Arab-Israeli One Stop Employment Center

JDC's Cityworks program works to help adults in the Arab sector, attain self-sufficiency and restore their economic independence by enabling cities to provide economic opportunities for their constituents. The model's success stems from its ability to place the responsibility for employment assistance firmly in the hands of local authorities by empowering them to fulfill this charge.

Location: Matnas Segev Shalom  “Rian Center”

We start our visit at the Of Oz Chicken Factory. 180 of the 700 workers in the factory came from Rian, The Center works in several locations, Segev, Chora, more to come. There was a culture of not-working here so it wasn’t easy to get started. We invested heavily in local leadership to persuade people to work. You can’t open a factory here if people won’t work and even now there's massive turnover. People leave after a day or two and they don’t return. Why bother. We’re trying to enhance and deepen a sense of commitment to work. That every community will be talking about work. Now we’re seeing people who final understand the value of work.

We opened a women’s chef’s course because men and women cooked separately at weddings and events. They would bring cooks from the territories, so it was important to develop a local initiative.

The Of Oz factory: they have 1300 workers on the list but only 700 actually work there. Some only came for a day, or didn’t even turn up. But those that have been coming in to work regularly feel like they belong. There are 30 year olds (and older) who have never worked, but they love to come in, it opens up a new world for them. Increasing work commitment, increasing sense of protecting and preserving the work equipment.

The connection between the factory (in planning) and the Center began some ten years ago, but the factory only opened last year. They ran recruitment days in the local Matnas and ran interviews.

Note the photo of the main floor (“piruk”) where you have men and women separate, and a separate line of women wearing head-coverings. It was important for everyone to preserve ways to integrate, allow women to find a career path.

Segev Shalom is a Beduin town, 7000 population, of which 60% are aged under 18. Meaning of the word Rian is fertile ground in Arabic. The Center is in the basement of the local Matnas.

BADR is the Rian Center Director. The team chose the name because they felt it was important to emphasize the local roots. There is a clear lack of trust in GOI.

MUHAMAD is the overall Director for the region: when they opened the factory people stopped coming to the Center because they thought it was the same thing. So we had to go out and explain to people. There are huge challenges and also successes. Usually there’s no investment in people here; now we have a chance. People need to go through a process, and that’s not easy. Sometimes five meetings isn’t enough. People have excuses, problems, but we don’t despair. We feel a sense of mission. Our aim is empowerment, changing the culture of work. It’s critical because what was created here left people without the tools to work. Everything changed here. Once, everyone worked. But the urbanization process changed us and we didn’t have the tools to work. People received handouts and they got used to it, and now you have a second generation (and perhaps even third) of unemployed. People developed ‘walls’ – I can’t do it, they won’t accept me. But the work market is open to accepting them.

BADR Segev Shalom has 7500 residents and another 5000 in the outlying areas who receive health and education services. The town was recognized in 1999. 60% are under the age of 18.

3400 are working-age.

1400 are working according to a 2008 survey, now it’s probably closer to 2000. 30% of working-age women actually work.

The program has an advisory committee from the community, they convene, discuss, give and receive updates. There’s a monthly updates page that goes out to 250 managers in the area.

The Center has “easy” and “difficult” participants, defined by the need to invest energy in them, level of Hebrew language, and more. The critical emphasis is on the amount of professional training needed.

RAVICHA (in the purple head-covering) participated in the metaplot course. The Rian Center published a note in the town about courses , I went, it was 8 months long, because I didn’t need to go to Beersheva (like with the other course, two years ago, which I couldn’t do). But the Segev course is ours, it’s real, it’s close. I have five children in my mishpachton, the families pay a symbolic sum to take part.

Ravicha had never worked before. The metaplot course opened a new world for her, and now for other women, because if you can offer arrangements for children then the mothers can find a job. Ravicha smiles. I enjoy my job. I want to send my kids to study in university. My husband wasn’t opposed to my working because I'm bringing home money.

MIRIAM (in the blue-white covering) is the occupational community social worker. You can take people out of the cycle of poverty now because we have a budget and willingness to overcome the negatives in our society. It was obvious that we’re not just talking about numbers but rather about social change. There was a circle of unemployment and helplessness. It’s not an easy process, you need a lot of patience. It’s not just the husbands, it’s also the language, the culture.

There are 40 women from Segev who work in agricultural greenhouses – but even there you need basic Hebrew, so we needed to train them.

