Doing Our Part to Help Yemin Orde

Posted in Testimonials, Volunteering on 26. Jan, 2011

Kate Nachman, Assistant Director of Year Course
Ayana Adler, Director of Specialty Tracks
Shira Berman, Section 2 chanicha, Atlanta

Just a month and a half ago, we wrote about the tragic Carmel fire and efforts by Year Course to band together with Israeli society and do our part to help the residents of Yemin Orde.

The youth village was almost completely burned down in the devastating fire which occurred in the North.  The 500 youth who live in the village, among them orphans ages 9-16, were left with no necessities or even a roof over their heads. Following the moving outcry from Yemin Orde’s staff, Year Course chanichim and staff, as well as Young Judaea’s other Israel-based staff, stepped up and collected much equipment and money to help rehabilitate the village.  Last Tuesday, a group of Year Course chanichim visited Yemin Orde, bringing with them clothing, shoes, blankets, coats, toys, backpacks, school supplies, and electrical appliances collected during the past month, as well as 8000 shekels which were raised by the chanichim.

The six chanichim chosen to represent Year Course were Joel Srebrenick, Shira Berman, Hannah Actor-Engel, Ellis Bolle, Talya Curtis, and Natasha Niman. They were accompanied by Kate Nachman, Assistant Year Course director and Omer Shalev, head of our video and photo media.

Last Tuesday, everyone got out of bed earlier than usual so we could depart Jerusalem, detour through Bat Yam to pick up the donations, and make it up to Yemin Orde in time for a tour of the village.

It’s particularly interesting/confusing to walk around up there and try to understand how one building could remain completely untouched, surrounded by beautiful greenery, right next door to a charred-out, completely destroyed building where the roof caved in and the ground around it is a black, burnt-out mess.

The path of the fire, burning this and sparing that, is random and confusing.  Offices burned to the ground and the Beit Knesset remained entirely untouched.

Our donations will make a very small dent in the work that needs to be done at Yemin Orde and I think some of the students left with some inspiration to continue the fundraising effort.  Here are some words from Shira Berman:

“Upon arriving, there was tons of construction.  It was nice to know that they had already started building again..  Sadly, most buildings were badly damaged and would have to be rebuilt anew.  We learned a lot about what their school does and how they help youth at risk which made us feel doubly good about giving money for such a meaningful place.  ,

It was tough to look at a beautiful lookout point and see burnt trees.  The people who led us around were so kind and thankful.  It is exactly this kind of experience that made me want to come on Year Course.  Israel has given me so much, I just wanted to be able to give back.  To be here at a time of such disaster mobilizes us and puts us into action.  To be able to raise money felt very special.”