The Teen Service International Learning Project at the Children’s Village, Karmiel, Israel, is now part of four local schools’ commitments to include Israel in their curricula. The schools — Shady Side Academy, Ellis School, Winchester Thurston School and Sewickley Academy — will each send two students on the next service-learning project trip, which is slated for March 17-28, 2013. They will be joined by a Sewickley teacher and led by Dr. Tsipy Gur.
Last year’s trip to K’far Ha’Yeladim was a life-altering experience for the girls who traveled to Karmiel. Wrote Jessie Block of Winchester Thurston after going back months later with a fellow student to volunteer there on her own: “The life changes that K’far Ha’Yeladim carries out every day and the place that it holds in my heart are anything but small. All the very important, sometimes difficult duties — we savored every minute of them. Every second of the time we spent at the K’far, we soaked up the love, the opportunity, and every experience we could — resulting in one of the best summers of my 19 years.”
In the Children’s Village, Teen Service participants aid the underprivileged kids who live in large adoptive families there. The Pittsburgh teens do everything from helping to prepare family dinners to tutoring and socializing with Village kids. They also toured several parts of Israel, where they had a dialog and met with Israeli Arabs and Israeli teens, and took a tour of Tel Aviv, Old Jaffa and the Nachalat Binyamin arts and crafts market. Their trip included learning about the impacts of Judaism, Islam and Christianity on Jerusalem and the rest of the country.
Overall, the participants learned a lot, grew as people and made new friends.
“I learned that as an individual what a difference you can make,” said Trinity Kronk from Sewickley Academy after the trip. “I am so inspired by you, Tsipy, and can’t wait to return to the Children’s Village.”
“I learned how much of an impact we can make on the children, even though we are so far away,” said Amanda McLeod, also from Sewickley. “A small group can make a big impact.”
“The only way we could convince ourselves to leave that beautiful, yellow-gated piece of our worlds and our hearts again was to promise ourselves that we would be back—somehow, soon,” concluded Jessie Block. “See you July 2013, K’