Sunday, August 3, 2014

July


Two months just isn't enough time!

By: Danielle Mizrachi


I continue to learn more about Jerusalem and the problems that exist in certain areas of the city. Yair took Aurore and I around to the different neighborhoods Bakehila works in. He explained the make-up of the neighborhoods of Talpiot, Neve Yaakov, Pisgat Zeev, Katamon, and Beit Sefafa. This made me even more excited to begin working at the two-week learning camp in Gilo. In addition to this, I appreciated every assignment that I was being given, knowing that it contributed to helping the organization with its mission.

Aurore and I planned a lot of different English learning activities for the kids. The first day of camp was a little overwhelming but so much fun. I began to recognize the different personalities of each of the kids I was working with. Most of them were eager to learn and participate. They loved the English activities Aurore and I created and the kids learned a little more each day. The Shinshinim at the school were also so inspiring. It was sweet to see how well they interacted with the kids and how invested they were at helping them. I could tell how the children trusted the Shinshinim.  Over the course of the two weeks I saw how much more confidence the students had in the classroom. Despite the language barrier and short period of time, I developed close relationships with many of the children.

Although I was sad to leave the summer camp and the children, I was excited to be back in the office. I missed seeing all the staff at Bakehila. I continued working on various jobs such as the facebook page, editing the webpage, a newsletter, and drafting background information on the organization. The relevance of the issue (social immobility) Bakehila is alleviating also became more apparent to me. My program held a discussion on how the school system in Israel is organized and how it has created a gap in both the wealth and mentality of the communities here. The question of how to attempt to resolve this issue came up. Given what I have learned from my internship, I brought up the importance of the community, parental involvement, and self-confidence in breaking the cycle of poverty for children. I know that the organization works hard on improving these three things.

Another task I was working on was finding potential donors for the organization. Bakehila is only able to continue doing great work because of its contributors. I care so much for the organization and was excited to be doing this as one of my last assignments. My time at Bakehila has been a priceless and remarkable experience. I am so sad that I will be leaving Israel soon, but know I will stay in touch with the organization and the incredible people that work here.  

June


Danielle Mizrachi's Experience at Bakehila

Last summer I interned in Tel Aviv for two months. I knew at the end of my experience in Israel that I was going to come back. After researching how I could make this possible, I found the Onward Israel Program. Onward Israel allows students to intern in Jerusalem for two months.  I was excited to learn that the program was in the same city that most of my family, including my Dad, lives in.

When I was accepted into the program, the internship coordinator, Noah, wanted to skype immediately to begin the internship search. He asked me to explain to him what I was interested in. I told Noah that a lot of my past internships and learning experience has been social-justice oriented. I really enjoy doing this type of work.

Onward Israel connected me with the non-profit sector of Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Bakehila. Bakehila’s mission is to increase social mobility in disadvantaged Jerusalem neighborhoods. For many years now, I have been committed to social entrepreneurship, using important concepts in business to create systemic social change. JVP is an accomplished venture capital fund. The owner of the organization found it important to create Bakehila because of his dedication to strengthening Israeli society. My internship coordinator was able to find an organization whose mission I strongly relate to due to my family history. My father grew up in a poor neighborhood in Jerusalem. He often recounts his difficult childhood and daily financial struggles. At Bakehila, I would be able to utilize my past experiences, and my interests in business and social justice to help stop the cycle that impacted my father’s life and learn more about how this type of organization is run.

My first few weeks at Bakehila were so meaningful and interesting. I sat down with Yair my first day to talk about what my summer would look like and what projects I could get started on. We spoke about the issue of wealth inequality in Israel, and how such a problem can be fixed by providing the proper education for children to “move up the ladder.” The conversation was very thought provoking. I had learned a lot about social immobility in the United States in a course at Brandeis. We came to a similar conclusion in the class; that the problem of social immobility stemmed from educational gaps. A similar problem exists in Israel. I was going to be working on a project that would help Bakehila maintain a connection with the students that graduate from the program in 9th grade. In addition to this, I would work directly with the kids for their two-week summer learning camp. After the learning camp, more projects were to come!   

It is so uplifting to be surrounded by individuals who truly believe that Bakehila will change Israel and will one day no longer need to exist. It was at that point I realized just how much my values and beliefs lined up with Bakehila and its mission.