Tuesday July 9th- first real day of volunteering
Getting to our first day at the women's shelter alone was a
bit of a struggle. We made it to the bus stop to find the most
disturbing smell anyone could imagine (imagine dead fish rotten eggs and
b.o. all combined, actually I don't suggest imagining that at all). Meanwhile we got to enjoy the smell for about a half hour as we waited
anxiously for the bus. Eventually it did come and we got to the shelter
just in time.
Because they have never had volunteers like us before some things still
have yet to be figured out. Since Hannah and I didn't have any mentoring
to do and Sarah and Miriam had no programs to run with the women we all
sat in the conference room planning out activities to do with these
groups throughout the summer so that Shiran (our advisor) could present
them to the staff. Hannah and I came up with a pretty solid outline with
the general goal of showing the girls they still deserve to be normal
teenagers who get to have a good time and hang out with friends. We are
hoping it gets approved but still have yet to hear. Our lunch break is
at 1 so we went to eat the back yard of the shelter. It was so pretty
out and we had a nice time talking. Towards the end of eating some of
the little kids came outside and they were adorable. We also got to talk
to one of the women and were learning not only a little bit about her
(nothing about her story, just what she likes music wise and such) but
she also helped her with our Hebrew. We also have 2-3 off to work on
afternoon programs so we went and sat in the kindergarten and tried to
think of some good get to know you activities.
On Tuesdays the kids have a 2 structured programs with instructors. The first is yoga and the second is learning about animals. But, the older kids didn't have either activity from 3-4 so Jordana and I introduced ourselves to them a bit and got to know them. Hannah and Ariel sat in on our session with the older kids so I stayed to help them with the middle age group when they were done with all of their activities. The kids were so adorable and some of them were really excited to learn English from us. It was really challenging to communicate at first but eventually my Hebrew started to come back. I even got to help teach one of the girls the ABCs, something that has continued in days since.
At the end of the day though Ariel and I decided to switch age groups. Our adviser thought that since the older girls would be able to relate to Ariel's skin color it may be easier for them to open up to her. At first I was a little thrown by the statement but I completely understood and was actually going to ask Ariel to switch anyway. I was going to ask because I knew I would be spending the morning with the older girls and felt like I would be smothering them if they had to spend all day with me. Plus, the middle group of kids seemed so lovable and I wanted to get to know them as well. So it all worked out in the end.
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| Working with one of the girls on her English |
Upon returning from work we had a group session where we worked to define community. I would go into more explanation but to be honest I can't currently remember what we talked about in detail.
Wednesday the 10th
Our second day of work was very much like the first. We still got there and had 2 hours to plan activities. Hannah and I spent most of our time decorating sheets of paper with our student's names in both english and Hebrew that later on in the day they would put their hand print on. For lunch, we decided to leave the shelter because we wanted to have a real break and as much as I enjoyed getting to see and meet some of the kids during our lunch break the day before, I knew that the afternoon would be exhausting. (The mall near the shelter is not a place you really want to hang out in though, it is the epitome of a sketchy place to be).
When we got back, and after our hour of planning, we got to work with our kiddos again. Day two was even better than day one. Hannah and I did the hand print activity with the kids and they really enjoyed getting to mess around with the paint and I think they enjoyed that we had decorated the paper with their names. The kids had gardening at 4 so we spent the rest of the time letting them color and Hannah and I each got to work with one of the older girls in our group on their English. Luckily, I brought my spark notes hebrew vocab thingy that I bought for EIE with me and it has been really useful in trying to communicate with the kids. We will look for a word in the packet and because it has both the hebrew and english we are all able to understand. Hannah and I sat outside and watched the kids garden for an hour and half and it was amazing to see how active and involved they got in the activity. It gave us some great ideas on activities to do with them over the next few weeks.
