One of the first things IBC has done, when it got here 8 months ago was to form what we call “The Excellence Team”. This is a group of young people that we know and consider to be particularly good at what they do – good values, good students, good people skills, good … you get the picture.
The group was initially small, but every delegation tried to expand it and make it more prominent in the volunteers’ activities. The program is simple: the designated young leaders get 1 on 1 time with our volunteers, time they can use for whatever skill learning they want – mostly English, computers, internet etc, but some have also asked for singing lessons and things of that nature. All these activities are meant to empower these young people. And this is where the empowerment pays off: each one has to choose a field in which he can give back to the community. Some of our excellence team are running the library we opened here, others are running movie nights and other still are involved in the community center activities we run for the children. We consider them to be part of our replacement once we are gone, and so we think about their empowerment very often.
One of the most important things we try to do is install in this small group, now 12, with a sense of pride for being chosen. When we recruit, we have a talk with each one of them and emphasize how special they are, and we also declare to them that they are now joining a family.
Well, being Israelis, one of the things we love best to do with our families is to have big family dinners. Naturally, this is one of the first things we did with our special group. We had a big dinner, with Israeli food, like Schnitzel and hummus (yeah, I know they are Austrian and Arabic foods, but the mix is what makes them Israeli!), and most importantly we had a family gathering feeling.
After the dinner came the Taki-playing (that one is proper Israeli, and no one can take it away from us!), and more games, sitting, talking, laughing and even dancing. It was great fun for s, but also for them. One of them said to us it was one of the happiest days he had, and another told our translator he felt like he was in heaven.
And so now we have a family here. They share with us even more excitedly our activities, they understand better what we want to achieve and what roll he hope they will take, and well… they are our young special friends here.
The group was initially small, but every delegation tried to expand it and make it more prominent in the volunteers’ activities. The program is simple: the designated young leaders get 1 on 1 time with our volunteers, time they can use for whatever skill learning they want – mostly English, computers, internet etc, but some have also asked for singing lessons and things of that nature. All these activities are meant to empower these young people. And this is where the empowerment pays off: each one has to choose a field in which he can give back to the community. Some of our excellence team are running the library we opened here, others are running movie nights and other still are involved in the community center activities we run for the children. We consider them to be part of our replacement once we are gone, and so we think about their empowerment very often.
One of the most important things we try to do is install in this small group, now 12, with a sense of pride for being chosen. When we recruit, we have a talk with each one of them and emphasize how special they are, and we also declare to them that they are now joining a family.
Well, being Israelis, one of the things we love best to do with our families is to have big family dinners. Naturally, this is one of the first things we did with our special group. We had a big dinner, with Israeli food, like Schnitzel and hummus (yeah, I know they are Austrian and Arabic foods, but the mix is what makes them Israeli!), and most importantly we had a family gathering feeling.
After the dinner came the Taki-playing (that one is proper Israeli, and no one can take it away from us!), and more games, sitting, talking, laughing and even dancing. It was great fun for s, but also for them. One of them said to us it was one of the happiest days he had, and another told our translator he felt like he was in heaven.
And so now we have a family here. They share with us even more excitedly our activities, they understand better what we want to achieve and what roll he hope they will take, and well… they are our young special friends here.
רשומות
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה