Traveling allows you to experience and become a part of a different culture

Andrea LeVine is the Senior Programmer/Community Organizer for Tulane Hillel. She wrote about a day on the Tulane Hillel’s Young Judaea Taglit-Birthright trip.

We spent our volunteer day at Rosh HaAyin. It was an amazing experience to work with New Orleans’ sister city! We were greeted with an amazing performance by the Begin High School Gospel Choir, and then spent some time helping the students practice their English for their upcoming English oral exams. It was absolutely one of the highlights of the trip; many of the kids are even following some of our participants on Instagram now!

After volunteering, we had dinner at the homes of our Israeli soldiers, and it was truly special to feel like part of the family for a night. It really connected all of us that much more.

We were honored to have been a part of this unique partnership! We had a blast!

 

Year Course participant Sam Reichstein writes about volunteering in Bat Yam.

On my Year Course journey, I’m amazed at how much my life, and myself, have changed so much in such a short amount of time.

I am an active Young Judean,  so going on Year Course has been engrained in my head ever since I was around eleven years old. For years I would tell family and friends that I was planning to spend my first year out of high school in Israel, yet I never let myself think about it long enough to picture what exactly I would be doing.

Now Bat Yam, a 3-mile city most Americans have never heard of, with a 30% Russian population has crazily, yet indefinitely, become my home.  Bus routes have replaced my Hyundai Elantra, my local Randall’s has transformed into the ever-famous “Super-Douche”, and my days of giving my mom a full basket of laundry have become nights across the street, using free-Wi-Fi, as my 15 shekel wash awaits it’s drying moment. Though quirky and strange to those who are not experiencing this with me, these are just a few of the many changes that are building my amazing journey here in Bat Yam.

Our main focus here this semester is to volunteer, and the opportunity given to me could not be at a more rewarding location. Alongside two good friends, I help teach English at a school with children who need additional help. My first few mornings were intimidating to say the least. Never would I have imagined being scared of what eight year olds were thinking of me, but using my basic Hebrew and receiving blank stares and angry responses of “Mah?!” placed me in a terrifying circumstance.

Luckily, things turned around quickly. Before I knew it my morning walk into school brought chants of “Hi Sam!”, “Sam!”, or my distinctive home-state, “Texas!” The kids love us being there, and are beyond excited to learn anything new. It’s amazing to me how they are learning— or even attempting— to become bilingual at such a young age. There are moments when my simple Hebrew and their struggling English collide and create understanding. It makes the whole process and experience of teaching so much greater.

Though I may not be able to haggle my cab prices down when I want, and I still end up not getting off at the right bus stop, finding myself in Central Tel Aviv, I know that as my bus arrives in front of Anna Frank, feelings of ease and comfort arise as I know that this is my address. These few months have been a whirlwind, filled with fast friendships, sunny afternoons lounging on the beach, experiencing nightlife in Tel Aviv, immersing myself in as much Hebrew as possible, and helping amazing children.  In this short time, I feel like I know exactly what I am doing on Year Course, and I couldn’t be happier knowing how easy it is to call this small, eclectic city, my home.

View other pictures of Bat Yam volunteers.

With another year coming to an end, the incredible stories about our chanichim’s experiences are in no short supply.  Here is a great piece written by Adi Genosar about her volunteer placement, Magen David Adom (Israel’s Red Cross).

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine doing the things I’ve done in the past two months. My name is Adi Genosar, and I am a 19-year-old Israeli, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. I am currently in Israel on a gap year Masa program called Young Judaea Year Course. On Year Course, I was afforded the opportunity to volunteer with Magen David Adom for a short period. MDA was never something I saw myself being able to do. I knew I wanted to be a part of something bigger than me, bigger than anything I have ever been involved in, something worthy of not just me but others around me. That something is undoubtedly the MDA Overseas Volunteer Program. After taking the 60 hour course and starting to volunteer daily at the Rishon L’Tziyon station, I fell in love! The experiences and friendships I’ve made have left an everlasting impact on my life and changed me as a person. This one case still keeps me thinking

It was just another normal morning shift. I had already had one or two calls and now I was just hanging out at the station watching a movie. “34 Nesiyah (call for ambulance 34),” the moked (dispatch) announced over the loud speaker. I quickly grabbed my stuff and headed to the ambulance. As soon as I was in my seat and buckled, we heard what our call was, and my adrenaline was pumping. “Mechusar hakara (unconscious and not breathing) 65 year old woman…”  This was it! This was the moment they talked about during our MDA training where you need to be prepared for what’s coming. I grabbed two pairs of gloves and stuffed one in my pocket and put the other pair on. I prepared the equipment to come off the ambulance as quickly as possible. As we zoomed down the streets in Rishon L’Tziyon with the sirens screeching, my driver, knowing this would be my first CPR, started calmly explaining the procedure. I took a deep breath as we parked, and then it was time to go.

With everything in hand we headed up the elevator to the 3rd floor, ready. Or so we thought. The minute we got there we saw the door wide open and a woman doing compressions on a young man on the floor. We quickly assessed the new situation and quickly started. I remember my driver looking at me directly in the eyes and saying to “start compressions” while my tzevet (team) got the rest of the equipment out. I panicked slightly as I began to wonder if I knew what I was actually doing. All I remember thinking was “1…2…3…4…” and staring into this kid’s wide-open teary eyes as I tried saving his life. Time started flying and within a matter of minutes a MICU (Mobile Intensive Care Unit) arrived at the door, medications at hand and ready to help us. It was nearly impossible to handle such a serious case with a normal ambulance. They too assessed the situation while I continued compressions. I switched off with someone in their team, and we each continued doing rounds, giving him breaths, shocks and medicine for over an hour and forty-five minutes.

Sadly, we eventually concluded that nothing remained for us to do for him. We had to just let go, move out of the way, and let the paramedics take care of the rest. It was really difficult, and I have to say the hardest part was looking into his eyes, wanting him to wake up, knowing that he was just a nineteen year-old boy, someone the same age as me. It’s crazy to think about it. However, I had to put my feelings aside and continue helping out. I was told to clean the equipment and CPR area and organize it all in the ambulances. As I grabbed the equipment, I saw them cover the kid with a simple blanket which had been lying next to us on the floor. They took the family into a different room while I organized the gear and returned it to the ambulance, just as if it were any other call, and waited for the rest of the team to return.

Once everyone had left the apartment, we were left waiting for a different organization to come to take care of the body. The driver arranged a sort of huddle. He told us what was happening at the moment, that we had done well, and explained the overall situation. Before he ended the talk, he pointed out to everyone, that although this was my first CPR, I worked as part of the team and did the best compressions of the day. I couldn’t believe that he had given me such a huge compliment. The last time I performed CPR, I was pressing into the chest of a dummy!

I remember taking a deep breath and thinking to myself, “Wow, I’ve actually done it!” The situation left me rather dumbfounded. I wasn’t precisely sad. Although someone had just died, I knew that my whole team had my back, and I knew that I really had done everything I could do. I really surprised myself! I never thought I could ever do something like that in real life!

MDA has really taught me to appreciate life. It showed me how to be a part of a team, how to be a leader, and most importantly how valuable a person can be…including me!

Tzeva Kachol visited Kibbutz Nir Am located near the city of Sderot, a place unfortunately most known for its close proximity to Gaza which has fired rockets over the city for the past ten years.  Some of the rockets have fallen into the kibbutz’s agricultural fields.

With help from the Sderot Media Center, the chanichim arranged to help the kibbutz’s elderly residents in the days leading up to Pesach, cleaning their public gardens and helping to kasher their kitchens for the holiday.

First, they took a short tour of Nir Am, seeing the metal factory and meeting some of the residents who were incredibly grateful for Year Course’s visit.   Dividing up into small groups, half the chanichim pulled out weeds and helped to beautify the areas outside the houses while the other half helped put chametz into storage and throw away anything not needed for Pesach.

Tzeva Kachol making a difference on Kibbutz Nir Am

It was clear from the residents how much they care about their home, seeing that there was only desert when they arrived decades ago (Nir Am was founded in 1943).  The Year Course visit really touched the residents who were moved that the chanichim cared about a place that meant so much to the kibbutzniks.

Said Aviva Weinstein of Washington, DC, “A lot of what we talk about in the Activism track is the importance of giving a community help that they actually need, as opposed to focusing on what is easiest for us to give.  It was an enjoyable afternoon but really shocking to hear the news the next day that rockets had fallen again so soon after our visit.

Together with the NU Campaign, Tzeva Kachol is creating t-shirts to raise both fund and awareness.  In addition, the activism track is working with the Koby Mandell Foundation to send birthday care packages to Camp Koby, a camp created to provide positive experiences for victims of terror.