For dinner and group we had our first meeting with our peer group. Although I think the term peer is a little misleading. The people we met with are 23-25 years old, participated in a socialist youth group growing up and after the army all decided to form socialist communities in Beersheba. So I think the term peer, which was used to say that we would be able to relate to them, was a tad misleading. Anyway, we all met in a park near the apartments where we had a bbq. It was actually quite good for having made all of the components of the meal in the park (salads, burgers, veggie skewers, etc.) Luckily, the bbq wasn't too far off from an American BBQ so we felt right at home (and the food was tasty). After we ate we all went around the circle getting to know each other telling an embarrassing story. Mine wasn't all that embarrassing because well why would I tell total strangers weird facts about myself. We then broke up into groups of 2 Repair the world participants and 1 member of their community to get to know each other and to learn more about each other's programs. I think Sophie and I did a good job of explaining our program and we found things that all 3 of us had in common but the conversation felt very forced and I didn't leave knowing a lot about their movement and community. I wasn't the only one who felt that way though. A lot of us came back from the BBQ very confused about their views on Israel and what they were trying to do here. For instance one member of their group said that they were a zionist and fought to make Israel a better place but didn't want to live here. We still have 2 more meetings with their community though so hopefully it gets better and we talked to Chelli (our Yahel coordinator who spent the week with us) about our confusion and she is working on getting us a better explanation to clarify.
Thursday July 11th-- Trip Day!
I think it finally hit me that we are in Israel. I'm sure you're
sitting there thinking that it sure seems like I've felt like I have
been here all along but there is something about being in Jerusalem that
brings me a sense of comfort. I mean I assume it's because this is
where I lived but it just changed things for me. So many of my friends
love Tel Aviv but I have always felt like my heart is in Jerusalem. It's
not that I feel a religious connection because in fact I don't. Looking
at the wall is symbolic for me but actually touching it doesn't bring
me any special feelings. This view point may seem contradictory later on
in the post but it is how I feel. I lover Jerusalem, it's where some of
my best memories and favorite places in the country and my family are.
You can even ask Sophie, as we were driving from Jerusalem to the hostel
we are staying at this weekend, I knew exactly where we were. I could
point on Tzuba from miles away and knew all the land marks. The moment I
saw the huge Tzuba sign I got really excited and had a rush of emotions
wishing we were going there and despite the fact that my mental state
was not as positive back then, also had a rush of positive memories.
So why Jerusalem? What were we doing? This weekend is the JAFI (Jewish
agency for Israel) seminar weekend for 5 on their Onward Israel program.
(Keep in mind that this is just one of our sponsors for the program; as
we recently discussed in one of our group sessions we have like 5-6
sponsors and an abnormally long program name: Yahel's Repair the World
Onward Israel Service Learning Initiative- in collaboration with Hillel
Cohorts and the Jewish Agency for Israel.... Yeah it's a mouthful).
Anyway, as I mentioned in an earlier post we are spending the weekend
with kids from New Jersey, Central Europe, France, and Israel. So, we
woke up extra early (only for the bus to be late of course because
Israeli time is never exact) and got on a bus with the group of kids
from New Jersey who are also based in the Negev. Most of us slept until
we had to get off the bus so we didn't really get to know each other but
Jess and Andrew are both from Jersey so they new a couple of the kids
from their trip.
The moment we crossed into Jerusalem I immediately felt relaxed and at
home. We got off at the conservative movements building (where a lot of
the conservative Jewish school trips stay when they come for part of
their senior year). We immediately went into seminar mode. We heard from
the director of JAFI and the coordinator of the program as they went
over the weekend's topics. In the last couple of years the Jewish agency
had changed their initial goals from Zionism to simply wanting to
connect people with the land of Israel and the culture (aka they have
really just diluted their male Aliyah aims). Once all of the initial
info was out of the way we had a half hour to make a poster to introduce
our specific group to the rest of the groups attending the weekend.
