December, 2018 | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Celebrating a Decade of Cultural Competency and Looking to the Future

Over the past year we, together with the Alyn Rehabilitative Hospital, the Jerusalem Foundation, and numerous partners in the field, have been celebrating a decade of cultural competency. (You can read about this here, here, here and here.)

On Monday, December 17, 2018 we held the final event – a panel entitled, “Where do we go from here?”

“Where now?” with leaders in the field

Panelists included: Nawal Aliyan – Nubader, from the Novader organization, Shaher Shabane, Chair of the Parents Forum for Children with Special Needs in East Jerusalem, Ariel Kandel, from the Qualita Organization for French-speaking Olim, Ella Mano, Director of Public Health Services and Early Childhood from the Jerusalem Municipality, and Dr. Maurit Be’eri, who began the journey with us a decade ago, and who today is the Director of ALYN.

“It was both exciting and sad to hear the personal stories from East Jerusalem,” noted our own Dr. Michal Schuster in her Facebook post afterward. “Parents who are not aware of their children’s rights, who, because of the stigma [against people with disabilities] are not integrated into society and are closed in at home.”

Ariel Kandel, spoke about the French-speaking population’s difficulties here. While they might not be as severe as those from East Jerusalem, there are difficulties nonetheless – language difficulties, economic difficulties as new immigrants, shock from Israeli bureaucracy, and more. Ariel told of someone who went to the emergency room with a headache, and the doctor told him that there’s nothing to worry about and that he take a pill. The man understood that he had a tumor…..

Relating issues and complexities of cultural competency

It is difficult for service providers as well. Ella Mano told about the issues and conflicts nurses in Well-Baby Clinics are facing now, as they try to prevent the spread of measles, even though the very nature of the Well-Baby Clinics must be culturally competent, in order for the clinics to gain the trust of the parents.

Dr. Be’eri described the frustration that jump started the process in 2008 at ALYN, when they stopped and started to ask why patients weren’t advancing from checkup to checkup, and were even getting worse. And they decided to see what they were doing wrong.

Sharing with other cultural competency professionals

What a change the hospital has gone through.

“Lots of circles were closed today, and I hope it’s the start of Cultural Competency, the 3rd Generation,” summed up Michal.

And of course, many thanks to our partners in the journey – the ALYN Rehabilitative Hospital, the Jerusalem Foundation, and our many partners in action.

Naomi Roff2019-01-19T16:04:08+00:00December 31st, 2018|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions, Cultural Competence in Government Institutions, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Cultural Competence in Jerusalem Municipality, Identity Groups and Conflicts|

MiniActive – Growing by Word of Mouth

Our MiniActive project has grown and developed immensely over the past 5 years, but there is so much more to do. We seek to do more, to develop more, to grow more, to help the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. So, on Tuesday, December 18, we asked our MiniActive female volunteers to bring families members, neighbors, friends (all women, of course), to hear about the project, and the good it can do for neighborhoods throughout East Jerusalem.

Huge event with lots invested

In all, we had 400 women at the MiniActive offices in Wadi Joz, in a day that was organized entirely by the women. There were speakers and performers of all sorts.

There were speakers of all sorts

One woman spoke about overcoming obstacles in participating in MiniActive. This is definitely a delicate issue, since issues of being in touch with the ‘establishment’ are especially complex in East Jerusalem. However, the results speak for themselves: When streets are cleaner and more complaints are taken care of (now 50% of all requests from the 106 municipal hotline in Arabic are filled, as opposed to 30% only two years ago), and when the women themselves work in groups to advance topics, these obstacles are overcome.

Speaking about experiences in MiniActive

A second woman spoke about her experiences in MiniActive and how it changed her life. She is about 60 years old and had stopped working as a social worker about 10 years ago. Her children had married and were out of the house. She was lonely and depressed. She found MiniActive, and it brought her back to life. She feels that she can now contribute to society. She took part in MiniActive’s training for our Living Safer, Living Longer program that seeks to improve preventive health and home safety, and as a result, has been hired to encourage mothers of young children to immunize their children and to improve home safety.

There were also performances – on the oud

Performing with the oud

Debka dancing

Traditional debka dance

Displays and sales of women’s handicrafts

Women selling traditional handicrafts

From knitting, to ceramics to jewelry.

Lots of different kinds of handicrafts

And after that, everyone was so inspired that 100 new women joined MiniActive.

Here’s to more effective, women-based activism in East Jerusalem! Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan for their support of MiniActive.

Here’s the post (in Arabic) from the MiniActive Facebook page:

Naomi Roff2019-01-19T15:49:07+00:00December 25th, 2018|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

Getting to Know your Rights with Atta’a

It’s time, and in fact, overdue, that we brag a minute about the Atta’a Center for the Rights of East Jerusalem Palestinians.

