Christmas in Bethlehem

During the Christmas break, I was fortunate enough to visit the West Bank town of Bethlehem – the birth place of Jesus Christ. It was a particular interesting visit given the city’s unique dynamics. Bethlehem was once a Christian majority city but in recent years has experienced a Christian exodus. Now the majority population is Muslim. The mosque of Omar sits on one end of Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity on the other. Bethlehem was also a major area of combat operations during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

 

 

 

 

 

While in Bethlehem I was able to see the security wall and the world famous graffiti that covers it. A short trip into a refugee camp in town provided the best insight into the situation.

Spreading Hanukah Cheer

Over the past few weeks I was fortunate enough to engage in a few community service projects with two different Rotary Clubs located just north of Tel Aviv. During both events we spread Hanukah cheer by singing loud so all could hear (a reference to the movie Elf for those of you who didn’t get it). The clubs organized various celebrities from around Israel to join them at both ventures. On a side note, “celebrity-ness” is a relative concept. I had no idea who these people were but apparently they were big deals. Celebrities ranged from Miss Israel, to a famous chief (the Gordon Ramsey of Tel Aviv if you will), a soccer player from the Israeli League, Israeli TV show hosts and actors, and, of course, the visiting Rotary Scholar from the United States.

The first week the Rotary Club of Netanya visited the Dana Medical Center in Tel Aviv where children from all across Israel and the Middle East come to receive lifesaving treatment for cancer and rare diseases. Armed with chocolate, dradels, candies, toys, sufganiya, and smiles we set out on a mission to have the children of Dana forget that they were stuck sick in a hospital – even if it was only for a few minutes. We marched room to room singing Hanukah songs, passing out sweets, and taking photos. Smiles were abundant and it was obvious that just for a moment these kids forgot about the adult situations that they face like chemotherapy or pending surgeries and could focus on things kids should focus on, like which chocolate bar to eat first.

The second week the Rotary Club of Rannana visited 5 after school programs for children that come from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Supplied with the same ammunition of sugar and toys, our mission remained the same – to spread holiday cheer to deserving children. To cap the night off, we visited one of the largest orphanages in Israel where the excitement was so feverish to get autographs from the celebrities, impromptu security and crowd control was necessary.

Amazingly enough, these Rotary clubs do a celebrity event with local organizations 3 times a year and a large bar mitzvah once a year for families who can’t afford it.

Security and Diplomacy… In Action

A unique aspect of my program is its “Security Field Trips and Ambassador Forum Workshops.” The workshops consist of various tours of strategic security installations throughout Israel such as the Lebanese border, Jerusalem security barrier, Golan Heights, and Gaza Strip. In addition to travelling, we have the privilege to meet with high ranking diplomats such as current and former ambassadors to Israel. The people, places, and things we discuss in class one day, we see in person the next.

       

So far we have been to the Lebanese border and Jerusalem security barrier (see pics below). On Monday we are scheduled to travel to the Gaza Strip but speculation has it that the trip will be canceled to due recent rocket attacks launched from Gaza into Israel.

We have met with the Norwegian Ambassador to Israel, and David Viveash (a retired Canadian diplomat and current Field Director of the Carter Center). It also helps that our instructor spent over 30 years in the Israeli Foreign Ministry and was Israel’s Ambassador to South Africa.

By Our Powers Combined!

Today, for the first time, all the Rotary Scholars in Israel were in the same place at the same time. It was like a Captain Planet episode without as many characters and without environmentalist undertones. So, I guess it was nothing like a Captain Planet episode. But anyway, we came together at a Rotary workshop on the Rotary Foundation and the programs that fall under it. Being that the Ambassadorial Scholarship Program is operated under that auspice of the Foundation, we were kind of “VIPs”.

Each of us had an opportunity to address the conference, albeit impromptu, and speak about our sponsor and host clubs, our initial feelings about our host country, and anything else we found appropriate. I spent a good bit of my time reminding the attending members that we, as Ambassadorial Scholars, want to be engaged in much as we can, that we want to speak to their clubs, that we want to help with their service projects, and that we want to hear their opinion of world politics, as long as they’ll listen to ours after. It paid off. After the conference and during breaks, I was swamped by Rotarians offering to have me join them for a weekly meeting and on their service projects. It looks like it will be a busy year.

RI President Kalyan Banerjee and Save a Child’s Heart

Last week, I was fortunate enough to meet with RI President Banerjee on his visit to Israel while touring the “Save a Child’s Heart” program.

