Tal's+Project

Ifaces 2011 Which places help youth from broken homes, and how they work?

toc = __**Rationale**__ = In my project, I want to present a part of the Israeli society that doesn’t get enough attention in our mind; People in the lower class society and particularly children from the lower class.

Those people really interest me because always when I think about my "perfect" life, when I see how I'm blessed with so much good; a good family, good friends, good education, good school, my parents have enough money, B"H, I think about those people that don’t have all of this: Children just like me who, as a result of cruel life live differently than me. Its even not there fault! This unfair reality really bothers me. So I wanted to find someone that works with this population, and tries to reduce the injustice to that population.

There for I chose to interview my madricha Dina Mimran, who worked in "Amit Petach Tikva youth village ", which, is a youth village for teenagers that comes from broken families.

From this project I hope to learn more about this kind of society, and learn about youth villages that help those children. Perhaps I can cause this topic to take more places in the minds of our society.

=__**Profile **__=

Dina Mimran is a "regular" 22 year old Israeli woman, who went to a regular high school and after high school; did 'Sherut Leumi' like every other Israeli girl. Nothing special right? Don't look for a surprise: I will not bring you a surprising story now. Dina is really normal. And yet you will see how those "regular" people, can change the Israeli society. During Sherut Leumi and four years after that- Dina saved lives. No, she didn’t work in a hospital or any like that, but rather she worked in "Amit Petach Tikva" youth village, a youth village that saves youth at risk and youth from broken families from ending upon the streets.

Dina is 22, lives in Keshet, a 'moshav' (small town) in 'Ramat Ha'Golan. They moved to Keshet after 13 years they lived in Itamar (a community in the Shomron). They moved from there because of a terrorist attack they had in their house. A terrorist came at night to their house, thank god all of the children weren't at home, because the terrorist stabbed all of the children's bed. The terrorist continued on to the parents room (that were home), and start pricking Dina's father. Together miraculously, her mom and dad (who was Injured) managed to kill the terrorist, and to call for help. Dina's father spent a long time in rehabilitation, but thank god, miraculously, he is okay today.

She has 6 sisters and one brother, and her parents became religious as adults. Dina is the oldest in her family and she has a twin named Shaked who is very close to her. The reason I described so much about Dina's family and started with it, is because she is very close to her family, and she thinks that the family is the base of every person in the world. That’s maybe, why she went to work with people whose family base is very weak.

Dina likes traveling, and she really likes drawing pictures. She is very good at it… In addition, she very much likes to help other people and the feeling of contributing. Today, she works in "Ha'Aguda Lhitndvut" (Association for Volunteerism), that helps girls in 12th grade choosing a place for their Sherut Leumi. In addition she also runs Seminars with 11th grade girls, to convince them to go to Sherut Leumi, and tells them the advantages of Sherut Leumi and how they can empower themselves during the Sherut. Beyond this she is a counselor in "Etrog" a serious religious program, of girls in "Neve Chana" high school. That develops the personality of the girls through the Torah.

"Amit Petach Tikva" youth village, is for youth (9th – 12th) at risk. The youth village is built from groups of 20 students, a young couple and a 'madricha' (counselor). Dina was the counselor of a 9th grade girls group. The girls from her group came from families with all kinds of problems: divorced parents, children that were abused at home, children from low socioeconomic status and families with all kind of problems we can even not imagine. Although their homes are not the "best place to be in", every two weeks they go home. Although it's sounds unlikely and is hard to understand, these are their roots, and that’s the place they feel really comfortable, and even though it sounds ironic they feel their "at home". Most of the youth, don’t have an appropriate home to go to in the end of the week, so they end up in the streets.

Even though it sounds impossible, Dina's job is to advance the girls from the place they are, to educate, to be their sister, their friend, but of course also to impose limits, punishments and a daily schedule. And don't be surprised- lots of the times she succeeds, and the girls really improve!

After a 2 year break, but not a total break (she kept a contact by telephone and some visits), when the girls in the group were in 12th grade, she came back to the youth village because the group didn’t have a "bat sherut". Dina came as a consular part time (just 3 days a week, instead of 7/24), and gave them a seminar in leadership, because the girls' situation during those two years deteriorated. The purpose of it was to improve every girl personally, and improve them as a group.

Dina says she chose working with this kind of society because that’s, in her opinion, a society that really needs our help, and they will not get it otherwise. The basic things that are so clear to us don’t enter their minds. She likes the intensive work although it's very hard. Another thing is that she feels she had got a lot of warmth and love from home, and she wants to pass it on to people who didn’t get warmth and love from home.

The differences between the things we call success and the success these youth achieve are huge. Their success is to get off the streets, find some kind of a proper work (and not from the street), and in general to become a part of the Israeli society. Managing to bring someone to that point is usually a tremendous achievement.

While Dina was working there, she felt she didn't only give from herself, but also got a lot, and as she says "the more you give- the more you get". In addition during the work, you start to appreciate the little things you have in your life, like your family, you parents, and your house.