Rian has run courses on such subjects as air-conditioning installation, electrician, engineering, car electrics, welding. They needed to work with very different groups: men, women, youth. They set up an Imams Forum, and the Imams were very supportive, they could hand out flyers in the mosques). They worked in the schools on explanation, to try to change how youth think about employment in a three-stage process (first stage already happened):

explaining what is the employment scene, supply and demand of jobs, equipping the youth with basic concepts, how to write a resume.

Meeting with experts

Meeting at the Center

The professionals run home visits, they get neighbors together, explanation materials. They don’t have enough professionals. There are two supplemental classes for people to finish 10th and 12th grades. There are problems with low self-image. In practically every kind of job you have to go through a placement exam with a personnel firm, therefore the placement exam is critical; it’s a huge obstacle so we’re working to promote culturally-sensitive testing.

They have 820 people listed in their database, of whom 417 are working. Half of them are women, 70 are in courses.

In the Sherut Taasuka 7% find employment

With the personnel agencies, 20% find employment

With the Riad Center, 50% find employment. This is a huge achievement.

As you walk out of the Matnas you can see the town. Every house still has a tent next to it; that’s where people sit in the evenings. Not everyone has accepted the concept of urban life.

Laulicht center and Nutrition activities in Ofakim

This city-wide program improves the health of at-risk children through launching nutrition and healthy living educational programs in schools and community centers and educating parents and teachers about nutrition and health.  It improves children’s nutrition, physical fitness and dental care habits, countering rising rates of obesity, malnutrition and disease, and enabling children to fulfill their educational and social potential.  It focuses on teaching parents and educators practical, low-cost methods for improving the eating and health habits of at-risk children.

Location: 73 Herzl St. Ofakim (opposite Kikar Hayona)

The program “The Race to the Kitchen” – each time the dietician presents another country, they learn a little about the culture, the food, eating customs, a few words. Last week they did China, this week Switzerland. They learned last week about chopsticks, eating slowly, widening horizons. Each child gets to create something of his/her own to eat, it’s a fun activity and very educational. They’re proud of what they make. They learn that food is made up of healthy components. Today they're going to make a Swiss pie with cheese, vegetables etc and a cookie cake.

 

The nutrition program works with the municipality. They’ve seen changes in the eating habits of the children and it’s changing the way the city looks. Ofakim this year is a pilot city for “Healthy Cities” including meetings with doctors and nurses, dieticians, right now in four kindergartens. We’re the pilot because we’ve run this program for three years and have identified the huge potential in recruiting professionals. It requires a lot from the kindergarten teachers and assistants. But it’s very attractive. The breakfast exposes them to healthy foods like tehina and sardines that they might not receive at home, setting a table, healthy eating, clearing away the table.

 

The approach of the Center was that most of the activities would take place here, we’re building a unique center to serve the entire community. In the future we’ll have parents’ groups, mothers’ groups. How to cook, nutritional support, etc. We’ll have a syllabus of courses and activities to empower families and develop the community. There’s huge potential here. There’s a growing problem of obesity, especially with girls. They eat junk and there's no awareness.

 

The Kitchen’s target audiences are professionals, parents, youth, children. It gives an equal introduction to all, good therapy, emotional boost.

Photos: “Race for the Kitchen” this week in Switzerland. This is the second meeting. Adi is the dietician. She explains a little bit about Europe, Switzerland. The kids are aged 9-12. They’ve been referred by the Social Welfare Department of the Municipality.

How do we make pies, what are the ingredients, what’s in a recipe. Each child fills half a cup with carrot, zucchini, onion, pepper, mix them up.

They have a 10th grade volunteer. Shoshana is the House Mother and cook.

Adi mixes cottage cheese, eggs, flour and each child takes a large spoonful into his/her cup, mix and then pour into the molds. There's huge satisfaction.

Home visit to JFS/ Children's Initiative Family

Family members:

Son: Bogdan (2001) aged 11

Daughter: Ruslana (2008) aged 4

Mother: Marina, aged 34

Grandmother: Yevdokiya

Family situation: Marina is a single mother raising two children: 11-year old Bogdan and 4-year old Ruslana. Bogdan has poor health and suffers from very serious chronic diseases, including asthenoneurotic syndrome and epilepsy. Despite his health problems, the boy loves football and is a very enthusiastic soccer player. Having to look after a sick son and little younger daughter, Marina had to stay home unemployed. For all this time the family survived from the grandmother’s modest pension. Only recently Marina found a job and started to receive minimal but at least regular income.

Living situation: the family shares an old private house with remote relatives, with whom the relationship is very tense, and there is almost no communication. The accommodation is very poor, lacking basic conveniences.

