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 I Faces 2012

9.1.2012

 =Rationale = In my project, I will interview Sharona Blank. Sharona works with families in Efrat who have children with special needs. She helps those families in many ways such as parent counseling, therapy to help them accept their child's disability, helping special needs families know their rights and directing them to different agencies to get financial or therapeutic help. She also helps them getting recognized by the welfare as a family who has a special needs child and be eligible for various supportive services. Sharona also runs support groups and organizes community events (happenings) for the families of children with special needs. Sharona's work is so important and meaningful to the community of special needs families I cannot imagine how hard it would have been for them without Sharona's help. As well as she is an amazing and important woman in our community. I want people to appreciate, thank, and acknowledge those who contribute so much to their community, for instance, Sharona by her job. In this project I want to learn about Sharona through her work as a woman who works to help the community every day, the importance of her job how and why she chose to work in social service. Furthermore I want to be able to understand how valuable her job is to the families who needs her help. My goals for the project are to relay a message about the importance of contributing to our communities and the world, and to be able to send the message to those who will read my project. Then I will show the positive side of the Israelis and learn about their actions in the world. I am looking forward to learn about how can I volunteer to help others in my community (and in the future to the people around the world). Above all I will show what an influencing and inspiring role model Sharona is. In this project I will try to create a new image for the Israelis and discover what in my opinion Israel's faces really are. I choose to interview Sharona because she contributes to our community by her everyday job and in this project I want to emphasize the fact that everyone can contribute in all kind of ways. It is not hard, we all can do it, and we should. Most important, I want to give the message that contributing starts and is also counted with small deeds; we do not have to open an organization in order to contribute. I hope that through the progress of my project I will be able to achieve all my goals.  = Profile = Sharona Blank made aliya in 1995 with her husband Yehshua and her two children. She was always very Zionistic and came on numerous trips to Israel with her family as a child. She also learned for a year in ' Michaela' and did a year of internship for social work in Israel. When she started dating, she would only date a guy who was also aliya- minded. It helped her that when she made aliya, most of her family as well as her husband's family had already moved to Israel. Initially aliya was hard for her, there was no 'Nefesh B'nefesh' back then, but after the initial six months, they settled in, and they are still thrilled to this day that they came. She was very lucky, because when they made aliya she thought she would wait a while to start working, but a position opened up in Efrat in the social service department of the  local council and she started working two months after getting here. That was the best 'Ulpan' she could ever recommend and she has been working there ever since. In terms of the family, they tried to make aliya when their children were still very young so the adjustments would not be enormous. Before she made aliya Sharona worked for five years in America in a field of special needs. She did an internship in the Lexington school for the deaf. After finishing her internship she worked in 'Mishkon' - a home for developmentally delayed children and young adults. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sharona always wanted to work in a field where she could help people, therefore she chose social work even though many people tried to dissuade her since the salary for social work in Israel is quite low, but she knew that most salaries are not amazing and decided to work in a field that she would enjoy, feeling that she is doing something meaningful. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">She found her job after she made aliya and she was not even looking for one. She began as a general social worker in 'revacha'(social service), dealing with different issues. It was a great way for her to learn how the system works, connect with various government agencies, and improve her Hebrew. After a year of gaining this experience, the position of director of child development center in Efrat opened up and she started working in the field that was very close to her heart, which is the social needs population. She was in that position for 12-13 years and then when the center closed she went back to working for the welfare, but this time with focus on the special needs population.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Today Sharona is in charge of the families in Efrat who come to the welfare. Generally she helps them financially, and with therapy. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Recently a special exiting experience occurred at Sharona's work when she met the mother of a child who she had worked within the child development center. The child had been born at 25 weeks, which is extremely premature for a newborn. The prognosis for the newborn was very low they were not sure if he will survive, but still he survived. The mother told her that the child Healthy know and he has no medical problems caused form the early birth and he is learning in a regular classroom. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sharona feels that her job help to improve other people's lives, many times parents of children with special needs are very overwhelmed and don’t know how to handle all of their problems and who should they ask for their help. She feels that she can help them make their lives more organized, talk with them through the difficulties and connect them with the right people and services that could help them. She especially fined herself helpful to 'olim' who don’t know the system and the language. Sharona loves working with parents of special needs children, but because she works the welfare they hired her as a general worker. Because of that fact she must fulfill other responsibilities other than helping special needs families. Sharona says that she wishes that she would be able to dedicate all her time to what she enjoys and not have to be involved cases that are not include helping families with special needs children. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sharona says that there are many teenagers in Efrat who volunteer with families of the welfare. Last year around 30 families with children with special needs had a weekly volunteer (big brother/big sister). They came to play or learn with them once a week. The children really look forward to these weakly meetings. The volunteers sometimes get professional guidance from speeches with therapists or occupational therapists so they can work with the children on specific goals and make them go through some kind of progress. The other area where teenagers help with special needs population is at the family happenings that she organizes. The volunteers plan and run games, all kind of activities for the children. Sharona tells that the happenings are such a rewarding experience for the children with special needs. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sharona emphasizes that there is a high awareness in Efrat regarding special needs. She thinks this is partially due to a very Anglo-Saxon community. However, there is always room for improvement, for example more afternoon classes ('chugim') for children with special needs or ways to include them with volunteers in regular 'chugim'. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">One specific goal she is working on right now is to open an afternoon program ('moadonit') for children with special needs. Unfortunately, children with special needs cannot join the regular 'moadonit' of the welfare, because the staff in the 'moadonit' is not trained to deal with their various issues and needs. In order to achieve her goal she is now putting together a mapping of needs, and then she will see if they can get approval from the welfare. Sharona is saying that the most difficult <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">will be to find a building to house the 'moadonit' because there is a real shortage of buildings in Efrat now. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sometimes, when Sharona sees the struggles of the people she works with, it helps her appreciate her own personal struggles in her life and challenges with her own children. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Her job has taught her that life is not easy, but when someone gets the right support and guidance, his life can be a little easier and brighter. No one can take away a disability, but they can help ease the burden and the pain, trying to find ways to cope better with a difficult reality. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sharona sees herself continuing in this field for the next five years, though she is not sure yet if that will be in this job or another. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sharona has a message for teenagers: "when you start to consider a career, choose something that you feel you will get satisfaction from. People told me I was crazy to go into social work as I was planning to make 'aliya' and social work is definitely not a very lucrative field, but I needed a profession that would give me satisfaction, and how much does anyone actually make?" <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Sharona hopes to continue to help the social needs population in the future.

