The family of Marco Aroyo

This is a photo of the family of my brother Marco Aroyo. The photo was taken in Kfar Hitim in 1961. First from right to left is my brother Marco, next to him is his daughter Malka, his wife Luna and his son Josif. In May 1936 my brother left us a big sum in the bank and left for Palestine joining a group of Jews from Bulgaria, who were sent to the northern part of the country - in Tiberias. There they founded that agricultural village Kfar Hitim with much hard work and deprivation. Before that German and Turkish Jews had tried to cultivate the land there. But they couldn't cope with the hard climate. The Bulgarian Jews worked very hard to solve the problems and brought water from Lake Kineret following the project of my brother Marco. Together with the other settlers from Bulgaria they planted green belts against the warm winds which destroyed the harvest. Today Kfar Hitim is a picturesque village at a high peak and there are many trees and flowers in it. My brother still lives in the village. Although he is quite old, he does some office work half-time for the village and welcomes guests and tourists from around the world. He is one of the most respected people in the whole region.