Family monthly income: the family survives on the $112 salary of the mother and the $114 grandmother’s pension.

Help received from JDC:

• Monthly assistance from the Food Card program
• Winter relief (bed linen set and blanket)
• Baby carriage
• Clothing and school supplies for Bogdan
• Medicines as needed

Inna is the case worker. They live deep in the south on the right bank. Inna has 100 cases, different frequencies of visits. With this family she meets once a month and speaks once a week on the phone. The family is “needy” but not the worst case.

The main challenge of the case worker is money, especially when the family needs funds for medical care or treatment and we don’t have enough to spare. The connection with the family started because Yevdokiya is a Hesed client, the case worker told the family when Bogdan was born about options through JFS, and also told JFS.

Inna has been working for 9 years with Hesed; her family became JFS clients, and she then became a volunteer, helping other families in the “Home Management Support” program. Then she was invited to become a professional in JFS because they love working with her and she loves the job. When she was in Hesed she did the social work course (distance learning in Dnepropetrovsk) from Solomon University in Kiev.

Marina took part in the JCC program “Mothers for a Better Future” in the computer class and home economics/basic work entry skills class. She got moral support, learned how to write a resume, be interviewed. Now she works in a convenience store. It gave her a lot of confidence.

The entire area is dirty, abandoned, neglected. We got lost because Inna normally gets public transport here and there aren’t good maps here, there are unrecognized/unofficial roads, etc. There's a residential quarter (neighborhood) in Zaporozhe that isn’t officially recognized … because it was officially torn down in the 50s!

Bogdan still has problems. Sweet kid, friendly. Inna is vital, says Marina. She helps. When I don’t know what to do she's there. I can call her. When Ruslana was in hospital, Inna helped, mediated, helped bring medicines that they didn’t have in the hospital. Inna has organized volunteers to stay with the children because Marina sometimes works a night shift or a 24-hour shift. She's built a good relationship with her boss, so if one of the kids is sick they are flexible. She works hard. The pay is low but the conditions are good.

Yevdokiya is sick.

They live far away from the JCC. The kids can't go to the summer camp because of their health problems. They come to JCC activities and programs, though this is difficult. Need to pay for transportation. There’s no bus from here – you pay for the private mashrutkas, cost twice as much, about $1.50 per person.

Bogdan is in fifth grade, loves soccer, especially France. Has a wide smile. Sometimes goes to JCC, last time I was there there was a show and a trip and we saw art.

Everything smells terrible in the house. Marina doesn’t have front teeth. Bogdan helps me go shopping, he carries the bags. He’s a good boy, he’s strong. "I don’t think there are other Jews in the neighborhood. There are some who are anti-Semitic and can say something about us getting help, I don’t care. But my mother doesn’t like that."

It takes Marina two mashrutkas to get to work, 3 UAH each trip, total of 12UAH.

JFS will bring a repair program to the house before summer 2013. The priority is to install a shower (they wash themselves in a sink/bowl). They have an outhouse, shared with the upstairs neighbors. 

Shining a light in Odessa

Shining a light in Odessa

By Susan K. Stern

Washington Post, 9/17/12

As a child, one of my favorite pleasures each week was going to synagogue with my parents. At the end of each service, the rabbi would raise his arms aloft and recite the Birkat Kohanim -- the priestly blessing:

May God bless you and keep you.
May the light of God’s face shine upon you and bring you grace.
May God’s face shine upon you and grant you peace.

No matter what had happened that week in school, with friends or at home, that prayer always made me feel warm and protected.

I thought about that prayer again recently in Odessa, during a mission organized by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). We had just met Ada, 58, and bedridden for five years. Her eyesight is gone, and her body devastated by multiple sclerosis. She has not been outside in over a year. Ada told us she desperately missed the warm rays of sunshine that glow just beyond her front door, and dreams of a refrigerator to keep her medicines from spoiling.

With no children or spouse, Hesed volunteers for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), supported by Jewish Federations, have become Ada’s only contact outside the one-room world of her apartment. They deliver food packages, medicine and care literally hesed (compassion) each time they walk through her door. As the blessing says, we shine a light on Ada and keep her warm and protected.

As the national campaign chair at JFNA, I have been on many Jewish Federation missions, and each one reveals a new sense of inspiration. I pack my suitcase with the expectation that I cannot possibly learn anything new, and each time, my life is forever changed.

This mission was no different. Once a vibrant Jewish community, filled with incredible thinkers, poets and Zionist pioneers, Odessa was all but wiped clean of its Jewish identity under the Soviet regime. The Holocaust brought unimaginable death and destruction to a city of 180,000 Jews; by the time Odessa was liberated from the Nazis in 1944, only 600 remained.

Since then, the city has slowly been rediscovering its Jewish roots. About 35,000 Jews now call Odessa home, and a small, dedicated group has established a sense of Jewish culture and religious life.

We visited JDC’s Beit Grand, a bustling community center where a group of beautiful Jewish children staged an entire musical for us. We spent an afternoon at the Jewish Agency for Israel’s summer camp, where hundreds of teens danced to Israeli songs. In the very place where so many have tried to destroy Jewish life, there is a vibrant new generation of Jews, on the path to a flourishing future in Odessa.

As is tradition for most Jewish Federation missions, we spent the second half of our journey in Israel. The many highlights included candid discussions with President Shimon Peres and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, but the most striking experiences brought us from the past destruction of Odessa to the shining light of Israel.

We were privileged to travel with the incomparable Rabbi Michael Paley, the scholar-in-residence at the Jewish Resource Center of UJA-Federation of New York, who helped put the transition in context:

In Odessa we witnessed the last ingathering of exiled Jews, where Zionists fought for the creation of a Jewish state. When we arrived in Israel, we went straight to Haifa to the naval base, and later to the Kirya Israeli Defense Forces headquarters, where we learned about Israel’s Iron Dome.

From imagination and words to action and power in such a radically short amount of time. It hits you, when you step off the plane in Israel, that we did it. We didnt do it fast enough, and we left too many people in the ground, but we went from a dream to the state of Israel.

Before leaving Israel, we visited the Jewish Agency’s Mevasseret Zion Absorption Center, which was filled with adorable Ethiopian children. They were playing, singing and making crafts, ice cream smeared all over their smiling faces. I thought about Operation Solomon, which, with the support of Jewish Federations, brought more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. I thought about what kind of life these kids would have if theyd stayed in Ethiopia. We rescued their parents from the brink of civil war. We shined a light on them, and still today, keep them warm and protected.

We use the word mission to describe what we do, because a mission is so much more than a visit or a trip. Tourists can’t go behind the walls. They can’t see deeper, said the rabbi. On missions, we go as witnesses, which is much harder. We travel with a group that shares our ideals. And I believe we go as pilgrims, re-enacting the Jewish journey.

Susan K. Stern is the national campaign chair for the Jewish Federations of North America and chair of the President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

By Susan K. Stern  |  04:04 PM ET, 09/17/2012 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/shining-a-light-in-odessa/2012/09/17/e517bfec-00fe-11e2-b260-32f4a8db9b7e_blog.html

Do Good Ukraine!

Do Good Ukraine! and The World of Creativity 
JCC Youth volunteer initiatives for vulnerable populations, volunteer event  at the orphanage in Kiraba

Do Good Ukraine! is a unique project launched by JDC in December 2008 that aims to foster a national culture of voluntarism by encouraging youth participation in civil society and by collaborating with existing local networks in Eastern Ukraine to strengthen the third sector.  

Individuals and non-profit organizations are linked to volunteer opportunities through the Do Good, Ukraine! interactive web-based forum (www.dogood.org.ua).

Do Good, Ukraine! coordinators (“Metsuda” graduates)  who work in the project cities of Donetsk and Zaporozhye organize volunteer activities in their local communities.  They focus on programs that expose young people to the concept of volunteering and attract surrounding social-networking organizations seeking to collaborate.

There are a lot of JCC volunteers in the special needs orphanage program; lots of different activities – dancing, balloon making, arts. SABINA is the coordinator (blonde in white dress), set up the group as part of her Metsuda project, now she has 15 volunteers helping 400 in the orphanage, they work with 12 institutions. They also collect in-kind donations for the kids.

It’s so difficult for these kids and you can see how these volunteers care, make an effort, show their kindness and love. They're mostly students or young professionals. There are kids with severe disabilities, retardation, one girl who looks 4 but is 14.

Sabina: volunteering is part of my life, I'm a part-time teacher for early childhood, also at the JCC part-time. It’s in my power if not to change the world then at least to help improve it. If I can see that I can do something then I’ll do it. It’s so rewarding to see the results. It’s important to see smiles.

