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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.