<span style="color: #92cddc; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left;">

=<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 370%;">Research = <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">I choose the organization Israel Flying Aid for my background research.in my article I am going to talk about what is IFA, the founder of IFA, the activities, purpose and IFA's volunteers.

**<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">IFA'S BACKGROUND ** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">The Israel Flying Aid organization was founded in 2005 by Gal Lousky. Gal Lousky, experienced volunteer rescue worker and humanitarian relief provider, founded the IFA in order to meet the needs of people suffering in disaster areas around the world. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">The organization focuses primarily on helping countries around the world that have been affected by natural disasters. They locate missing transporting backpackers or dead backpackers to Israel. IFA helps young Israelis after their army service, and find themselves involved in criminal issues during a vacation outside Israel get a lawyer and handle their legal proceedings. IFA also give lectures to explain Israel's policy around the world. At these lectures IFA presents Israel's work in international assistance in order to show that Israel is not only a country that fights and kills but also a country that contributes to the world.

**<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">THE ****<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">FOUNDING ****<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">STORY ****<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">OF ****<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">IFA ** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[|http://mscwne.walla.co.il/] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[|archive/204824-5.j] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[|pg] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Gal's decision to establish the organization began several years ago when her brother was seriously injured during the second Lebanon war. As a result of his injury Gal realized how important and precious all humans life is. Shed, made G-d a promise that if her brother recovered she will change her life course for the sake of helping to save people around the world. Her brother recovered from his condition so Gal as she promised began changing her life course. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Since the end of 2004, Gal has helped populations in disaster situations, she helped solving conflicts between populations giving not only water and food to the people in need, but also medical and psychological assistance in order to help people cope with the trauma. In one of gal's interviews she explained the main reason for starting this organization. She said that Maybe in the perception of the Israelis, we won all the wars since establishment of the state until todaybut there is one war that we lost these hole years and we are stillloosing that is the " explanation war". Therefore one of the main reasons for the establishment of the organization beyond saving lives is to change the way strangers around the world see our country.

**<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">IFA'S INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES ** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">IFA work to help people all over the world. Here is a few out of many activates of IFA. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Gal Lousky (the head of IFA) was a head of a major project in Sri – Lanka. The project's purpose was helping the victims who survived the tsunami in Southeast Asia. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">IFA was in charge of a project that gave assistance to the victims of severe flooding from Georgia. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">IFA sent a delegation of 18 volunteers to help the victims of Hurricane Katarina in New Orleans. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">IFA sent a small delegation to help and serve the victims of the earthquake in Kashmir (a state between India and Pakistan <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">IFA sent a delegation of 8 volunteers to help the victims of a hard earthquake in Indonesia. Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless and without regular food supplies after the earthquake. The delegation worked in a city named solo. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The help that IFA gave to those victims was Food, warm clothing, doctor's medical drugs and treatments if necessary. **<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">THE VOLUNTEERS ** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">IFA volunteers are all adults. They come from all corners of Israel's society: people who themselves have experienced trauma, doctors, Jews, Christians, Druze, and Bedouim. The volunteers who are called in emergency situations now include about 100 volunteers. They leave home, work, and family at their own expanses. They forget about their everyday issues and problems leaving Israel to the area that got struck by some disaster. The volunteers know and understand the risks in their job such as rapidly progressive disease in disaster zones, and getting arrested as a result of activities inside Arabic countries. They choose which risks to take very wisely. All IFA volunteers first volunteered in Israel providing assistance to our country. From their point of view, Israel is a civilized obligation. They understand the need for giving assistance to complete strangers even if they belong to populations that are considered a threat to the Israelis. To the volunteers a child is a child and he is not responsible or guilty because of his color or religion.