Sabina didn’t know she was Jewish; she came with friends several years ago to the JCC and then discovered she's Jewish; she met her husband in the Metsudah program, now they're a very Jewish family – she jokes “I was his Metsudah project,” to set up a Jewish family. I was a blank sheet of paper and step by step I added letters on to the page. God sent me to the JCC because I didn’t know I was Jewish. Maybe intuition. I was 18, now I'm 26. (Father is Jewish, mother isn’t).

Home Visit to Hesed Client on the way to Zaparozhye

Luisa Nomirovskaya was born in 1937 to a Jewish family in Khabarovsk (Russia). She was a small child when in 1941, a few months before the war, Luisa’s mother Sarah and smaller brother died of typhoid fever while her father was serving in the Soviet army thousands of miles from home. Luisa remained totally alone until her aunt Hanna (Sarah’s sister) came for her and took her to Zaporozhye.

When a few months later the war broke out and the Nazis started to bomb Zaporozhye, Hanna and Luisa had to evacuate back to Khabarovsk where they stayed until 1945. Luisa’s father Alexander went to the frontline where he was killed in 1943. After the war Hanna adopted Luisa and they returned to Zaporozhye. 

In a few years Luisa finished school and then medical college.  She worked as the nurse at the hospital where she met her husband who was a doctor. In 1962 she gave birth to a son Vladimir.

Unfortunately after ten years of happy family life Luisa’s husband left the family. She did her best to bring up her son alone, striving to give him good education. Luisa and her son lived together until 2005 when he unexpectedly died of pneumonia leaving her desperate and totally alone. Luisa suffers from hypertension and vascular diseases. She is surviving today on modest monthly pension in a neglected hut without gas and running water, getting to the town very seldom – to visit her son’s grave.

Thanks to participation in House Repairs’ Project, Luisa received the opportunity to enjoy the comfort of improved living conditions. The temperature inside the house increased and the dampness became lower thanks to repaired and winterized roof. Besides, living conditions became more safe and secure. Now Luisa has the opportunity to use new built warm toilet instead of the old one, which was falling in pieces and had nothing but a hole in the ground.

Monthly income: 1050UAH = $129

Assistance received from Hesed Welfare Center:

• Homecare
• Refrigerator (Nazi Victims SOS program)
• Foods-to-home
• Medications
• Winter Relief
• House repairs

Her roof was repaired, we installed an outhouse toilet. She's growing cabbage, pepper, tomatoes. Not much, but it supplements. “I'm so happy. Oksana helps me cook, she does laundry, she helps me in the garden, we can chat together.” Oksana lives 15 minutes away, Luisa is her only client – there are no other clients in the area. It’s very isolated. She's been living here for 13 years. The floor is crumbling.

The son tried to cut business deals, took a loan, didn’t succeed – they took the apartment then he died.

I’m so grateful. The roof was leaking in the winter. Thank you so much. I can live here. The toilet is like a new home. She also has a new outdoor shower – the container heats up during the day, you stand underneath it.

Hesed brings food and drinking water (the municipal water isn’t for drinking) once a month. In winter or heavy rain the approach road isn’t driveable so the Hesed driver stops 3 miles away and loads up her supplies on his back or a cart and walks down the road with them. This isn’t a very populated area, there's one nice neighbor, no heating, no drinking water. If I didn’t have the Hesed and the community I wouldn’t live on this earth. Spasiba Bolshoya. When we left, she walked us to the minivan, smiling, waving. So happy to see us. Loves visitors.

It’s amazing what an improvement in hygiene can do. We brought some fruit and cookies. She has a hot plate and coal oven. It’s a neglected and abandoned industrial zone.

Dnepropetrovsk Supermarket Food Card Program

Dnepropetrovsk Hesed Menachem was the first Hesed in the former Soviet Union that launched the Food Card Program in 2006. The main goal of the Food Card Program is to offer the greatest degree of independence, choice and dignity to elderly Hesed welfare clients. Supermarket cards can be used by clients to purchase food at stores throughout the city where they live.

We go shopping with Leonid (shopping for Hasiya). He has 120 clients and supervises 25 case workers. He’s been working for Hesed for 15 years. Before that (like a lot of Hesed professionals) he was a physics engineer working in the local mining industries. He has a list of what she needs, and keeps the receipts together in a book (he has to, because she gives him her pin code for the card, and he needs to track everything according to Hesed rules).

Visit elderly Hesed Client – Hasya Gitman

Hasya Gitman was born in 1925 to a religious family in the Yiddish-speaking shtetl of Zvenigorodka in Ukraine. When she was six years old, famine broke out in the country – thousands of people were dying from hunger. Hasya’s family decided to move to the large city of Dnepropetrovsk, where they believed they had a chance of surviving.

