  2020 September  We shall continue to believe in goodness and strive for peace through reconciliation! Let us hope we are able to cope with the challenges facing us this year with creativity and compassion! May we all, everyone in the world, have a healthy and calm year! You can also receive the Association’s New Year wishes as a WhatsApp photo – ask your coordinator. News and Updates  It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Ranin Shamasna, aged 22, from the Naalin area. For the last few years, Ranin was driven from the Maccabim crossing to Sheba hospital. In the photo, she and her family are at the home of volunteer Yaron Inbar, who became very close to them. Attached is a post written by Yaron Inbar, (in Hebrew) in January 2020, and a video about Ranin (in Arabic. Hebrew subtitles) which was made by Yaron’s daughter. We share in the family’s grief, and plan to make a condolence call next Saturday, 12th September at 11 o’clock. Those wishing to join us should contact Yuval.   The Road to Recovery in a Time of Transition – Post/Pre Covid-19 We are all now living in uncertain times, which is also a considerable challenge for the Association. The number of patients from the West Bank needing to be driven to treatment in Israel has returned to pre-Covid levels. The young volunteers we recruited to drive patients in the early days of Covid-19 have now returned to their jobs and other activities, while our older volunteers, many of whom are at-risk, are driving patients considerably less. Consequently, it has become difficult to meet the demand for transportation. This last week was particularly challenging for us. We had to arrange many rides and an added effort was needed on the part of our volunteers who helped in this endeavor. We gratefully welcome those new volunteers who joined this week and were of great help to us! An enormous thank you to anyone who has helped, can help and/or are able to recruit more volunteers! Patients from Gaza are now frequently detained for long stretches of time at the various checking stations. Our generous volunteers are therefore expected to show immense patience – a good book would be handy to have around. As Ami Granek, a volunteer, said: “I just take off my watch…”  Help us find more volunteers These days we find ourselves in need of more volunteers. Any ideas you have for recruitment of new volunteers will be most welcome. We have thought about several possibilities: Social media – Nadav Havatselet, our Facebook co-ordinator, will publish a short video of one of our volunteers calling on people to volunteer. If you can, please film yourself (landscape view) saying a few words about yourself and about your volunteer experience, and send the video by email or WhatsApp to Nadav, telephone: 052-4486513, email: nadav.hav@gmail.com. We have attached a brief sample text (in Hebrew) and video.Parlor meetings – focusing primarily on people who are not in the Covid-19 high risk groups and telling them about our organization. If you are able to host a group of potential volunteers, please get in touch with Yuval, telephone: 050-5281899. Helping our Palestinian friends Aiman Aran, father of Bara, whom we drove last year from Tarkumiya to Sheba, is looking for work in renovations. He has a permit to work in Israel, and can do any type of work, such as plumbing, tiling, plastering, etc. If you know of anyone who needs a “shiputsnik”, please contact him directly, at telephone: 052-3041884. Podcast on the Road to Recovery On the morning of Tuesday September 15, 2020, the Good People Foundation (GPF – a Foundation which supports our Association) published an interview in English with Yuval Roth and Eli Sahar on the Association. This is part of their monthly podcast interviews with Israelis.You are welcome to listen and tell your friends abroad about it. volunteers sharing  One story: “We all need grace We all need a human touch To acquire warmth without paying for it, To acquire it by human touch. To give without wanting to take, And not out of habit.” (Nathan Zach) About five years ago, I happened to attend a volunteer recruitment meeting for “Road to Recovery” with Yuval Roth and Yael Noy. At the time I had just closed my business, had free time, and promptly registered as a volunteer. I was inspired by the humanity behind the Association’s goals and identified with the political ideology underlying the movement. I try to drive once a week, from Erez crossing to wherever I’m sent. Usually there are different patients each time, and in most cases, their eyes close after the long trip to the crossing. Sometimes I take patients back to the crossing, and agree to their requests to stop at the supermarket at Bat Hadar or to buy honey at Yad Mordechai. This week I had a particularly moving experience which affected me very deeply. In the photo (kindly sent to me by Amalia) we see Muhammad the father, a severely disabled person in a wheelchair, whom I drove from the crossing to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. The purpose of the drive was to say goodbye to his young daughter Ritaj (in the photo she is in her mother’s arms), for whom there was no longer any medical cure. What a heartbreaking photo this is that touches every fiber of one’s soul. One picture …. Regional CoordinatorsNaeem Al-Bayda – Transportation Coordinator, the West Bank. Telephones: 050-2002250 / 059-2100011; email: naeemalbaida@gmail.comAhmad Kareem – Morning Transportation Coordinator, Central Region (Sha’ar Ephraim, Eyal, Eliahu, Naalin, Maccabim). Telephone: 053-4510009; Email: ahmad.bm2@hotmail.com Dina Inbar – Transportation Coordinator via Erez. Telephone: 050-3772806; Email: dinainb@gmail.com Yael Moav – Jerusalem Region, in conjunction with “Humans without Borders”. Telephone: 054-4436347; Email: yaelamoav@gmail.com Coordinator of support team: Micky Lapid Telephone: 054-7399366; Email: micky.lapid@gmail.com Project Coordinator: Hadassa Tron. Telephone: 054-3077325; Email: hadassaaman@gmail.com Coordinator of Authorizations and Projects relating to Erez: Amalia Weisel. Telephone: 050-7707874; Email: amalia.weisel@gmail.com Volunteer Relations: Galit Ezer-Sela. Telephone: 050-4850577; Email:galit-as@bezeqint.net Media and Public Relations: Hela Yaniv. Telephone: 052-8215050: Email: helay46@gmail.com Reimbursement of Gasoline Costs: Naama Gorali. Telephone: 054-4650040; Email: rtr.delek@gmail.com Safety Seats: Shelly Bar-Lev. Telephone: 052-4463218; Email: com.shelly.barlev@gmail.com Fundraising: Eli Sahar. Telephone: 052-8335610; Email: elisahar@gmail.com |
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