The most important value Dina believes in with working with those children is belief; a biggest problem with that society is that no one trusts them, and no one believes in them. So Dina saw it and decided that //she// will believe in them. And it's really sad to see that no one else believes in them. One girl in Dina's group told her once "don’t go, don’t leave me alone! You are the only one that really believes in me!". A story that happened to Dina, that made this point very clear, was when once one of her girls got really drunk, and she started to throw up, so they took her to the hospital, but because she was so drunk she ran wild and didn’t let the doctors touch her, and she started hitting them and breaking things. After a while, Dina came to calm her down, and suddenly the girl stopped and said to her "also you are part of them?" (Part of those people who don’t believe in me, and think I'm crazy?) In that point Dina told all of the doctors that she trusts her that she will not run wild and asked them if they may get out the room, when they got out the girl suddenly start crying, she broke down because suddenly someone believed her. In the end she was sent to a closed institution, and she ran away from there because they treated her like she was crazy. You just need to bring those children the feeling they are worth something, the feeling that they have potential, and that they are good people.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">When I asked her if she suggests other people to go work with this population, she doesn’t answer a clear answer. It’s a question she had been asked a lot, because of her work today (directing 12th grade girls to 'sherut leumi'). Her general answer is that every girl needs to know her self, and see if that job fits her. The job is very hard physically and also mentally. You are exposed to a very hard world, and to really difficult stories. And if you can't stand the mental pressure, you can just get ruined there. For example, her sister (who's 2 years younger than her) was there for two years and it was a damaging experience for her. But if you can stand it, it's very important to go there because they really need you.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">Believe it or not, Dina wasn’t aware at all of this society until the 11th grade. She says that it’s a big problem that most of the youth in Israel aren’t aware of that society at all; we aren't aware of a pretty big part of the Israeli society, no wonder why that the youth in risk don’t feel part of Israeli society. The first thing we must do to help them, is to be aware of them and put them in our minds.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">And yet, what could you and I, who don’t have any connection to that society, what could //we// actually do to help that society? Dina's answer is first of all to see if in your close society, there are people that may need some help, and try to help them before they fall in to the street. Those things happen also here, in our "great" society. The second thing we can do is to help children in all kinds of 'Moadaniot' that help children with problems mostly in homework (but not only), that don’t have some one at home to help them do there home work.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">About the future, Dina says she will always want to work in education. But she is not sure what kind of education. And maybe other work that involves helping other people. In the short term, she wants to learn Organizational Consulting.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">Dina's message to us, to the youth of today, is to really appreciate what we have in life; to appreciate our homes, because that’s our basis; to work and earn money our selves and not to be lazy! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Her motto is "לפרוח ולהפריח אחרים" (to bloom and to cause others to bloom) to empower your self while you empower others. Don’t live in your own world- pay attention to what happens around you.

=<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">__**Background research**__ =

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">**//__Youth villages in Israel__//**

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">In Israel, today, there are about 60 youth villages, for youth at risk, youth who have learning problems, new immigrants, and mostly youth with problems at home. Most of the villages are for teens from 7th grade to 12th grade, but some have also smaller children, and some have 13th and 14th grades too.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">The youth villages take those children from poor conditions, and make them into regular Israeli citizens. They make a tremendous change. To demonstrate the change, here is a graph from the project that shows "The status of alumni of Educational youth villages in Israel" by  Rami Benbenishty, and Anat Zeira:

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">From the graph (13), we can see that most of alumni of Educational youth villages in Israel change and become part of mainstream Israeli society.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">According to the project, 22% of the alumni recommend that the staff of the youth villages should support and develop independence of the youth, provide tools, and help in education; 13% says the staff should stay connected, initiate <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">Meetings; 8.5% thinks that teaching life skills (e.g., open bank account) is the most important thing, and 8% of the alumni think developing follow-up arrangements are the thing they need to focus on. ( Benbenishty, Zeira, 22)

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">As to the question 'would you suggest to a close friend to send his child to the youth village you learned in?' ( Benbenishty, Zeira, 24) there is a disagreement  57.4% alumni said yes, for the following reasons:
 * 1) <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; tabstops: list 36.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">The youth village provides tools for independence and for a high level of learning.
 * 2) <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; tabstops: list 36.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">They had a good experience there.
 * 3) <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; tabstops: list 36.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">It’s a supportive and protecting place.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">13% say it depends on the child and on the situation. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">42% of the alumni of youth villages say no, for the following reasons:
 * 1) <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; tabstops: list 36.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">It's better for the child to grow in his house, unless you have no other choice.
 * 2) <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; tabstops: list 36.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">They don’t like the company in the youth village, the learning level or the staff treatment.
 * 3) <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; tabstops: list 36.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">They think the youth village has a bad affect on the child.
 * 4) <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; tabstops: list 36.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">They say that just strong children fit their.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">In conclusion, we can see that according to most opinions, the youth village is a very influential place and most of the youth that pass through it, manage to make a change. That’s why it's so important to have youth villages in Israel.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">Amit Petach Tikva youth village, is a religious youth village in Israel. Here is a summary of their activities and beliefs, as listed on their website.