Fearful that 6-year old Hasya might not endure the long travel and starvation, her parents decided to temporarily leave her at the state orphanage where at least some scanty meals were given to children every day. Some of Hasya’s most vivid memories to this day come from her time spent there.

When WW2 broke out, one of Hasya’s brothers, Grisha, went to fight on the front lines and never came back. The other brother, Abraham, fought and was badly wounded, dying soon afterwards. Hasya’s father managed to evacuate the family to Central Asia, but did not have time to evacuate himself. He was shot by the Nazis in front of the house where they lived. While living in Central Asia, Hasya worked day and night making ammunition for the war. 

Hasya and her mother came back to Dnepropetrovsk in 1944, immediately after its liberation from the Nazis. Having had no education, except for a few years of Jewish schooling, Hasya continued working in factories all her working days. She married a Jewish man who died a few years later of a serious illness and their son, born mentally retarded, tragically committed suicide at the age of 21.

“I have nothing good to remember,” Hasya – who lives alone in her tiny room, which she has not left for several years now – often says. Hesed welfare has stepped in to offer her the attention and support that she needs.

Medical problems: aside from being almost completely homebound, Hasya suffers from severe joint problems and incontinence.

Monthly pension: 910UAH = $112 state pension

Assistance received from Hesed Menachem Welfare Center:

• Food card supermarket program – home delivery
• Homecare
• Medicines and hygiene materials
• Medical rehabilitation equipment
• Winter relief
• SOS: heater, TV set, refrigerator

Leonid has know Hasya “for many years.” She says he is her lifeline. She's not his neediest client, he has harder cases. But she is definitely one of his loneliest and poorest. He sees her twice a month and speaks with her on the phone the other week. There's a homecare worker, Luda, who comes five days a week for five hours a day.

Hasya lives on the Left Bank of the Dnieper (less nice); it’s at least 45 minutes drive from Hesed. Leonid and the caseworker live near her.

I don’t receive visitors every day; I don’t feel so good. (In photo: Amy Mendel, came to see her, pretty, she says, I remember her – there were nice students from Boston who came to visit). In the photos: her son, her husband and her. She was 21. Yes, it’s difficult to believe but here I was. What makes me happy? When there are no problems and nothing disturbs me. It’s difficult for me to be healthy. Life is difficult. It’s hot here in the summer.

She's worried because we’re not sitting. Leonid is in the other room replacing a light bulb. New York? I don’t know where that is. Israel? Yes, I try to listen to the news about Israel on the television – I got the television from Hesed. Here is Ludichka (Luda) – case worker. She loves Luda. On Fridays Luda prepares everything for her for the weekend. I have one cousin left, 90 years old, in Germany. She calls once a year to check in and talk. She's in a nursing home. There's no other family.

The calendar on the wall is from 2001.

There is a state social worker who comes maybe once a month to see her – knocks on the door, says hello, and leaves. Better that she not come. They have to come.

I’ve survived through so much. My husband died, my son died. I've lived through so many difficult things. My second husband suffered from epileptic fits. I was unhappy in my life. That was what God decided would be my destiny. I’m 89 years old. How do I spend my day? It’s getting harder for me to walk around the apartment now. They brought me walking sticks – that’s very helpful. I used to read a lot, I loved reading. My husband couldn’t read, he was angry with me for reading all the time. Now I can't read anymore and that makes me sad. I love books. I get headaches.

This heat is like the summers of 1939 and 1940, I remember, before the war. The harvest was really bad and we received a low ration. I loved to read books about nature and animals. My apartment was filled with books. Now sometimes I watch television shows about animals and nature, and that makes me feel good. This morning there was a movie on television about a dog (Chekhov story) – I really enjoyed it.

She has a huge stack of medicines she needs to take every day. There’s a large stack of adult diapers under the table for nights and weekends.

We’re on the ground floor but she doesn’t usually open the window. One of the neighbors is an alcoholic and thief, she needs to keep things locked. There’s a bad smell from outside too. The window is cracked heavily.

She smiles, it’s nice that you came. 

Rehadiya

TEVET's Employment Program for Arab Women provides a multitude of training and 'soft-skills' workshops for Arab-Israelis with no workforce experience and low education levels. The workshops are followed by personal employment mentoring, job placement and ongoing support. Originally developed to integrate Ethiopian-Israeli women into the workplace for the first time, this model has been successful adapted to assist Arab-Israeli women around the country.

