netafim introduced low-pressure,
low-cost drip irrigation systems
for subsistence farmers, providing
them with enough water to raise
crops year- round.
"We are a private company and
our luck is that we are doing well
by doing good by giving answers
to problems like hunger:' said Naty
Barak, head of sustainable devel-
opment at Netafim.
In a Kenyan village called Kitui,
Barak said that 200 poor, small-
scale vegetable growers who
adopted Netafim's product saw a
140 percent increase in harvested
yield and a 200 percent increase in
income while saving about 60 per-
cent of water resources. Previously,
they had irrigated crops by hauling
water from wells.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry
also is becoming involved, invit-
ing African business delegations
to Israel to learn more about its
industries and twinning economic
attaches at Israeli embassies in
Africa with Israeli companies to
help scope out opportunities.
"We are sending the message
that it is good to do business with
Africa," said Rafael Harpaz, direc-
tor of the ministry's economic
department that deals with the
Americas and Africa, told JTA.
"There is potential to grow, and
we are looking for new markets to
trade with. If the Israeli economy
is going to grow, it needs these new
markets."
To that end, the Foreign Trade
Administration, a department
within the Ministry of Industry,
Trade and Labor, is seeking new
policies that will help harness
Israel's competitive advantage in
the developing world, including
Africa.
Jewish Heart for Africa said
that bringing Israeli know-how to
Africa is particularly attractive to
its donor base of young American
Jews.
"Young donors like our proj-
ects," said Sivan Borowich Ya'ari,
the organization's founder and
president, "because we are not only
helping Africa but helping Israel
by helping the Israeli economy and
Israel's image' 17