Your generosity and love help Israel regain strength
SWorldILENCE FILLED the room, as more than 200 guests at the ORT UK Annual Dinner watched Amos Gofer, the CEO of ORT’s Kfar Silver Youth Village, appear on screen, recalling the terrifying morning of October 7, just two weeks prior. As sirens rang continuously and horrifying images emerged on phones, Amos had feared that the lives of his boarding students, colleagues and own children were at risk if they remained on the school site, which is just a ten-minute drive from the Gaza border.
“At about 8am we already started seeing pictures of SUVs full of terrorists entering Israel shooting, killing and raping,” recalls Amos. “I took all 70 students with children of staff members into a safe room in the high school. We turned off all the lights and air conditioning and we locked the main door of the building and we prayed to God that the terrorists will not come to Kfar Silver.”
When Amos’s urgent calls to the IDF and police went unanswered, he took action himself. Within 20 minutes, two selfless bus drivers had entered the gates to evacuate all the students to safety in the north. Just 12 members of staff remained to take care of the animals living in the school’s agricultural centre and to stamp out fires caused by rocket attacks.
Thankfully, the youth village, which has over 1,100 students on the roll, a large number of whom have additional needs, had emptied for the Simchat Torah holiday. However, those evacuated included a group of Ukrainian teenagers who were already struggling, having fled their war-torn home country.
Tragically, more than 50 of Amos’s students lost a close family member in the
attacks that day. Staff members were also bereaved. Every day he’s been comforting distressed parents with the promise that the school will go above and beyond to care for their students: “I tell them I want to support their children with everything they need in terms of emotional care, psychological care, educational care,” says Amos. “We understand we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Following the attacks, World ORT Kadima Mada (WOKM) — World ORT’s Israel branch, immediately set up inperson and online therapeutic and educational activities, which have so far reached over 5,000 children across Israel. Displaced staff have run almost 400 workshops in 50 evacuation centres, hotels and hospitals and activities continue today.
“Occupational therapy workshops, talking therapy, writing therapy, photography therapy, sports therapy,” says Dr Moshe Leiba, chief pedagogy and R&D officer of WOKM, “we are having to do more to engage the kids’ hands and minds, in order to return to some sort of normality. Let them talk about what they’re feeling and what they’re doing, to have them express their concerns.”
Students considered high risk are offered one-to-one counselling. This kind of support, at around £80 per session,
is replicated across Israel. Reports of an increase in behavioural issues and alcohol dependency has caused great concern.
“We have a lot of students suffering from acute trauma,” says Moshe. “We have a lot of students who have problems which are heightened because of the situation.”
Thanks to the dedication of WOKM staff and despite teacher shortages due to displacement, stress and joining the IDF reserves, almost all of ORT’s students across Israel are receiving an education.
In addition, ORT has re-started its extra-curricular programme Youniversity, for children in the under-resourced peripheries.
Besides extra schooling, workshops and therapy, financial contributions have also enabled ORT to provide laptops allowing displaced students to study and have assisted families unable to work. Other funds are being distributed to ORT schools desperately requiring enhanced security measures and additional safe rooms.
ORT UK’s CEO, Dan Rickman says: “We’re so grateful to everyone who has donated to our Israel Emergency campaign. The trauma and fear felt by so many of our students and staff is beyond comprehension. Our schools and programmes in Israel are relying on ORT’s financial aid to help them continue to offer an enriching education, with vital psychological therapy as well as improved security. The generosity and love flooding through from the UK community is helping to ensure that Israel regains its strength, offering a beacon of hope for the future.”
We are having to do more to engage kids’ hands and minds