Location: 19 Pierre Mendes Parnas St. Jaffa (top floor)

SAFA YONEZ (blue covering) is a Yafo resident, set up the amuta to connect to Eshet Chayil. Saw the need to help women here integrate into the workforce. She's a social worker, studied business MA .

MICHAL is the Central region Eshet Chayil Coordinator. The program will be transferred eventually to the Matnas and Welfare Department of the Municipality. Set up a group of 30 women, employment workshop, expose them to the work world, most have never worked or only in cleaning, caregiving etc. Learning skills, potential, encouragement, how to manage time, budget, conflict, computers.

The connection with employers is critical. There are elements of racism and discrimination, but there are lots of successes with encouragement and explanation. This is the second year of the program, it’s a three year program, now we have 22 women in. They’re also mentored when they have the job, leverage up their position (upgrade), and the group itself has to create a community project to benefit the community, like a cultural evening, creating a book for women on rights/duties, recipes for the working woman, etc. There's a private meeting once every two weeks with the coordinator for guidance and support.

Rehadiya means “strong woman” (i.e. eshet chayil) but as of now they haven’t been using the Arabic name.

 

AVIVA (white/black shirt) is the Eshet Chayil Coordinator, replaced Fatma on maternity leave. I hesitated on coming but they accept, they're genuine. I'm all the time pushing, not leaving them alone, phone, meetings.

TISAR (in pink; her name means ‘victory’) has three children, one is getting married this month. This project is my destiny. I used to work, but 17 years ago I got sick. Operations, hospital stays. I was a baker/conditor, but with increasing health problems so I had to stop. My daughter knew Fatma and sent me to her. I was scared but I tried. I found that I am a new person. Better. With support and encouragement. I learned, I participated in the computer workshop and more, soon I'm starting the English course. I found a job as the Referalls Coordinator in the Territories for Doctors for Human Rights, it’s fascinating. I used to undergo difficult treatments, hospital stays every two months. But since July I haven’t had a single injection. That’s my victory. Thanks to you. I'm a success story thanks to you.

We grew up thinking “only in Yafo.” But you can look further than here. It’s suffocating here. The program has helped me with  my children, to help them be more independent, prouder, it’s a better model of how we can be. We have more economic independence now.

YASMIN (in the black covering) has three children, worked in the past in cleaning and taking care of elderly. One day my eldest daughter, aged 12, saw a notice about a class in English and computing, and said, mom, whenever I ask for help in English or on the computer, you say that you don’t understand these things, so why don’t you go learn?

So I spoke with Fatma and came in for an interview. And she said, yes there's a course on computers and English, but there's also a women’s empowerment group on employment. I didn’t understand what that was and why I should do it, I really preferred what I already knew – cleaning, etc. – but she persuaded me to lift up my eyes.

The course was fascinating, it gave us tools, how to walk upright with your head held high, I can do these things. How to prepare a resume, how to behave in a job interview, to speak, body language, how to work every day. The most important thing we learned was about time management; if you’re working eight hours a day but you have a home and children.

Today I'm a customer service representative (she's very proud) at “kol yichol” service for mobile phones in Rishon LeZion, I'm a shift supervisor, responsible for 23 other employees in my team.

It can be difficult at first when the wife leaves the house to go work; I got tips on how to prepare my husband and the children. Mom isn’t always going to be at home cleaning and cooking – that’s very difficult for us, so you have to educate so the family is understanding. My husband is very proud of me, he looks after me – he told me this morning, don’t do anything silly in this meeting today (al ta’asi fadichot), make me proud.

NURA (pink covering) is 28, has a son and two daughters. I worked for a year before I had children, making boxes in a bakery, but then I stopped. I sat at home. My son brought me a note home about how if you want to find work, call this number, and that’s how I met Fatma. The empowerment course gave me huge self-confidence. How to get out of the house, how to speak. We talked about things I didn’t even know I could do. Then I participated in the children’s caregivers’ course (metaplot) for two months, it was difficult but now I succeeded and now I'm a fulltime WIZO caregiver in Tel Aviv from 8am to 4pm, I'm very successful. It’s raised my self-confidence. I'm so happy I did this.

There's a discussion that the role of the mother-in-law is critical in this society. It’s also the main obstacle to many of the younger wives leaving the traditional structure. How will his mother react if there isn’t a hot meal ready for the husband and children. But there's an interesting side-effect that living in Yafo means that the husbands want the wives to go work so as to bring more family income.

We work closely with the Municipality and the schools to spread information about the program; there's a lot of interest. Many of the women here don’t think about raising their horizons, they think about cleaning jobs or working with elderly. But we push them to think higher, to strengthen their potential, to leverage.