Ours actually turned out really well and we were able to put our entire
story on the poster. (That is that we are a bunch of college kids from
all over the world who wanted to make a difference and have a unique
opportunity so we came on their program with an extraordinarily long
name with the same ideas and moved to Beersheba to volunteer).
After
everyone presented their posters we broke off into today's track. The
tracks we had to choose from we're my land, my people, my heritage,
and my society.
My track was "my land" and we spent the day discussing our relationships and the culture around the Kotel and old city. The first part of the program was the same for all groups as we defined our personal relationships with each topic through pictures and then explaining one category to the group. I don't remember which track it necessarily went with but I choose to discuss what I had put on my imaginary "Jewish" table in my home. On it I had my hanukkiah that I bought while on EIE (my favorite purchase on my trip), all of my NFTY name tags (obviously being in NFTY really affected how I relate to Judaism and has shaped who I am and I have saved every name tag and cherish them), a plate of hamentashen (my favorite Jewish food and a representation of all the cooking I do with my mom, grandmas, and family for holidays), and a picture frame (representing all the good memories I have from holidays, camp, EIE, etc.). Next we listened to a brief lecture by the man in charge of the project to reformat the kotel. Basically this means that a group of people have come together in an effort to create less controversy between the uneven sides of the kotel and to combat the Women of the Wall movement and pluralistic behaviors. Personally, I cannot stand the new format. I appreciate and applaud that they are moving the mechitza (the wall seperating men and women) over to create a more equal space but they are also building a platform in the archeological section of the Jewish quarter for pluralistic praying. This bothers me because one of the other options was adding a pluralistic section at the actual kotel but the orthodox complained that they would still be able to hear the guitars and praying of less religious sects. I won't go into too much detail but from my perspective, I am bothered by the fact that the ultra-orthodox are not an accepting group of people. I believe everyone should get to pray how they want and that the kotel should get to be a significant place for everyone, no one should have to take a second choice location.
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| Marzipan time |
After the presentation we finally got to go the the Old City. We were given 45 minutes to explore and eat lunch, which wasn't a whole lot of time. Most people in our group (which was made up of people from every trip) decided to go to a place that one of the Israelis suggested. It had your typical Israeli foods and I had my first falafel of the summer. It was quite delicious. One of the girls from New Jersey suggested we get marzipan rugelach because we were right next to the store so of course we had to that as well and I got to show some of my friends the best tasting rugelach in the world.
The next stop on our trip was to a building literally called toda idf (translation- thank you idf (Israeli Defense Force)). There we met with a company who had designed an ipad/iphone app that allowed us to go around different parts of the Jewish quarter answering questions, taking pictures, and recording short videos about what we saw, experienced, and thought. It was a pretty cool application and even though I wanted to actually fulfill the challenges listed, my new friends from New Jersery weren't quite as concerned (they were guys and we were not used to having a lot of guys who didn't want to participate). Overall though we had a good time and got to explore a part of the city I hadn't really been too (it reminded me of the bazaar in Turkey but I have no clue what it is called in the old city). From there we got on the bus and made our way to a hostel in Nordia, which is a town closer to Tel Aviv. On the way there I passed Tzuba which was really exciting. I could see it from far away and it was a great feeling to know everything around me, see familiar places, and really feel a sense of home.
When we got to Nordia we had some free time, ate dinner, and then went into programming. Our night program was about our road map. On a map we labeled where we where, where a parent was from, where a grandparent was from, and where we felt we would raise our children. It was really interesting to see where everyone put their stickers, especially the last sticker because we all came from such vast places. I know you are probably wondering where I put my last sticker. I put it on Washington D.C. but truthfully I have no idea if I want to raise my kids in the same environment I grew up in. I know I would prefer to raise them on the Mid/Northern East coast but I first have to see where my career takes me. During this discussion we also talked about how your routes shape you and how you may not be able to escape where you or your family comes from. A lot of kids said that your family's past doesn't define you and that you can over come it, which I agree with but I also noted that in many ways you are who you are because of genetics, which can be influenced by location. Some people seemed to be very taken a back by this idea. But I explained that a lot of genetic mutations and features we exhibit are because our families came from certain cultures or environments. For example Ashenazki Jews are prone to certain genetic disease that spehardic jews are less likely to be carriers for. Along with all of this we read some readings and poems in small groups. I read a poem called Pine which talked about how as long as you have some sense of comfort from where you felt most at home, you would be able to survive and thrive wherever you go.
