A Successful Week

Wednesday July 31st

The craft we had been working on

I hate that once you get used to something and find your way the activity soon ends. As I expressed in my blog post for our group blog (http://repaironwardyahel.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/finally-finding-my-place/), this week I finally felt like I was making some sort of impact at the shelter. This feeling was especially true on Wednesday. For the first time the younger of my two mentees and I had a real meeting. She willing left her morning group to continue her craft in a separate room with me. She asked for my help with the project and introduced me to some of her favorite songs.  It felt so good to be needed and for her to want my help. For the first time really working with her, I didn't feel like an outsider. I can only hope that she feels a similar feeling. I know that with most volunteering people do the volunteers often take away more than the people they were actually supposed to be helping. Unfortunately, this issue is constantly on my mind. I know I have already learned a lot and have grown so much from this experience but I don't want to leave in a week and half and have helped no one. The kids I am working with are constantly subjected to their worlds changing, people leaving, and having no stability and this is a huge issue for the 6 of us volunteering at the shelter. I know I am leaving but I really don't want to leave knowing I have disrupted their lives again and if I haven't made a large enough impact I am afraid that my being there was a complete waste for the children. 

But, back to the happier side of things... The rest of my day kept up the same successful feeling. Hannah and I finally found a group activity that everyone in our class enjoyed, making chocolate balls. Making Israeli chocolate balls was one of my favorite experiences from camp and I love that it is a big thing here in Israel. All 5 kids loved getting to smash all of the crackers, get their hands messy, and most of all eat the chocolate. However, we found that initially we didn't have enough crackers. The kids started to roll the chocolate balls but they were unrollable. Luckily the shelter is stocked with crackers though and after we smashed/crumbled an entire pack into the batter it became the right consistency. So while the kids were gardening we rerolled all of the chocolate balls.

Hannah and the coconut covered portion of the Chocolate Balls

Earlier in the week I had also promised the older of my two mentees that I would teach her how to make my 2 ingredient pancakes. So again while my class was gardening I taught her. She couldn't believe that a banana and 2 eggs could make a pancake. Some of the women also tasted it but they were a little thrown off and hesitant by the concept. Shiran enjoyed them though so I was excited. (A lot of the kids on my trip really like them too and like 5 of them made the pancakes for dinner after work). 

Our group program was a meeting with Levi's community, the Kama Community. Having heard a lot of different opinions on their community was a little worried but interested in what I would see and learn. We took taxis to their community house; a house they rent together that acts as an office, meeting location, and houses the pre-school they created. The Kama Community is an intentional community the Levi and some of his friends decided to create. The community has 15 couples and all of them are committed to making their community a better place. They have started an NGO, have created several sustainable projects, and help other people create intentional communities. As they were explaining what an intentional community is all I could think was "so basically they created a Greek organization". They were saying that the idea of it is to be surrounded by people who have similar interests, similar life styles, who would pick up your kid if you can't or drive you to the airport, etc. Which to me just sounds like having friends. But, with the idea of having an intention or goal that's common among all of them it just seemed like all of the organizations I have been/am a part of (well mostly youth group and Kappa). I guess I am a little confused as to why they need a name surrounding their group of friends. That being said, I love the kindergarten they started. The kids are primarily not from their community which I think is great because it means they are closed off. Additionally, the entire program is run by a co-op of the parents. They are all actively involved in the education of their children and work together to create the atmosphere they want to raise their kids in. Going off of the fact that the school is open, I really appreciated the perspective as to their living situation. They have the community house but no one lives there. All of the families live in the same general area, just a few minutes from each other but they are integrated into a regular neighborhood. One of the guys we talked to said he was glad they didn't create a kibbutz or closed community to live in. He doesn't want to only see people from their community nor does he want his children's friends to only be those of the community. He used the term "normalizing" as her explained his viewpoint. I actually think this was a good term to use. Living within a confinded area or group of people doesn't allow for your mind to know anything other than what you are surrounded by. But if these kids grow up knowing all the kids in their neighborhood, they will be just like all the other kids, plus they will belong to a special community. 

The best part of the meeting with the community though was that we got to meet Levi's wife. She was so sweet and not entirely what I expected. She seems so down to earth and easy going. She even showed us some of her and Levi's wedding photos, which were absolutely gorgeous. Of course the rest of the night was spent packing, sleeping, and getting ready to leave at the crack of dawn for Tel Aviv.