Tikkun Olamer and Combatants for Peace on Israel's Memorial Day

by Rachel Rothendler, current Coexistence Track participant

The author (right) on a Tikkun Olam hiking trip

Israel has been my home for seven months now as I study and volunteer with Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa.  Joining the Coexistence Track in Jaffa, I knew I wanted to be part of the efforts to encourage dialogue among the Arab and Jewish populations there and among Palestinians and Israelis on a larger scale.  I did not know what form I wanted this work to take, however, until the heightened conflict between Israel and Gaza last November.  This period was so difficult for me, not because I was constantly in fear for my physical safety, but because of the outright fear and unconditional hate I witnessed on all sides, as well as because of the countless misrepresentations and misconceptions caused by the mass media.  I did not know then where to direct the anger and frustration I felt at the things happening around me.  

At about the same time, I began a course as part of my program that dealt with state laws and human rights groups in Israel, sparking my interest in NGOs committed to peace activism in the region.  Soon after, I was introduced to the group Combatants for Peace, a multi-national NGO that promotes mutual understanding between Israelis and Palestinians through joint volunteer activities, tours, lectures, film screenings, etc.  What struck me most about the group was not their political platform, but their commitment to belief in a reality for both Israelis and Palestinians different from the one lived today.  Now there was a concept I could hold onto.  

Currently, I am helping to fundraise for CFP’s 8^th annual Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony in Tel Aviv on April 14^th.  The goal of this event is to bring the two sides together to both acknowledge each other’s losses and to share in mourning, and in so doing, to promote a dialogue of peace.  I hope that others in Israel and Palestine as well as in the international sphere will share in my and Combatants for Peace’s efforts to realize a different reality for people here.  The Memorial Day event is open to the public, and donations are still welcome!  We hope to raise 40,000 NIS (~$10,000) by the time of the event.  Please see the links below for more information.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Link to the donation site: http://www.razoo.com/story/The-Alternative-Israeli-Palestinian-Commemoration-Ceremony-Held-By-Combatants-For-Peace

More information on the event: http://cfpeace.org/?cat=7&story_id=3611

The official Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/455284221217648/
Combatants for Peace's website: http://cfpeace.org/

Introducing: Tikkun Olam Internship Track!

We are proud to introduce the new Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa Internship Track!

Tikkun Olamer Sarah assists pregnant asylum seekers and refugees at Hagar and Miriam

The Internship Track is your chance gain valuable career experience in the non-profit sector by interning for 5 or 10 months with an organization serving disadvantaged communities in south Tel Aviv and Jaffa.  Choose between organizations working towards Arab-Jewish coexistence; advocating for disabled and special-needs populations; providing services to refugees from Darfur and other parts of Africa; and much more!

Tikkun Olam's Internship Track was designed specifically for non-profit internships.  As a Tikkun Olam intern, you'll get a complete experience -- you'll live amongst the communities that you serve; you'll learn about the issues facing those communities specifically, and Israeli society as a whole; you'll enjoy seminars on social entrepreneurship and get to know different non-profits all over Israel; and you'll do it all alongside Israeli peers -- Tikkun Olam is the ONLY Masa program where you live and learn with Israelis!

You can find more information on our individual internship offerings on our website, where you can also register to get started this September.  

We'll also be highlighting a different internship each day this week and next on our Facebook page.  So head over there and give us a LIKE to keep updated!

Volunteering in Tikkun Olam

Current Coexistence Track participant Yael Kurganoff from Chicago, recently blogged about her volunteering placements in Tikkun Olam.  To have an experience like Yael's starting this September, get started on your application now on our website.

A few weeks ago, we finished the orientation period and started our regular schedule. We volunteer three days a week ( Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday), have two study days (Monday and Thursday) and then we have the weekend off (Which here is Friday and Saturday).  I am happy to report that I got all the placements I wanted :)

Sunday was my first day volunteering. One of them is still in the works, so I only went to the Elderly Center, which was a lot of fun. Everyone was speaking to me only in Hebrew, which was good but I was a little lost sometimes :) 

On Monday we had our first full day of classes, which included three hours of Hebrew, a Coexistence Track meeting, lunch and two classes- Jewish Peoplehood, and Social Justice in the Jewish Texts (with everyone). It was a long day, but I found both classes to be quite interesting.

Yesterday was my first day at the Shachaf Center (which I am going to be at twice a week). This is the center where kindergarten classes come once a month to learn about the environment and being green. Yesterday was a prep day, so we just got ready for the new month of activities. The women are so wonderful that work there! That evening, I finally got to walk the Tayelet (the boardwalk) from the Jaffa port to the Tel Aviv port. It was a long walk (like 2 hours) but it was great, minus the wind and we got to see a beautiful sunset along the way. We topped it off with going to Max Brenner (a fantastic chocolate place).