Friday July 12th
We woke up and got right to work in the morning. There were two site visit options that we had chosen between and I was really excited for mine. I got to visit the Beit Issie Shapiro, a school and facility for disabled children. This isn't a place like the Children's Institute though. Because its Israel the amount of technology, time, and research that has gone into providing the absolute best care is unbelievable. The center originally started because Issie Shapiro, who had started programs for children with disabilities in South America (I think it was there) came to Israel and saw a need for a place that pre-school age children could attend that would cater to their needs. From there the center expanded into a school and now is much more than any of that. The center has the only dental care center not in a hospital that will treat people with disabilities without the use of anaesthesia. Rather they use sensory techniques to calm the patients. This technique is now being exported to the U.S. and other countries along with several of the other ideals and projects of the center. This includes a white sensory room called a snoozlin which is a room filled with white cushions, white walls, and a bunch of sensory lights (it is the most amazing and relaxing room I think I have ever been in and has shown to make kids with disabilities more aware and has made it easier to communicate with them), programs to teach young kids whom don't have disabilities to respect and treat kids with disabilities equally, parks that integrate spaces for kids with and without disabilities to play together, sensory pools, and much much more. I took a ton of notes so if anyone is interested I would love to talk about it more. For now I will just say that it was an amazing experience. It made me want to go right back to Pittsburgh and to the children's institute to bring back all the ideas and technology the center has researched and is now teaching to schools and doctors all over the world (like I'm not kidding, the President of Ecuador came to Israel and all he wanted to see was Beit Issie Shapiro, 2 weeks later the ambassador called saying that the president wanted to build 200 of the integrated playgrounds in communities in Ecuador).
After the life changing experience of visiting Beit Issie Shapiro, we got on the bus and went to the mall for lunch. After pocketing some more free money (we were given 40 shekels the day before for lunch and I only used 20) we went back to the hostel where we saw a shlecture (a show and lecture combined). The performance was about Israel and social protests and was pretty interesting. But I wasn't entirely moved enough to write about it. After that we finally had time in our organic groups (our actual program groups) to talk and catch up and then had some much deserved free time. I spent my time reading and getting ready for shabbat. Services were optional because the only temple near by was an orthodox one but some girls from my trip decided to lead a service at the hostel. I wasn't really in the mood for services though because I knew it would be more religious than I prefer so instead I supported them by being there but sat in the back reading, which I thought was a pretty nice way to bring in shabbat, especially because the sun was setting right over the service. Right before services, when we lit the candles I also learned something very interesting that I hadn't known. Apparently, traditionally when you aren't married you can only light one of the shabbat candles and if you are married you can light both. The exception comes if you are the only women in a house and then you can light both candles (if that makes sense).
After services we had dinner and then our program hosted an oneg song session. It was one of the most odd experiences I think I have ever had. Trying to coordinate songs in 4 different languages is extremely challenging and it took a long time to try and figure out songs that we all had in common. After all of that I was very excited to go to bed and sleep late but my excitement was put on pause when we found a cockroach in our room and had to find someone to kill it since it was moving way to fast (and we were too scared) for any of us living in our room.
