דיווחים מהשטח
דיווחים מהשטח
ומה מספרים המתנדבים?
להלן שורה של ציטוטים ודיווחים בעברית ואנגלית, על הפעילות במקומות ההשמה ועל חוויות ממהלך שנת ההתנדבות...
"אתה שומע התנדבות בגרמניה, אתה מגיע בגלל שזה נשמע כייף, סבבה – זה שונה, מעניין מיוחד. ואז רק אחרי שאתה מגיע, אתה פתאום בעצם מבין, אתה נתקל בהמון שאלות. אתה בעצם מבין שבאת לכאן להבין דברים על עצמך, להבין דברים על העולם..."
"...ההתנדבות בגרמניה היא אחרת, יש לה ערך מוסף, בגלל העבר שקושר אותנו חזק..."
"העבודה עם בני הנוער קשה ומצריכה סבלנות, אך לרב היא מעניינת. הפתיע אותי, כמה מהר בני הנוער קיבלו אותי. אני אוהב לשוחח איתם ואני שמח שהם מרגישים איתי בנוח. הם שואלים אותי רבות על הרקע שלי, הקשרים שלי והעניין שלי בגרמניה. למרות שהם לפעמים שואלים שאלות קשות, אני שמח לענות. אני חושב שזו הזדמנות טובה לא רק עבור בני הנוער, אלא גם עבורי, להכיר תרבויות חדשות ולפתח נקודות מבט שונות על העולם. "
“I was particularly interested in two placements in Cologne – the Jewish Community (which fell through) and the Federal Association for Information and Consultation for persons persecuted by the Nazi regime (Bundesverband Information und Beratung für NS-Verfolgte e.V.), where I, to my great pleasure, eventually worked. I saw this as a good chance to learn more about the Holocaust from a German perspective and to encounter victims which are not spoken of in Israel – Roma, Sinti, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Germans persecuted due to their political beliefs. I have been fortunate enough to indeed encounter many such people and hear their stories, which hardly differ from those of the persecuted Jews”.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity of being here and doing what I am doing now. I feel like in my case between me and my working place is very "organic", I give what I can and I got a lot since I came here. So my motivation is on the rise. (…) I will not name each one of the difficult situations I had during the time here, but I will name one and in my opinion is the main one: language and how I am dealing with it: I am taking courses.”
“In a way, after a short while, the Monikahaus became my main placement. That was the place where I learned the language, the place where I got to meet a large variety of people, the place that made me face so many challenges. I learned a lot about myself, mostly about how to build myself as a grown up person in front of the kids, and make them respect me, and doing it without being able to talk to them in their language.”
“Germany was always a part of my life. My grandparents were born in Freiburg and I always knew I want to visit there one day. When I had the opportunity to go there for one year of volunteering, I didn't need to think twice. I wanted to see how it's like to live in Germany, to know the culture better, to know the language and to get the chance to know new people that I will never meet in Israel. When I heard that Kom-mit-nadev are looking for people who will work in "Zionistic youth in Germany", I knew I want to be a part of it. I was a counselor in a yoth movement in Israel called "HAMAHANOT HAOLIM", so for me it was a natural move to make. I wanted to work with new people.“
“Before I flew to Germany, I didn't know what to expect, what kind of people I will meet, how different are our cultures and in general – I didn't know what is going to be, how will I adapt to this new situation. In retrospect this year clarified me what exactly I want to do and what are the channels I want to develop in. I think this project is very important and we must do everything we can to continue it, the fact that we are being assimilated inside the different communities are doing the best job in what we call –"ISRAEL-GERMANY RELATIONS", that we come to volunteer one year there although we have different definition for volunteering, that we are willing to move on on the base of the past.”