heal the world...make it a better place.

It seems that only yesterday I was sitting at Camp learning about the concept of "tikkun olam." The simple act of repairing the world, and making it a better place. I remember sitting and learning the basic lyrics of Michael Jacksons heal the world.

There's A Place In

Your Heart

And I Know That It Is Love

And This Place Could

Be Much

Brighter Than Tomorrow

And If You Really Try

You'll Find There's No Need

To Cry

In This Place You'll Feel

There's No Hurt Or Sorrow

There Are Ways

To Get There

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Little Space

Make A Better Place...

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

If You Want To Know Why

There's A Love That

Cannot Lie

Love Is Strong

It Only Cares For

Joyful Giving

If We Try

We Shall See

In This Bliss

We Cannot Feel

Fear Or Dread

We Stop Existing And

Start Living

Then It Feels That Always

Love's Enough For

Us Growing

So Make A Better World

Make A Better World...

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Dream We Were

Conceived In

Will Reveal A Joyful Face

And The World We

Once Believed In

Will Shine Again In Grace

Then Why Do We Keep

Strangling Life

Wound This Earth

Crucify Its Soul

Though It's Plain To See

This World Is Heavenly

Be God's Glow

We Could Fly So High

Let Our Spirits Never Die

In My Heart

I Feel You Are All

My Brothers

Create A World With

No Fear

Together We'll Cry

Happy Tears

See The Nations Turn

Their Swords

Into Plowshares

We Could Really Get There

If You Cared Enough

For The Living

Make A Little Space

To Make A Better Place...

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

Some may argue that now that Michael is no longer with us, his words mean more. But to a 12 year old, those lyrics meant the world to me.

I am not sure when, but shortly after that activity, I decided I would do my best to heal the world. I quickly got into the act of photography because to me, a simple picture can do so much more than be an act of a memory.

With a single image one can see so much more. It is like my favorite Neil Young song, "there is more to the picture than meets the eye." I don't know when music became so important to me, or when it began to help me understand life, but I do know that I truly believe in it. Just as much as I believe in healing the world.

I wouldn't go as far to say that I am healing the world being here in Ramla, but I know a simple act can mean the world to one.

Two weeks ago we started our volunteering. It only took a week before some of us were begging for more things to do. And since Nir is so great, not only is he filling our schedule with more, but everyday he is finding new places for us to help.

Some of the kids in my program spend their time at the soup kitchen, senior centers, and high-schools. Most of the group volunteer at an Ethiopian school, where they are each paired to different kids, sort of like Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Jackie and Ron are even helping out with the Ramla special olympic soccer team.

But for me it is different. I spend the majority of my time with kids that are no taller than my knees.

On Sundays and Thursday I spend my afternoon working in a Kindergarden after-school program. From 4-7 pm I read stories, play in the sand, color, and teach simple words to 4 and 5 year olds. There are a little less than 20 of them, and as the time goes by, more and more kids are picked up.

There are two teachers in the classroom, and sometimes I get help from other volunteers in my group. But there is never enough help.

One girl is always completely happy until someone else has something she doesnt. Then she starts crying.

There are two Ethiopian sisters, with the younger being to young, but allowed because she is family. Everytime I see them it is like they have forgotten me, and it takes a while to remember.

Miriam is my favorite. To be honest, at first I thought she was a boy. She has short hair, and I mean SHORT, and wears baggy clothing. It was not until I heard her being called Miriam, and asking Nir if there was anyway a boy could be called Miriam, that I came to realize. From day one she attached herself to me, and we sit in the sand box twirling for hours.

Some of the kids are hard to open up, but most of them coming running to me when I walk in. And since my hebrew is nowhere near perfect, they are the first to correct me when I say something wrong, or use the wrong form. I have already asked Nir if there is a way for me to spend more then just two days a week with them.

Monday night I go to a place called the Kshoat center. Erica, Jackie, Taylor, Lindsay and I hold a meeting for kids 18 and up who want to practice their english. On average there are about 12 kids, and we spend 2 hours playing games, laughing, and making friends.

It is a great way to meet local people, and we have already started friendships with most of them. One has even promised me her IDF uniform when she is done serving!

On Wednesday and Thursday mornings I will be going to an elementary school. Since I am just getting over a horrible cold, I have yet to go. On Thursday I am at one school, and on Wednesday I go with the same teacher to another. Tomorrow will be my first day, and I already know it will be absolutely wonderful.

One a week, and hopefully more, I go in the afternoon to the Arab Kadima, which is basically a place for kids to go after school so they do not get in trouble.

The first time I went, Jackie and Erica were with me. We spent an hour helping them with English. Lucky for me, I got assigned to the most amazing kid.

His name is Sliman, and he is an 11 year old boy who speaks a little hebrew and english. It was instantly easily for us to talk, and he spent most of the time trying to make me laugh. The biggest problem we had was trying to teach him what MR. meant, and I am still wondering why they would have that word in a beginning level english learning book.

For Erica and Jackie it wasn't as easy. Since they both don't know much hebrew, and since we all certainly do not know arabic, it was hard, and I had to help a lot. But I loved it. The other kids even tried to get "help" with their arabic homework, just so they didn't really have to do it.

With Sliman, who I basically started calling Slimity, he would show me his sad, happy, and animal faces, just to make us laugh and get out of doing his homework. As soon as the hour was up, he jumped up and ran outside.

I told all of the kids that Jackie was a professional Soccer player in the states. Since, after all, she did play for Cornell. So Jackie went outside and played soccer with them, as Erica and I stayed inside with some of the older girls, and had a dance party.

They taught us dances that they had made up, and we promised we would teach them American dances, like the electric slide and cotton-eye joe.

There are so many more ways to help out in Ramla, and basically all over Israel. Whenever we go some placer new, or meet someone else, we instantly try to figure out how we can help them. Erica and Taylor will soon be helping out the social worker that we met last week.

Everyone is happy, which is great. Because from what we hear, we are the only Oranim group that is satisfied. The other groups have been lied to, have had dates change, and are simply miserable.

We talk about it all the time. We talk about how lucky we are. We talk about how even though we are completely happy (don't get me wrong, there are definatly some problems), we would never recommend this program to anyone. Nir, our amazing coordinator, has only been working with Oranim since March, and he is their longest working employee. That has to show something, right?

But we absolutely got lucky and would never change these moments for a thing.