Israel Active

Yad Sarah is the leading volunteer-staffed organization in the State of Israel. It has just launched its new facebook site where you can read about the numbers of branches, volunteers, annual loans of medical equipment. But more importantly, about the amazing people involved.

The Hadassah Foundation presented its Bernice S. Tannenbaum Award to Ifat Baron, the founder and Executive Director of Israeli non-profit IT Works. Baron has already been named by Israel's Ministry of Education as the person "with the most influence in IT education in Israel today."

Daniella Hadassi, a drama therapist who treats children at Israel’s Schneider Children's hospital brought her puppet dog Chico to the area of the tsunami disaster in Japan and provided therapy to children who were injured a year ago. The hospital also gave a puppet to each child.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ivory Coast’s Muslim President Ouattara noted the close state of bilateral cooperation at their meeting in Israel. They discussed cooperation in the fields of health, agriculture, science and technology.

On his visit to Israel, Professor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, the director-general of the Central Bank of Uganda, said, “I can’t think of a better role model for my country to follow than Israel. As far as I’m concerned, Israel provides a far better model for us than the US or Europe.”

Israeli students are unique. They go from high school into the army; then many get married, go to university, have children and get degrees. Weird sequence? This article by writer and childbirth expert Wendy Blumfield explains how it works. And it works very well.

The Israeli cabinet has approved extending free dental care for children (previously up to 10 years old) to the age of twelve. It includes examinations, x-rays, removing plaque, fluoride treatments, fillings, first aid, reconstructions, root canal, extractions, crowns, and other treatments.

The IDF holds drills each year with the US Armed Forces to practice how to extract injured victims from a collapsed building, to clear paths through debris and to navigate in the chaos that is left by a natural disaster.

Jewish Heart for Africa has used Israeli solar and agricultural technologies to assist rural villages in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda. The technology serves 250,000 people and JHfA is shortly to complete its 57th project.

(Thanks to Stuart Palmer) The 1st Early Childhood Education training course took place in May in Accra. The MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation) program focuses on using proven Israeli knowledge and experience to train qualified teachers in Ghana with skill sets that focus on studying through play.