Saturday the 13th
Sleeping in is one of the best feelings, especially after days of waking up early. Clearly I was very tired because I slept through all 3 of my alarms and had to be woken up just as I was supposed to get to programming. I got there just in time though so everything was okay. After kiddish we had a program about the 3 Cs (covenantal, communitarian, and cosmopolitan). The program started of with everyone picking 7 out ideals that were spread out over the room that we thought described our relationship with Judaism and things that we thought were important. I ended up picking shared history, religion, humanish, jewish tradition, mitzvot, part of the tribe, and helping other jews in need). When it came time for me to give my reasoning I got a lot of weird looks for my description of mitzvot. Many of the french students had also listed mitzvot but for them it was about following the commandments like keeping kosher and keeping shabbat. For me though the term mitzvot simply means doing a good deed and helping the community at large. A concept I learned is specific to American Jews. I also learned that on the spectrum of the 3Cs I am much more of a cosmopolitan because (following my reform background, which made me a rarity at this seminar) I see Judaism as a more cultural part of my life. I am very proud to say I am Jewish and that my religion is Jewish but I do not follow every word of the torah. I personally believe that your religion should be what you make it and that you should work religion into your life where it works.
After the session we had lunch and then had the rest of the afternoon to do whatever we wanted. I attempted to read but found I was too tired and simply passed out. According to my friends they walked into our room and I was completely unresponsive. Clearly I needed the sleep. We ended the day with another meeting in our organic groups in which I discussed how I felt very alone as a reform jew at not only the semiar but in the program in general. I love that my friends get to practice as religiously as they want, which for several means keeping shabbat, but for me it is just so foreign. I forget that we can't have guitars during services and the various other rules because I have never practiced Judaism in such a way. And especially at this retreat where there were orthodox kids from other counties flat out saying I wasn't religious enough I felt very uncomfortable. By 9pm, after dinner, havdalah, and wrap up sessions I was ready to get back to beersheba. The weekend had been way to out of my comfort zone and I was ready to get back to my normal daily routine and sleeping in my bed.
Sunday the 14th--Today
I woke up excited to go back to the shelter. Upon arrival Hannah and I were informed that tomorrow we will get to start mentoring which was great news to hear. We then spent the morning finding science projects we could do with our students and enjoying the last morning with a lot of free time.
I assumed that getting back to the shelter would be really easy. But when we talked to Shiran in the morning we found out that over the weekend a family had left, a new one had arrived, and another family was leaving today. My heart felt kind of shattered hearing this news. I knew the families hadn't been at the shelter very long and I hadn't gotten to know them very well but it was just such an odd sensation that families can come and go from the shelter so quickly. Tomorrow morning when we get there there may be yet another family. I think we were all very mind blown by the news and it is really hard to properly write out how I felt towards the situation. Volunteering at the shelter has already opened my eyes to such a different way of life and has made me so thankful to be where I am.
That being said, volunteering has not gotten easier. Today I found the language barrier to be really challenging. The afternoon started off pretty well. Hannah and I had the kids decorate their hand prints from last week and then did a science project where we made a torando in a water bottle. But once we finished all of that and gave the kids some free time it didn't seem as easy as before. I took some of the kids outside to stretch and get some fresh air and they tried to teach me games but we needed Shiran every couple of minutes to translate the directions. I really wish I had paid more attention in all of my hebrew classes. I have such fears that I am going to have a tough time making a difference in the lives of these kids if I can't communicate with them. I won't go on anymore about it because I am hoping for the best but today was definitely a struggle. I know this summer is going to bring a lot more challenges though. I know a family is already set to leave at the end of the week and two of the girls are in Hannah and I's group and they aren't aware they will be leaving. Luckily I have time to cope with the information because I have gotten close with the older girl but it just such an new situation to constantly lose and gain new students that it is something I am going to have to get used to.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Although during lunch we went into a grocery store and I found chocolate soy milk so that made my day a tad bit better because I am living without a microwave and as some of you may know, my go to activity to relax at the end of the day is drinking hot chocolate (which has lately become microwaving chocolate soy milk) with lots of mini marshmallows and watching tv.
Okay, I am sorry for having to post so many days at one time. I will try and be better about it this week! I hope everyone had a good weekend and if you have questions just let me know.
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