JDC Facilitates Turkish-Israel Cooperation for Hearing Impaired Children

Sevgi Yüksel’s little boy was 8 months old when she first suspected something was wrong. She noticed that her child was having trouble hearing.

“We frequently consulted with pediatricians after that,” said Yüksel, who lives in Istanbul with her family. “By the time he was 1 ½ years old, the nature of his impairment became evident, and I was told that my son needed special training.”

Initially, Yüksel didn’t know where to turn.

“I didn’t have any information about how we could do this. I learned everything about my son’s care by doing my own research, and one of the most important things I discovered was that there was an institute in Israel that helps families like mine get the training and information they need.”

Yüksel was referring to the MIHA Center for the deaf. Through a JDC initiative launched in 2007, the Center has been engaged in an international cooperative effort to improve the lives of hearing impaired children in Turkey by lowering the age at which these impairments get identified, and by encouraging families with hearing impaired children to begin the rehabilitation process as early as possible.

Young and Old Celebrate Jewish Heritage in Bratislava

JDC’s Jewish Service Corps (JSC) offers young Jews a unique immersion experience into communities within the 70+ countries where JDC operates. This one-year program enables enthusiastic, knowledgeable individuals to actively engage with JDC’s global mission through service. JSC fellow Michelle Gorman has been working with the Jewish community in Bratislava, Slovakia, since October 2009. Here she talks about her experience.

It was my first official day as a volunteer in the community. I was sitting in the office and in walked a plump, elderly little man with two walking sticks and a very big smile and said, “So, you’re the American here!?”

“Guilty!” I answered, introducing myself. He then replied, “I’m Mr. Seidman. I speak very good English. I could teach you a thing or two about the English language…” And so right away I came to learn about Mr. Seidman’s outrageous personality, and the humor and enthusiasm that overflowed throughout the Jewish community here.

Yes, it is a community with a painful past. Under communism, Slovakia’s Jews lived in fear, and those days still influence the lives of these people. At the same time, this community is moving forward, driven by strong and determined personalities like Mr. Seidman’s, whom I have come to know extremely well. He not only enjoys his daily lunches in the kosher kitchen, established and supported in partnership with the Bratislava Jewish community, but he is an active participant in the Senior Coffee Club and the Jewish book club. Nearly 90, Mr. Seidman never fails to enliven things with his expert piano playing and refreshing conversation.

He’s hardly alone. I’ve come to know all the seniors in the community through weekly English classes, Israeli dancing, senior events, kosher lunches, and other community activities. In my short time here, I’ve already shared many 80- and 90-year birthdays with the group, who genuinely enjoy one another’s company.

In addition to assisting with senior-related activities, I also run Jewish weekend retreats and cultural classes for teenagers and younger children. The Jewish kindergarten classes may be the most inspiring. I work with five children, all about four years old. Maybe we don’t speak the same language, but we still speak the same culture. I sing songs with them, bake challah, teach them Hebrew words, and supervise Jewish art projects.

I was thrilled to discover that these four-year-olds participate in holiday celebrations with their families. Matthew, Ben, David, Bianca, and Theresa are the future of the community and we all benefit from the fact that they have the freedom and opportunity to nurture their Jewish involvement from a young age. I see the same enthusiasm and dedication to learning Jewish tradition from the 12-year-olds I teach in an after-school program here. Among the youth there is much hope for a future community that is strong in its connection to Jewish traditions.

I really felt this optimism during Chanukah. One arts and crafts activity brought together 12 families with young children—families who hadn’t usually participated in our weekly programs—who all left with a stronger cultural connection and pledging to return since their children had such a great time!

The second Chanukah event—a talent show and reception—was even more successful, with more than 100 people attending to watch the show. Naturally, Mr. Seidman played the piano while a 10-year-old girl played the flute. My kindergartners sang “sevivon, sov, sov sov” dressed as dreidels and spinning in circles. Everyone was “kvelling” over them the entire afternoon!

What a joyful thing to see so many community members of all ages gathered together to celebrate this holiday of hope, miracles, and the strength of the Jewish people. I truly believe that all of these events reflect the community’s determination to move forward in step with their Jewish heritage. For my part, I think I found my place in this special community in the hopes that live in the hearts of Bratislava’s Jewish community members, young and old.

I’m proud to have an ongoing role—however small—in helping them achieve their goals.

JDC-AMEN: Mobilizing Israeli Youth Volunteers

As Israel aspires to provide a bright, independent future for its citizens, it must develop a socially conscious society, in which there is a distinct culture of volunteerism. However, while a third of Israeli adults engage in volunteer activities, less than one in ten teens volunteers. As tomorrow's leaders who will shape Israeli society, youth must be imbued with a sense of social responsibility. Cultivating habits of community service at a young age lays the foundation for lifelong commitment to civic involvement, characterized by concern for the weak and needy.