**<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">IFA'S PURPOSE ** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">IFA is an independent volunteer organization it does not belong to the government. IFA'S purpose is to support people thought the fact that they are human being the have rights that means they deserve all the help and support that IFA can give them. Supporting those people includes sending a team of doctors, post trauma assistance, operational assistance and basic food and equipment needed for victims of the disaster.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">[|http://www.ifaid.org.il/popUpPicturesGallery] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">[|.asp?indx=2&contentId=52&lang=0]

**<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">CONCLUSION ** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">IFA is a nonprofit organization founded by Gal Lousky. IFA work and give assistance to countries all over the world that suffused from natural disasters. There are many organizations from Israel that work all over the world but in my opinion IFA is different, first because of how it started and second because IFA work on their own. As soon as they hear of a problem that they can help or solve, they do everything they can to help solving the problem and make things better. Through the background research I got to learn about IFA, Gal Lousky who is an incredible person. My conclusion is that IFA is a very special organization that contributes a lot to the world. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">I highly recommend to press the links below if you have time. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">The links direct you to short and touching videos about IFA and their work around the world <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Link 1: [] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Link 2: [] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Link 3: [] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Enjoy. **<span style="color: #92cddc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> ** =<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 48px;"> Personal Connection =

I choose to present my personal connection in a creative way. I am going to explain what my creative work is in parts. There are three parts in my creative work, The first is the shape of it. My connection is a model in the shape of a diamond. I glued the photos to a diamond shaped cardboard. The diamond is a symbol of Israel. The diamond is small, beautiful, the diamond's "light" and beauty is spreads around the people next to it. The diamond is also very significant in our life since it is a symbol of marriage. Israel is small and beautiful (in my opinion in all matters of life). I find Israel and the diamond very similar, like the diamond Israel (people that live Israel) spread a light of kindness, help, and support to the world. The second is the photos that are glued to the cardboard in the shape of a diamond. I glued photos that, in my opinion, describe and individualize the Israelis. There are photos of politicians, Israel's view, places in Israel, important events, organizations logos and volunteers, Israeli icons, people that made a change in our lives, people from Israel who help all kind of societies around the world, and people we know from our community who volunteer to give assistance to the world and Israel's residents. The actions of these people have impact on the world. Through them people around the world see and understand the good things that Israel is doing for worldwide matters. I chose to put photos of people I know in my work to show that everyone could contribute and help make the world a better place even by the small things we do in our communities. To me, the photos represent who I think an Israel's faces. The third is the wrapping to the model. This part of my creative connection is inspired by the interview I had with Sharona Blank (the interview is presented in the project as the profile). The wrapping symbolizes the new olim (olim = new immigrants), the wrapping = a symbol of something new. From my interview with Sharona, who made aliya, I learned that new olim contribute equally as people that live many years, or their whole lives in Israel to our country. In conclusion, my creative connection represents my opinion of Israel faces. In my work I learned that there are people from Israel who even by small actions contribute to the world. I want to send a message that we all can make the world a better place, we all can contribute to the world even by everyday small activates such as volunteering, donating money, food and old clothes. I think that we all should contribute and help the people of the world. From my creative connection I learned that they are so many people that dedicate their whole life to help others. That fact made me come to the conclusion that the least I can do is either volunteer or donate money to help. Learning and reading about those people made me feel like I have to be a part of something that helps the world.

<span style="color: #92cddc; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;"> =<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 48px;"> Reflection = This project has given me many issues to think about. The project made me want to be a greater part and contribute to the world by all kind of help and support. It made me think about how in the future I would be a part of giving help to people around the world in a more significant way. That thought made me come to a very important conclusion that in the future I will dedicate a certain time of my life for volunteering and helping people around the world. This project has expended my knowledge about people in Israel who benefit the country and the whole world by their actions. I learned about those people by reading about their actions which made my appreciation for them much greater. From the project I was exposed to another side of Israel's people that I really feel related and connected to which is the intent to help and to positively influence others. Furthermore, the project improved my writing and research skills. When I finished the project I proved to myself that I have the willpower and the ability to produce a work that can affect others. I interviewed Sharona Blank which was the first interview I ever had, and I am sure this experience will be useful in my future. I realized that there are so many people among the people we know and see every day who work so hard to help other people around the world, and our job is to thank them and give them the appreciation they deserve. When others here about this people's actions, they sometimes decide to follow them. By that, they add more people to the group of people who work to help people all over the world which is the goal of my project. I enjoyed working on my project, the whole progress was a positive, influencing experience. I know that in the future this project will affect big decisions I will make. The project is very important and will influence me because I learned a lot from it. <span style="color: #92cddc; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;"> =<span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 48px;"> Bibliography =

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Israel Flying Aid official website. [|http://www.ifaid.org.il]<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">[|/] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Sharvit, Shlomit <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">"קומנדו נשמה ישראלי" <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">. Ynet, published on 09\06\08, 11:30 [] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">RushPR News " Haiti Government Thanks Israel Flying Aid" published on02\01\2010 17:50[]