After the Black Sabbath on 7/10 we were all shocked, scared and shocked, but we Israelis immediately recovered, established HML, opened houses and hotels and started volunteering. Each according to his ability, sometimes not according to his situation, but we volunteered.
They have no home
Among them, I also volunteer to help evacuees, initially from the Gaza Strip and then from the north, sometimes I break down from the stories I've heard, sometimes I can't say "I'm going home, I'll be back tomorrow".
home? After all, they don't have a home... That's why I turned to an expert in crisis situations and traumas, and teaches close communication with Tzipi Tsaoshu.
Together we wrote this article:
The volunteers are divided into two parts- Volunteers in times of peace and regularity and volunteers in times of war.
When we volunteer on normal days, we come out of a desire to contribute our abilities and strength and the recipients know how to get our cherry. We know our limits and choose according to our will.
The volunteers in the war We encounter a situation that we did not choose, we do not always have the tools to deal with it, we have no experience. We only put out fires, we have no one to consult and sometimes we have no choice sometimes and say "we don't know". The situation is difficult, the border between the volunteer and the evacuees has been breached.
come to give without limits in an emergency
We come to give without limits in an emergency situation... we don't know what will happen in 5 minutes. We go in to help with an unpleasant thought - we return home to our warm bed and they are in a strange place... Tzipi, an expert in stressful situations and traumas, adds: "I, the volunteer, also experienced the war." That is, when you help a family, you experience the experiences with them.
"Home law is a fortress" was deleted - we experienced an intrusion into the home, into the body and mind
In my conversation with evacuees, they say that they are afraid of infiltration, not throwing. We volunteers are also afraid, we have difficult days of worry for the families, the soldiers and themselves, but we hide our feelings and want to help... At the end of the day, we break down from fatigue, from the emotions and especially from the encounter with themselves that brings up memories, feelings and unpleasant experiences of the transition.
So why do we still volunteer?
The answer is the impulse, a lot of motivation, without thinking, each and his reasons. There are volunteers who are second and third generations of the Holocaust and this is how the urge to take care of the older parents was created to show the parents "You survived the Holocaust, we will take care of you..."
Here are some tips for volunteers:
- In the morning, before you go to the volunteering place, ask yourself how your mind is, your body, whether it is suitable for you to volunteer today. If not - take a break, calm yourself down..
- Maintain boundaries - do not over-identify - because we have no power to change (war, politics, etc.). We can empathize with their situation knowing that at the end of the day you go home without apologizing.
- Return to normal life as much as possible - go drink coffee with the husband, children, girlfriend. to laugh, to run errands. We are allowed to live.
- For volunteers who are unable to get rid of the anxiety, Tzipi advises to change the place of volunteering, especially those who go to shiva with families they do not know, it is difficult and not everyone can volunteer for this position. Don't be ashamed to say "I can't", because your soul is hurt.
- Next to the destruction and fear there is life itself and therefore something must be done - laugh or cry, maybe go to a movie. We are allowed to live!
A few words of conclusion
The volunteers also experience trauma and fears. We are all stressed. After you get home ask yourself what good things did I do today? Did someone give you a compliment?
It is important to end the day with something positive, for example having a conversation with a friend or someone from the family. It is important to unload as much as possible and arrive at the new day with relative calm and a lot of empathy for those who are not at home...
Among all the volunteers there are a few people who return home to an empty house without unpacking and talking. That's why Tzipi and my friend, we decided to hold a circle for single women (if there is a request for men we will be happy to hold such a circle) to connect to hear and be heard and to be filled again. Soon we will announce the first circle in a safe place or in Zoom.
Yours, Thidi and Tzipi
You wrote very well my friend, you brought up some very important aspects from a professional point of view regarding the correct way of working with volunteers in emergency situations and disaster recovery. It should be noted that the Haifa municipality must improve greatly in managing the issue of volunteers in emergency events. The volunteers are an important and essential resource in difficult situations, but you must know how to organize them and how to maintain this resource in order to get the most benefit from it and over time. Cheers!
Shabbat Shalom people
All the time before the war we heard on the news that the Air Force shelled a service with ammunition towards Gaza, shelled from the wells of ammunition from a shell here and there, I don't remember exactly where, just that the ammunition should not reach Gaza, and in the hard way they cooked up a surprise for us for a whole year, they have better intelligence than us, we the good soul let us do Ceasefires should be so that they can rearm. I don't understand what is going on here. The self-destruction of the people of Israel, who are puppets on the strings of the United States and several other countries. We went through a holocaust and this is a second holocaust. I have a 13-year-old girl. I want to raise her in a country that governs her country fairly.
Eyal Shalom
In my article, I made it clear that I was only talking about the volunteers, and so was my answer
Politics lends itself to interpretation...which I won't go into here
my friend
The entire state of Israel currently has no home.
This entire country currently has no home.
The house is under attack and there is no normal life.
In Tel Aviv children wet their pants
And the IDF after a month allows Hamas to shoot without restriction
And leaves half a million liters of fuel for them to shoot missiles at the citizens of Israel
is this a house Is it security? Is it a fortress? It's an absolute disaster.
An army that stopped being a defense and became a defender.
How did the tens of thousands of missiles reach Gaza?