JDC Warm Home - Kiev

JDC Warm Home - Kiev

JDC's Warm Home program was established to help the elderly combat loneliness and isolation. For those unable to get to the center, the Hesed organizes regular meetings and snacks in small groups in the home of a host, selected from within the community.  The meetings provide the elderly with an opportunity to connect with their peers and have regular social interaction, thus battling feelings of seclusion.

We’re hosted at Inna’s home. There are 12 Warm Homes in Kiev.

TZILA was born in Kiev, has been coming for 6 years to the Warm Home, we talk, we share news. So happy to be here. I come every week, I wait all week to come here, to talk, to meet, my friends are here.

In the war they evacuated me to Samara (now), 1941-1946, with all the family. My father stayed in Kiev and we never saw him again, he was in the Army and was killed.

I wouldn’t live without Hesed. I can't imagine my life without Hesed. I also volunteer there. I help people there with vision problems/optical problems/blind, I help them take their prescriptions to get filled out, get eyeglasses, etc. I was born in 1925. What's my secret to long life? It comes from God and from kindness (Hesed). There’s no life without Hesed. Hesed found me through the synagogue. There were volunteers who were looking for Jews in the neighborhood, they invited me to come to the activities.

We hid the fact that we were Jews in Soviet times. I remember my grandmother speaking Yiddish and I still remember a little. I remember pesach seder: my grandma would prepare a seder plate, everything kosher for pesach. We got matza from the podol synagogue at 6 in the morning. It’s better now with democracy, but it’s also much more difficult. There were a lot of positive things in the Soviet Union – education, health. You can't negate what we had. Don’t forget that the Soviet Army beat the Nazis (and not you, the Americans). Even though the Jews did have problems in the Soviet Union.

GALA (sitting next to Amir) I come to the Warm Home because my family isn’t here, they're all in Russia. I was a Russian literature teacher. I met nice people here and they invited me to join two years ago, it’s nice and warm here, we talk, we discuss.

Hesed has performances and lectures, we also sing together. It lifts our spirits.

It was difficult to get into University as a Jew because of the 5th clause in my passport. But I managed to get in in the end. In Kiev you couldn’t study medicine if you were a Jew, but you could go to Moscow and study there, or in Uman (Ukraine).  Anti-Semitism was harder in Ukraine under the Soviets; you would feel it all the time from the media, from the regime, from the neighbors, with the schools and universities.

LIDYA white hair, white dress with flowers. My father was born in Odessa, mother in Cherkassy, aunt in Kiev. I worked in a research institute as a lecturer, I was sent to Kiev. I had a lot of other Jewish friends who told me about Hesed. My parents are Jewish. I’m not Jewish. Well, I am Jewish. I've been in the Hesed since 1995 and for six years in the Warm Home. I love it here. I'm still working.

Lidya works in food technology, yeast and baking products. She's also a dance instructor and participates in dance classes at Hesed.

ANNA is the host, yellow shirt. She's been a Hesed client since 2001. She came from Venitza, some 300km from Kiev. Her daughter helps her with the Warm Home. Anna ran a Warm Home in her previous village before coming to Kiev with 300 Jews there. She came to Kiev in 2001 and immediately found Hesed.

Anna fought in WW2 and has a disability pension, was a Red Army doctor in a military hospital on the front lines. Told us of a nighttime evacuation of all the wounded due to a Nazi advance, by foot. Shows us her medals on her jacket.

Why am I hosting a Warm Home? It’s good for me to be busy, I’m so proud because I set up the Warm Home. I want to do good. To help others. This is how I can help. It’s hard for me to go visit people who are sick, I can’t move as well as I used to – I’m 89. But this I can do. The secret of long life? Gala says it’s because Anna is kind therefore she lives long, because people love her and need her.

In the photos: Victor was her father, he was a pharmacist (in the suit). Her brother was a military doctor in the war, self-portrait, fought in the front. In those days, pharmacists would prepare all the ingredients of the prescriptions, so we learned from him about medicine.

We drink tea from their old family samovar. There’s a political discussion/argument about who actually won the war, was it the Americans or the Chinese or the Soviets? It’s a fun argument, everyone’s laughing and talking.  You can see how much they enjoy talking.  There's a whole discussion because Anna read somewhere that Israel is building a whole island off the coast of Tel Aviv. She's convinced it’s happening. 

What's happening with Israel’s neighbors?

We brought juice, fruit and cookies.