Sunset over the Tel Aviv Marina

Today was absolutely AMAZING! I am so happy at the Shachaf Center! Each day there are two sessions (two different classes) with a break in the middle, where the four women and I sat and ate and talked. The morning class was a special needs Jewish school. After a little presentation, they had all these different stations outside (looking at the tadpoles, looking for bugs, painting water colors with feathers etc). The kids were SOOOO adorable. The second group was from an Arab School. That was interesting, because I was not really able to interact with the kids as much as I was with the first group, since I do not speak Arabic. I know I will learn some words eventually :) The last thing I have today is tutoring at an Arab school (which I am headed to soon).

Besides these three volunteer sites, I will be doing the Jaffa Lacrosse once a week as well as Mesilla, which is a unrecognized preschool for migrant worker's kids.

Tikkun Olam Empowerment! Coexistence in Jaffa

Leilani Albin, a 10-month coexistence track participant, writes about her experiences volunteering at Aros El Bahar, an organization dedicated to women's empowerment among the Arab population in Jaffa.  

Applications are open now for Tikkun Olam's 5 and 10-month programs beginning in September 2013.  Visit www.tikkunolamisrael.org/apply-now to get started!

A little while after I arrived on the Tikkun Olam Coexistence Track, I began my work volunteering at an NGO dedicated to empowering the women of Tel Aviv-Yafo. It is run by both Jewish and Arab women, and strives to give underprivileged women of Yafo a place where they can have a support system, feel safe, come to learn, and be part of a close community. Women go there for any number of the services offered including mentoring, entrepreneurial guidance, job placement, support groups, computer classes, Arabic classes, and now English classes. In addition to offering a support system and classes, the center teamed up with an Israeli designer and created a unique line of plush dolls called “Jaffa Dolls.” A group of women who attend the center make the dolls and when they are sold the women receive a portion of the profit. The dolls have become tremendously successful and at the launch that was held at the end of last year they sold out of their entire stock. As a side project in addition to my teaching efforts, I have begun helping to find stores that will sell the dolls Internationally and am working to create a network for sales in the US.

A couple of months ago when I first met with the women who wished to take an English class, I asked them why they wanted to learn English and what they wanted to use it for. Their answers ranged from wanting to start a small business, to having the desire to be able to give people directions in English when asked. The women had all different backgrounds and were at all different levels in their English speaking abilities. I found a middle ground, and began teaching the women using topics that were of interest to them. First conversational skills, then foods, restaurant topics, menus and ordering, travel, and directions. They are very excited to begin geography next week.

The women who attend classes at Arous Elbahar come from difficult backgrounds and have not led easy lives. It is wonderful for them to have this place that they can go for support and to learn, but as I have worked with them I often see the leftover effects from the difficult lives they have. One of my students is often absent from class and her face is full of sadness… she refuses to talk about her home life, and the women often console her when she declines to mention what is wrong. Some women bring their children to class with them, because they cannot afford daycare or a babysitter… they always apologize because they feel as though they are disrupting the lesson, but I always tell them that it’s great to have the children in the room with us. Sometimes I worry that if they feel the children are not welcome in class they will stop coming. In actuality, I think that when the kids are in the room everyone smiles and laughs a little more, and it brightens the day.

I have one student who’s dream is to teach English in a school in Yafo. She never misses a class, and shows up excited to learn every week. She was moving at a faster pace than the rest of the class, and had completed a higher level in English while in University, so I have begun tutoring her on the side… we meet after class and I give her additional homework assignments that focus on separate topics than what I teach in the classes. The more I give her and teach her, the more empowered she seems.

The experience that I have had teaching English has been so rewarding over these past few months, that I have begun seeking additional volunteer placements in this field.

   

Tikkun Olam in Action: Working with Refugees in South Tel Aviv

Sarah Mednick, a 10-month Social Action Track participant from upstate New York, has been volunteering at Hagar and Miriam.  The organization provides guidance and support for pregnant refugees from Eritrea, Darfur and other parts of Africa, who live in south Tel Aviv.  Below, Sarah tells about her amazing initiative to make the organization work more efficiently!

There are still a few spaces left for Tikkun Olam's 5-month Spring program starting February 12!  Click here to register now and have incredible volunteering experiences like Sarah this Spring!

This Wednesday at Hagar & Miriam we finally received our ‘next steps’ and ‘intake’ forms in Tigrinya, the language spoken in Eritrea. (99% of the women we see are from Eritrea and don’t speak much English or Hebrew). This will literally change my life. Why? So many reasons!

When I first started doing intakes, we had to write down by hand the next thing that each woman had to do. This took about 10 minutes per woman, since often they had to do a lot of things. Additionally, almost none of them can read English or Hebrew, so they didn’t understand and we had to find someone to help explain it to them. This took time as well. There was no standard form to give them that said “here’s what you do now.” We just let them go. Also, we spent about 10 minutes with each woman at the beginning of the intake trying to determine her age, where she’s from, how many months pregnant, etc. A few weeks ago, I wrote up a special intake form for the women to fill out while they wait, so we can get past the basic info in 30 seconds and take more time to really talk to them.