 * //__Amit __//**

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">**// "We //****// believe in you!" (Amit youth village website) //** <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">Amit youth village is for boys and girls from the age of 7th grade to 12th grade. The village teaches the way of religious Zionism, and being rooted in Israeli society. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> The village is like a 'big warm family' that has personal contact between the youth, and the staff.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> A main part of their education is involvement of the youth in decisions and management of the village, in addition to developing a caring, involved and a responsible personality. Therefore in the village there is a village council where the youth and the staff manage together the village. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> A model of the village council: <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">** The dormitory ** <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> The dormitory is built in a special way, like a family, which consists of a married couple and a 'Bat Sherut' that accompanies a group of 18-20 boys or girls, who live in the house. That special model helps create a personal connection to every boy and girl. In addition, there is a lot of extra help with learning helping, home work, and more…

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">** The school ** <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> The school is an important part of the village. The studies are aimed towards the matriculation exams, and there are diverse of courses of study. The studies are conducted in small groups accompanied by individual support, and according to the student's needs.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">** The 'matnas' ** <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> In the village there is a 'matnas' with diverse activities, for example: music, all kind of sports, art, computers, makeup, drama, carpentry and more. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> The purpose of these 'choogim' is to foster in each one his talents. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> In addition, they have volunteer activities like: a summer camp for kids who have Down syndrome, Shabbat 'Shallva' and Shabbat 'Simcha Lyeled', 'Magen David Adom', 'Latet', and more. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> Not only that, but they have all kinds of social activities, such as shows, trips, tours, seminars…

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;">** In the words of the Principal **

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> "The "spirit" of the village is the "spirit" of walking in an old fashioned way and yet, going paving a brand new way. We really believe - in each one, being connected to yourself, who are you? (Roots and soul...) - looking forward to a personal fulfillment, and creating a change in all areas of life. And we learned that "the Gift of the free choice is the divine spark in our souls, lets us change ourselves and the world" (Rabbi Adin "Even-Israel"). <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"> Part of a whole lifestyle - we want to educate, to be educated and move "a step forward..."  <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: #000000; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">We learned by Janusz Korczak "it is easier to die for an idea. It's hard to live every day and every year for an idea" Although it's difficult - it's possible." (Amit Youth Village website)

=<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">__**Personal connection**__ =

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I thought about the meaning of "Ifaces"- the face of Israel, I found out that the face of Israel for me is the way Israeli people that live in Israel feel about Israel. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In our days, the most popular way to express your feelings is by writing songs. So I went to the internet and looked up songs which people wrote about Israel- their love, disappointments and more… <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I translated those songs to English, and from this collection of songs I made a collage. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A motif that I found in lots of songs is the "waking up" motif, we have a wonderful country but she is sleeping. So lets act, and wake up our "sleeping beauty", we are the ones who can make the change, we just need to "wake up" and see what we can do to make our land a better place.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">

=<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">__**Reflection**__ =

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In this project I wanted to learn about people who help make our Israel<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> a better place. I chose to focus on youth villages and how they help youth from the lower class society. I was surprised to discover that there are lots of youth villages all over Israel<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, and so many good people care about that society.

<span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When I approached to this project, I had approached it with mixed feelings, I had the feeling that Israel<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is not as perfect we all like thinking; I had the feeling that no one in our country really cares about Israel<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. But as the project went on I saw how many people really care <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">about Israel<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">, and really want to make it a better place.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The last part of the project, the personal connection, was the most meaningful part for me, and made everything clearer to me. Seeing all those feelings that were expressed in the songs made me feel that Israel<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is our homeland, no matter how many problems she has, she is like our mother, and we are her children- we make lots of trouble but she'll still love us, and we will always love her back.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">I'll finish with a part of Aviv Geffen's song: "Give me the strength to love you, some kind of corner to be happy, it could be so hard sometimes, to forgive you". I wish we will all find those good corners of happy in our difficult country, and to be able to be the ones who make those happy corners. Last but not least- I wish we'll learn to forgive our country, because after all it's our only country.

=<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">__**Work cited**__ =

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"> **__ ﻿ __** Amit Petach Tikva youth village website. 7 February, 2011

<http://muni.tiktak.co.il//webPro/index.asp?codeClient=1796&CodeSubWeb>//

Benbenishty Rami, Zeira Anat. "The status of alumni of Educational youth

Villages in Israel". Website..

http://www.childcentre.info/public/ALUMNI_VILNA.pdf>>

Mimran, Dina. Personal interview. 26 January, 2011

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">Shironet. 1 April, 2011. < [] >

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">**__Graphics:__**

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