Meetings between Leo Buck high school students, trainees of the "Israeli Youth Sign" program, and students of Birka High School, resulted in a visit to wounded Syrian children hospitalized at Ziv Hospital in Safed.
project together - Yerka-Haifa-Dialogue, is a project in which the trainees of the "Israeli Youth Sign" program from Leo Bak and Mirka High School, in grades 10-12, participate. The framework of the project is that teenagers meet for formation activities, conversations, trips as well as joint volunteering activities for all sectors.
During the pronunciation stages of the project, an idea that came up again and again among the students was the need to know the "other side". Jews and Druze live in close proximity and have no ties. Students who take part in the meetings tell of an extraordinary experience: "As part of the program, a real friendship was forged between the students of Leo Buck and the students of Yarcha. The feeling was of immediate connection and great fun. No more people trying to stick to each other by force, but two groups that merge and connect of their own accord."
Last week and on the occasion of the New Year, a group of students from the 11th grade in Leo Bak and their friends from Rika went to Ziv Hospital in Safed - to visit Syrian wounded in the hospital.
About 200 wounded Syrians who were injured in the civil war have already arrived there and were evacuated to the Israeli border to receive medical treatment from the IDF.
Says Sapir, a 11th grade student from Leo Buck: "I couldn't remain indifferent to these sights, I saw children four to six years old, limbs amputated, and shrapnel injuries on their skin. Their eyes lit up when we arrived. We brought them gift packages, sweets and daily hygiene items and above all we showed that we care. One said he was glad we came, another smiled at me affectionately, the sweet smile of a little child who receives warmth and love for the first time in a long time.
The grandmother of one of the children said that she never thought they would be treated this way in Israel and is grateful for the good will and dedicated care for her grandson.
At Leo Buck, they believe that the satisfaction felt by the students participating in the "Together" project and the relationship that was strengthened with the students of Yarka are the right way to increase empathy between Jewish and Arab youth, and in particular the meeting initiated by the students with the wounded children from Syria was a significant contribution and education for deepening tolerance.