Dentist, needles, scolding hot soup, leaving your life at home and moving to Israel for five months. These all seem like scary things, but if they are seen as part of your life's journey, you will emerge with smiles...and in some cases even a lollipop.
Take me. I'm a 23-year-old Miami native who left the South Beach sun to spend four years in the snow-covered corn fields of Bloomington, Indiana. By graduation, I, like many of my friends, had no idea of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. OneI year into graduate school, I decided I took the wrong path. Through a friend I learned about Oranim's Israel program and within months I had landed in Ramla. At first, I was apprehensive. I had heard mixed things about Ramla, but after driving down the main street that first day, I realized it was just like most towns in Israel. A gym, a great shuk (including a wonderful Arab shuk only on Wednesdays), a 6-shekel Falafel stand, and apparently, the best hummus in Israel. No, there is not a decent mall, or a beach, or even a movie theater, but who comes to a foreign country for that reason? Besides, Tel-Aviv is only a short ride away, and there are plenty of neighboring towns with all the things lacking in Ramla. But what Ramla does come equipped with is easy walking because it is a cozy, small city full of amazing sights, sounds and experiences.
And, with the diverse participants that Oranim selected for my group, even hanging out in our house is fun (as I write this, I am sitting with my roommates watching movies, drinking wine, and playing games)! My group, Ramla 25, also got lucky, because as we came to Ramla another Oranim group was already half-way finished with their program, and eager to show us the ropes. We all quickly became friends, and some of us even found romance!
Since all of us is different, we clearly have different interests in our choice of volunteer activities. While people in my program spend their time working at the local high-schools helping to teach English, or in the Arab Kadima (an after-school program to keep kids off the street), the senior-center, the soup kitchen, and even the animal shelter, I am one of the very few that gets to spend my time with younger children. Three to four days a week I work at an after-school kindergarden, and in the morning I help out at an elementary school in the English classes. My fifth day is spent at the daycare center, dealing with children as young as 10 months. Don't get me wrong -- not all of the participants are as happy as I am, but as I think about it, you get out of it what you put into it. Sometimes, you are not needed, and it is your decision to leave your activity...or you find some other way to help.
Knowing some Hebrew is helpful (even though I am nowhere near fluent), because few people in Ramla speak English. Although on the plus side anyone who does know English ALWAYS wants to speak it so they can improve. Our group started with a two-week intensive Ulpan, where we quickly learned enough to manage our way, and as soon as we started our volunteer work, we continued to meet twice a week to learn the Hebrew languagae. I can honestly say I've learned a lot, but I am also one of the ones who has tried, attempted to go to all my classes and bring in completed homework.
No, not everyone gets along, and no, not everyone is happy with their volunteering, but we, Ramla 25, are lucky to have a wonderful coordinator who is there for our every need and doing anything he can to turn find a solution to any problem we have, and most of all, he makes sure we are always smiling. If by the last day I'm not smiling, at least I will pray for a Spiderman lollipop!
Hope you enjoy! I'm about to spend the day uploading images and catching up on my rambles!
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