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) is the creation of the late Dr. Ami Cohen. Dr. Cohen was inspired during his time spent serving in Korea during the late 1980s. After immigrating to Israel in 1992, Dr. Cohen decided to start his own program that would improve the “quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries who suffer from heart disease and to create centers of competence in these countries.”

Since its inception, SACH has helped over 2,500 children from countries all over the world. About half of all the children that have come through the doors of SACH are Arabs from the West Bank, Gaza, or Iraq.

While with President Banerjee and his entourage, we were able to tour the ICU of SACH and the SACH home where children and their parents stay before and after surgery.

A visit to my host club

After a few weeks in Tel Aviv, I was able to visit my host club, Tel Aviv/Yafo, for the first time. It was a great experience viewing how Rotary meetings in a different country are organized. I think the biggest surprise was the multiple bottles of wine on the table for a lunch meeting.

In addition to the two Ambassadorial Scholars there (Alice from Italy and me), there was another visiting Rotarian from Beverly Hills, CA. We were all welcomed with open arms. I think it is truly amazing that Rotarians from all over the world regardless of nationality, color, or creed can come together to unite in a mission of putting service before self.

Alice and I gave a brief presentation on the Ambassadorial Scholarship – What it is, how to apply, scholarship conditions, etc. Then we also spoke about our individual sponsor clubs and how they are involved in the community. Lastly, we exchanged banners in a symbolic gesture of clubs uniting for a common cause.

 

A little shout out to Rotary

The Rotary contacts that I have made her in Israel have been extremely friendly and helpful. They have opened their homes and hearts to me without question or second thoughts. Amnon from the Rotary Club of Ramat Gan has secured me a bicycle, housed me for 2 weeks, took me on a driving tour of the city, gave me the keys to his home and car while he went on vacation, and had me over his daughter’s house for a Shabbot dinner. Yehuda, from my host club (Tel Aviv-Yafo), has also been amazing. He picked me up from the airport, showed me around the city, helped organize speaking arrangements, and helped me look for apartments. I could not imagine moving to a foreign country like Israel without the support and guidance from an extremely special group like Rotary – a truly amazing organization.

And so the schooling begins

Over the last week, the Overseas Student Program held an orientation week for all foreign students enrolled in masters programs. From what I could tell, there are a few hundred students from throughout the world (Germany, France, Austria, China, Sweden, Denmark, Korea, England, Ireland, etc.) At the main gate entrance to the University, flags of all the nation’s students are displayed – with Old Glory proudly flying on the first pole. It gets a salute every time I pass.

Orientation week was a bit lacking compared to the orientation I received upon my entrance to the University of South Carolina. I think I feel less orientated actually then before the week began. Everything here is very decentralized and complicated – not to mention in Hebrew. But, in ways, it is also very similar to the challenges I faced while Study at the American University of Dubai. Urgency and customer service seems to be chilling on the back burner. For example, if you walk into an office, you could sit there for hours without someone asking if they could help you. Instead, the people expect you to grab someone and state your purpose.

25 Is Old

Everywhere around Tel Aviv there is an ad campaign that says “25 IS OLD – Winter 2011.” The letters are in a bold font and black color against a bright pink background. They are like runway lights at night when the bulbs behind the signs illuminate. I turned 25 the other day. Thanks for making me feel old Tel Aviv. I still think 25 is young. I have most of my life left in front of me, not behind me. I might have already had 2 back surgeries, UCL repair, and other injuries associated with “old” people, I might have already been to collage, and I might have already traveled a lot of the world but I never thought I was old… not until your all out ad campaign – even though I still have no idea what it is you are exactly advertising. I guess I’ll have to wait till Winter 2011.

The Housing Fiasco

Housing is EXPENSIVE in Israel. And the real estate market is very fast moving. Originally I thought that I wanted to live in the center of Tel Aviv. However, this was based on some misinformation possibly lost in translation. For example a “short” bus ride from the city center to campus is really an hour long trek –more if you count walking to the bus stop, waiting, and getting into class. The way I look at it now, is that I expect to spend most of my time on campus – going to class, hitting the gym, studying in the library, writing the mandatory 30+ page paper that every class seems to require, etc. And most of my other “free” times will be filled with Rotary obligations. The dorms outweigh living in the city in almost every category (cost, convenience, cleanliness). The only disadvantages of the dorms is it is a shared room (roommate selection is a crap-shoot) and that I may have to move out in January anyway depending on supply and demand. Any suggestions?