Volunteer Work At The Elderly Center

I'm taking a break from work at the Carmel Elderly Day Center (Merkaz Yom L-K'shish Carmel) and decided to jump on the computer for a second. (They have a computer room where the people come and sit and play solitaire games or check their email and look at pictures sent from their kids and such.)

I work here three days a week. When I arrive at 8:45, breakfast is already being served in the dining room. (God knows when everyone actually gets here! I'm probably still in bed then.) I jump right in and help clear up and push the tables around so the people can come back in and use the room for a seated exercise session. Then I eat. (That's the best part.) Then I set up the tables for lunch and have an hour or so to do whatever I feel like. (That's what I'm doing right now.) Sometimes I just sit down in the lounge/lobby area with a Hebrew text book and someone undoubtedly comes over and talks with me, be it one of the elderly folks (telling me I should meet their granddaughter and stay in Israel), the social worker who's 24 years old (who loves to practice English), or one of the Filipino m'taplim (caretakers) who live with some of the people who come here and speak English as a second language (the first being Tagalog). After my free time, I return to the kitchen, grab some lunch and then help serve lunch and clean it up. I usually make it out of the center by 1:45. Then I usually have other work elsewhere in Haifa.

Japan Museum

I work at the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art ( http://www.haifamuseums.org.il/japeng.htm ) two mornings a week where my main role is to transcribe (perhaps transtype) all the information from the museum's index-card-based catalogue into the standard electronic catalogue that has been developed for all of the Haifa Museums. It's pretty basic work, but it gives me a chance to have exposure to the works the museum has. I also get a sense of how a museum works by being around the director, Ilana Singer, and the staff. Sometimes I proofread English translations of explanatory texts and captions to accompany the art in the museum hall. I've even once helped rearrange the kimono exhibit and proofread a letter of thanks to a Japanese donor.

Actually, last night, with my friend Amit Cohen, I attended a special event held at the museum consisting of exhibits of Japanese swords and drawings followed by performance in Indian Music. It was a part of some conference on Asian culture taking place at Haifa University or something. In any case, it was cool to see that descriptions that I had proofread accomanied the displays.

Moadonit Yodfat (Yodfat Youth Center)

Two afternoons a week, I go to an after-school center for youth in a "difficult" neighbourhood of the Hadar section of Haifa. It's a diverse group of Arabs and Jews from mostly immigrant families, and as poorly as the kids behave, its good to see that their quarrels with one another aren't based on religious or racial differences. It gives me some hope.

The kids play basketball, get help with homework, eat a hot meal, and generally make the counselors lives a living hell as they try to run activities for them! My role is to hang out with the kids and be friendly, and I teach a karate class for the kids aged 10-13. Besides that, one day a week, the kids have a drumming chug (activity) and on Tuesdays, we recently started taking the kids to the science museum I remember when I taught the Ethiopian kids karate alongside Jeremy at the absorption center in Ashqelon, and it didn't turn out as orderly as we expected. I figured if I tried it with another group of kids in Haifa it would be much smoother. I was wrong! The kids at the moadonit here are the most unruly, undisciplined kids I've ever met in my entire life. But the other counselors said they appreciate the work that I do and that even though only about 6 kids last more than 15 minutes in the class each time, they think the discipline of the class is important for them and worthwhile.

One of the counselors and I have talked a little more about the kids themselves, and it seems every one of them "has a story."

Merkaz Ilan (Ilan Center) For The Handicapped

Merkaz Ilan is a sports center for handicapped people including a swimming pool, basketball court, ping-pong tables, and a lounge. I work in the swimming pool once a week, assisting patients who want to spend an extra half-hour after their physical therapy session just doing independent stuff in the pool. Most of the patients have cerebral palsy, though one of the people I've become friendly with was in a car accident when she was about twenty. She communicates in English pretty well, and we spoke a lot in the beginning and she eventually invited me to see her place in the assisted-living facility right by the center. When I visited, I saw that there was a logistically decent place to be for someone with a severe disability, but a social atmosphere is non-existent for someone used to a normal life like Alona. As we talked, Alona told me about her accident from 10 years ago. She originally was in a coma for 3 and a half months and couldn't speak or eat or move much at all when she woke up. It seems she has had to put in effort into relearning everything she does. Her speech is strained and she is mostly wheelchair-bound. On the walls in her room which she shares with a roommate, she has pictures of herself riding horses near Eilat and jigsaw puzzles which she has put together in more recent times. Alona's experience is so interesting to me, though it is saddening. I suppose there were worse possible alternatives to her situation now, but only she knows what it's like to deal with it. I told her that she should consider connecting to the internet to meet other people throughout the world with similar experiences.

I suppose I was a good guest. Next week, I've been invited back to eat dinner with her in the facility after working at the pool.

For more information on Otzma, check out http://www.ujc.org/otzma .

Shvat 5764 - February 2004