JDC launched AMEN to mobilize young Israelis to adopt volunteerism as a way of life. AMEN rallies youth within a given city to take a leading role in local volunteer activities to meet their communities' needs. AMEN works through existing local resources to recruit new teenage volunteers, match them with fulfilling volunteer activities – even creating such opportunities if they don't exist – and set up forums for teenage volunteers to meet and support each other. Organizations working with volunteers receive training to help them motivate and retain young volunteers. AMEN creates a local volunteer system that becomes an integral part of a city, ultimately crafting Israel's next generation of leaders and active citizens who are there to assist with the country's most needy populations.

More than 50,000 teenagers are now part of the initiative and have given nearly four million hours of volunteer service to their communities.



AMEN is a partnership between JDC, the Ministry of Education, the Israel Youth Hostel Association, and Amutat Alon. AMEN also has strategic partnerships with various businesses including Intel, Sakal, the Israeli Electric Company, Cisco and Baran, as well as with universities and colleges, federations and donors. The program's expansion in Israel's north was made possible by UJC/IEC funds.

Webventures: Harnessing the Web to Promote Self-Sufficiency

Israel's low workforce participation rate reflects a range of cultural, behavioral and regulatory obstacles to employment. These include language and disability, as well as lack of experience, soft skills or formal education. Chronically unemployed Israelis, such as adults with disabilities who face stigma, or immigrant adults in Israel's periphery who lack cultural and geographical access to employment – need support to surmount these barriers in order to achieve financial independence.

JDC's Webventures trains chronically unemployed Israelis in Internet entrepreneurship: a more accessible means of employment. That is, it can be home-based; experience and large overhead are not required; and language and culture are not apparent to the customer and may be utilized to reach niche markets. Participants learn the technical, business, marketing and legal aspects of starting a web-based business and are assigned a mentor to guide them through the process.

Most recently, business owners in Israel's southern conflict zone have experienced a major downturn in trade due to the ongoing security situation and the change in consumer culture whereby residents only shop when absolutely necessary. These entrepreneurs need to market their wares beyond the local economy, but lack the means, knowledge and tools. JDC has adapted and expanded Webventures to help them do so via the web. Business owners are helped to develop websites and receive guidance in web-marketing their products to expand their potential client base in Israel and around the globe. The project is creating long-term viability for these businesses, especially important in the event conflict re-ignites.

Expanding Jewish Learning and Leadership Among Indian Jews

Building and maintaining Jewish cultural and educational institutions for India’s small Jewish community—some 5,000 people in a sea of 1.1 billion—can, naturally, be a challenge. There is no Jewish day school in Mumbai, where most of the country’s Jews are concentrated; Jewish education is almost entirely informal and there is a paucity of local teachers to do the work.

Filling this void is a prime objective of JDC in India, and was the impetus for the recent Jewish Educators Seminar and Workshop.

Conducted over four days this past October at the JDC-supported Evelyn Peters Jewish Community Center (EPJCC) in Mumbai, the forum was organized by the Buncher Community Leadership Program and drew educators, volunteers, and individuals representing JDC, including two Jewish Service Corps volunteers currently working in India; ORT India; and the local community—a dynamic group diverse in experience and background, ranging in age from 17 to 70.

Out of the Numbers, the Individual Stories

On their blog, Baltimore Israel and Overseas, The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore shares the stories of two families who are JDC clients living in the Former Soviet Union.

It is because of the support of our Federation partners that JDC is able to make a difference in the lives of families like those profiled in this post. 

Check it out at Out of the Numbers, the Individual Stories.

Wishing You a Happy Chanukah

The JDC Ambassadors Circle would like to wish you
a wonderful Chanukah.   

We also want to share with you the collection of historical photos from the JDC Global Archives featuring Chanukah celebrations from around the world throughout JDC's 95 year history.  You can view the slide show by visiting JDC's Photo and Video Gallery.

A Successful Afternoon

We would like to thank everyone

who attended the December 8, 2009

JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium

Dan Ben-David, Executive Director of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel shares his knowledge of the economic and societal trends that affect Israel today.

Will Recant, Assistant Executive Vice President talks about JDC's non-sectarian humanitarian work through the International Development Program.