These forms literally changed my life as a volunteer. Also, I started using them the week that my friend Clara joined me for intakes. She does such a fabulous job keeping the women in line, determining if they even need to see me, and making sure I that go quickly with each client so I can see more of them. Together, we have made serious headway in making Hagar & Miriam more efficient.

But even with the forms in English, we still needed someone who speaks Tigrinya to help them understand where we’ve directed them to go. There are two Eritrean nurses who volunteer on Wednesdays, but they are stretched so thin that they certainly don’t have time to speak to every woman we see. So I’ve been working with another Eritrean volunteer the past few weeks to translate the forms. On Wednesday, we got them. We also printed out maps of where certain doctors’ offices are so they can just give the sheet to a cab driver if they can’t figure out the location on their own. Here are photos!

Johnny from Eritrea. He helps us out on occasion. Here’s him with the completed translation.

Clara cutting and gluing to make it all one sheet. Almost there!

I think that the women will appreciate these new developments!

Now we can give each woman a sheet containing information on pre-natal vitamins, health insurance, doctors’ offices, and blood test locations all in her native language. We highlight the things she needs to do and can be sure that she will do them. She can also now fill out the initial intake form in her native language, so that she doesn’t need any help from English speakers. This means that she’ll answer all of the questions correctly, and won’t leave any questions blank. Not only does this make the volunteers’ lives so much easier, not only does it mean that they are more likely to get the right care, it means that maybe they can feel a little more empowered in the whole process.

I love my job.

True Coexistence in Tel Aviv-Jaffa

Recently a classic Tikkun Olam reflection from Tikkun Olam alumna Abigail Winard appeared on the Masa: Israel Journey blog.  Read the full story here, and here's a small taste:

"At Hassan Araffe, a school located in the neighborhood of Ajami, I taught English to fifth and sixth graders who also studied Hebrew and Arabic daily as well.  Jewish teachers worked to instill within Muslim and Christian students a sense of pride and encouragement in developing their English skills. Seeing a young Jewish man wearing a yarmulke lean over to a young Muslim girl to help her with an English assignment presented the epitome of coexistence."

A Break for the Kids of Southern Israel

Ian Cohen, a current participant in Tikkun Olam's Social Action Track, and an avid lacrosse player in his spare time, recently helped operate a lacrosse and basketball camp for kids from Be'er Sheva during Operation Pillar of Defense.  The camp offered the kids a much-needed respite from the constant rocket fire that Be'er Sheva saw during the operation.

Read what Ian had to say about his experience below, and click here to register for Tikkun Olam's Spring semester!

Ian with a student at one of his volunteering locations in Tel Aviv

Lacrosse has always been a hobby for me, but it recently took on a deeper meaning.  I am currently spending a year living and volunteering in Israel with the Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa program (www.tikkunolamisrael.org).  During the recent conflict between Israel and Gaza, I was given the opportunity to participate in what will certainly be one of the more memorable experiences during my time here.

A few weeks ago, before Operation Pillar of Defense began, I joined the Tel Aviv Lacrosse club.  A week later, after hostilities broke out, I received a mass text message from the director of Israel Lacrosse asking if any of the club members would be interested in helping to run a lacrosse clinic for kids later in the week. I quickly jumped at the chance to work with Israeli youth and teach them a new sport. With the help of some connections, Netanya Hoops for Kids and Israel Lacrosse were able to organize a bus full of kids from Be'er Sheva to come north to Netanya to stay in a boarding school for a few nights, to get away from the rockets and missiles raining down on their homes.  In the meantime, we would treat them to basketball and lacrosse clinics – a welcome change for them from being cooped up in bomb shelters.

When we arrived at the boarding school, we set up in an open field near where some local kids were playing on a playground.  Within minutes of putting the equipment down, some students came over and snatched up the sticks, trying to figure out how to use this foreign device. I showed some of them some basics, but they were really just interested in throwing the ball and shooting on the net. While this was happening, students in the classroom got wind of what was going on outside, and began pressing their faces up to the windows, and even hanging out the windows trying to get the kids with the sticks to throw the balls into the classroom. Just as the teachers broke up the mayhem and brought the kids inside, the children from Be'er Sheva arrived, right on cue.

Ian (far right) with other members of the lacrosse and basketball clubs, running the camp

After an introduction from the director of Netanya Hoops for Kids, we split up into groups and began coaching.  While the kids had never seen lacrosse before, they were open to learning about this new sport.  I made the most of my time with each group, and tried to teach them as much as possible. After the groups had been through each station, we regrouped and talked as a large group once more before dispersing.

While the activity itself was short-lived, I can certainly say that this will be one of the more memorable experiences I will take away from these ten months with Tikkun Olam. I take a great sense of pride in feeling like I made a difference in these kid’s lives by being a part of a great activity and giving them some respite from the situation back home.  It was a great feeling getting to see the joy on the kids' faces, and knowing I was able to help give them a short break from the troubles back home.  I hope that there won't be a need for another clinic like this, but if there is, I'll definitely be happy to help out again.