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Location: The Givati Brigade Alley in the Founders’ Neighborhood.
The Wishing Garden – near the Kassam Rocket Chanuka Menorah in the Sderot Chabad Home Square – is ostensibly another large playground filled with meticulously groomed vegetation shaded by long branches of surrounding trees and filled with swings, sliding boards and other games. However, The Wishing Garden is not just any park or playground. At the center of the playground, you will see three huge, colorful snails. Children love to run through them and climb on them.
Actually, these snails are a collection of thick, concrete pipes which also serve as improvised shelters during times of emergency. Only the words on a small, stationary, yellow sign on the snails alludes to the inconceivable routine of life for residents of Otef Gaza, the Gaza Envelope: “At the sound of a siren, go inside.”
The idea behind these improvised toy-like shelters is to allow for routine life even when a siren is heard – when you only have 15 seconds to get to a safe place – and to turn the shelter in the playground into a playful, rather than threatening experience. Adults can stand in the largest snail, and children and toddlers can go into the smaller two snails for safety and protection from rocket missile fire.
How to get there: On Waze, look for The Wishing Garden, Sderot.