Comparisons

From Asher Ostrin, Executive Director, FSU Programs

M. and A. are two people I know. Both are Jews. M. was born in 1927 in New York. A. was born in 1928 in Kazan, Russia. Today, M lives in New Jersey. A. still lives in the apartment in the central Russian city in which he spent all of his adult years. Both are war veterans. M. served in the American Army in Europe and was in tank intelligence. A. was in the Red Army, first in the Far East, and then in Stalingrad, after the decisive battle there. Both M. and A. were professionals in the field of education. They both have families- their children are grown and have children of their own. Both are still married, in each case over 50 years. Both have advanced cases of dementia.

M. now lives in a nursing home in New Jersey- in a special ward for dementia patients. The ward has a staff equal in size to the number of patients. The staff feed M., and bathe him. In fact, they take care of all of his basic needs. His wife is in another wing of the same institution. She has become physically frail, but she is basically self sufficient. They lived together in the same house until about a year ago. An aide came in every day to help with M, but eventually the challenge was overwhelming. It was no longer safe to keep him at home. And so M's family searched for an appropriate facility in which both he, and she could live, with their respective needs addressed. In the end, they had a choice of facilities from which to choose. Today, he has no single, "primary" caregiver. There is a staff to attend to his needs.

A. is not so fortunate. There is no institutional option in Russia for him. His family is not faced with the painful choice of when to move him out of his familiar surroundings into a facility that is appropriate for him at this stage in the disease's progression. They simply have no choice. He is a Hesed client. In the category of non Nazi victims, he is entitled to a minimum level of care. One of the Hesed's homecare workers visits him- six hours a week. Sometimes that means an hour a day. At other times, for example when he has to be taken to a doctor, half of the week's budgeted time can be used for that trip, and is reduced from the total. The door of the apartment in which he lives is always bolted, so that he cannot leave unescorted. If his wife needs to go out- to the doctor, shopping, and the like, it requires major planning so that A is not endangered by being alone. His wife, age 79 and with daunting physical challenges herself, is the major caregiver. Such as it is.

For FSU Elderly, Times as Difficult as Ever

Faina relies on services provided through the local JDC-supported Hesed welfare center to supplement her nutrition, medical care, and other critical needs. Without this help, she would be forced to make unthinkable choices.

Born the youngest of four children in 1937 in Minsk, Belarus, Faina has suffered many tragedies: her brother was killed and her father injured in World War II; Faina’s mother was evacuated to the East with her three children, first to the Volga region and from there to Kazakhstan. During this difficult time, they had very little income to live on. Her sister managed to find a job—but was paid with soap, not money. The family was often on the brink of starvation.

Faina married at age 26 and gave birth to a son. She worked in sales while her husband painted houses for a living. Faina’s son died in a drowning accident in 1996 and her husband passed away several years later.

Today Faina lives alone in one 17-square-meter room in Minsk on a monthly pension of $117. She has a long list of health challenges, including hypertension, heart disease, gastric ulcer, and gall bladder disease. Like many of her contemporaries who receive help from Hesed, Faina has endured suffering in her 73 years that is almost unimaginable. She’s been victimized by war, illness, and poverty.

Despite what she has overcome, Faina is living some of the hardest times of her life today. She can’t get by on her monthly budget, which exists without any social safety net: rent $12, electricity $6, phone $1, medicines $22, personal hygiene $6. She can’t afford transportation (she rarely leaves her flat) or clothing (she never purchases new garments). A precipitous rise in prices due to inflation or economic downturn, an unexpected need for an additional medicine, or any other unplanned expense could spell disaster. From the remaining $70 in her pension, Faina owes $10.50/month for a washing machine she purchased (her first washing machine ever), leaving $59.50 for a month’s worth of food, which falls more than $15 short of costs for the basic standard diet for an elderly person (as determined by the Hesed in Minsk together with three local geriatric dieticians).

To make up for the shortfall, Faina simply buys less of everything, including fish and flour, bread and butter, chicken, cheese, and potatoes. She uses buckwheat (kasha) as a replacement for healthier options which she can’t afford. Faina even skips meals. And she relies on JDC to save her from total deprivation.

Hebrew Language Hanukkah Guide from Ashalim

JDC-Ashalim, a JDC-Government of Israel partnership for the development of programs and services for children and youth at risk in Israel, has produced a new guide for families called "A Healthy and Safe Hanukkah Holiday". 

Currently available in Hebrew only, the guide includes fire safety tips as well as ways to adapt traditional holiday recipes so that they use less oil. This guide is part of a series that is being produced by Ashalim's Health and Nutrition Enrichment Program to promote healthy living among children and youth at risk and their families. The guide is being distributed to community-based services participating in JDC-Ashalim's city-wide health programs and is available online.

You can download the guide in Hebrew at this LINK. 

To learn  more about Ashalim, please visit their English website at http://eng.ashalim.org.il/ or in Hebrew at http://www.ashalim.org.il/.