Daud lecturing in Shuafat Refugee Camp

Over the past year, Atta’a has built on its past success, and grown even past its former capacity. Examples of accomplishments this year include:

1,089 one-on-one consultations, 1,004 e-mail, Facebook and telephone consultations. This is a 30% increase in individual consultations over last year.
At least 4,000 entrances to our web site per month. The Atta’a web site is so popular that an Arabic-language Google search for ‘Israel Ministry of Interior’ lists Atta’a second, only behind the official government site.
Our Facebook community has seen a 40% increase, from 14,000 ‘likes’ at the end of 2017 to 20,000 today, a 40% increase. Even more important than the number of likes is the high rate of engagement. Atta’a’s Facebook regularly reach 2-4,000 people, including 50 – 100 likes each (active engagement) and numerous ‘shares’. Atta’a generally has at least 2 original posts each week.

In addition to the regular one-on-one consultations, Atta’a provides lectures in the community. On Tuesday, November 27, Atta’a Director Daud Aliyan spoke in the Shuafat Refugee camp, on rights available from the National Insurance Institute, as well as on how to make an appointment in the Ministry of Interior’s (Hebrew-only) appointment system. Atta’a deals with these issues on a regular basis, both on a micro level – empowering individuals to wade through the ‘system’ by themselves – and on a macro level – advocating on behalf of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem when it comes to issues of status, welfare and health care rights, and more.

As a result of Atta’a’s assistance, residents received over NIS 25 million, through payments from the National Insurance Institute, the Welfare Department, the Ministry of Interior and more; from discounts on property taxes and other municipal fees; from being able to legally work in Jerusalem, and more.

Daud tells of one case, which is representative of Atta’a’s assistance:

A woman recently came to Atta’a because her son, who has CP and is in a wheelchair, was receiving a monthly disability stipend of NIS 1,000. We were shocked that a child with such a severe disability was receiving so little. While she was there we asked her about a number of other rights and subsidies she and her family are eligible for – discount on property taxes (worth several thousand shekels), increased disability payments (given the son’s severe disability), a one-time subsidy of NIS-3-4,000, different health care benefits, and much more. In total, she and her family were able to receive tens of thousands of shekels.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Leichtag Foundation for their support of Atta’a.

Naomi Roff2018-12-29T10:40:20+00:00December 16th, 2018|Attaa, Blog, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Palestinians/Arabs|

Resident Activism Ensuring Accountability in Jerusalem

“A body of men who hold themselves accountable to no one, ought not to be trusted by anyone.” – Thomas Paine

Planning for the next five years

This guiding principle, written by one of the USA’s Founding Fathers, is also an underlying principle of the Jerusalem Covenant. It is what brought Ariella Bernstein, Chief of Staff at the Jerusalem Foundation, and 90 other active residents, including Arabs and secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, City Council members, municipal professionals, lay leaders, supporters of all the different mayoral candidates, to our “Jerusalem: Toward the Next Five Years” event that took place on Tuesday, November 27 at the newly-opened WeWork branch in Jerusalem. Their common goal: to make Jerusalem a city that is good for all its residents.

Yisrael Isaacs, on the need to work together on the things that unite

Participants created work groups on public transportation, mixed neighborhoods, cleanliness, social activism, economic development, urban planning, East Jerusalem and aesthetics in the public sphere. These groups will continue to advance issues and projects in these areas in the spirit of the Jerusalem Covenant, which has created guiding principles for civic action in the city. The Covenant will help us to devise what is the most worthwhile to do, how to do it, and to make sure we’re not forgetting anyone, and to work together to create a common good and well-being in our city. As our Director, Hagai Agmon-Snir, wrote in this MyNet article (in Hebrew): “The Jerusalem Covenant seeks to say one thing – that the city and the municipality need to take care of everyone and give them services in the most culturally sensitive way possible, just because they are city residents. This clean approach will enable Jerusalem to develop in the best way possible for everyone.”

Working to further East Jerusalem, public transportation, cleanliness, urban planning, resident activism and much more

Many thanks to Eli Yakobi, Yisrael Isaacs and Ariella Bernstein who opened the event. A special thanks to everyone who came and participated and contributed to the evening, paving the way for the next five years. More thanks go to the Leichtag Foundation, Charles and Lynn Shusterman Family Foundation, the Natan Fund and the Jerusalem Foundation for their support for our efforts to increase tolerance in Jerusalem.

Here’s the Hebrew Facebook post that sums up the evening:

Naomi Roff2020-06-16T05:00:41+00:00December 12th, 2018|Blog, Effective Activism, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Celebrating the Interpreting Team Along the Way

We’ve mentioned here and here the wonderful work that Sha’are Zedek Medical Center has done recently in developing its culturally competent services, from training all new staff in the principles of cultural competency, to training a dedicated team of bi-lingual staff, whose mother tongues are Arabic, Russian and Amharic, to help ease communication between patients and doctors. These interpreters are already on staff at Sha’are Zedek, and have volunteered to help patients speaking these various languages. Our Dr. Michal Schuster, together with lecturers Beni Asegie, Tania Voinova and Salih Sawaed, trained them in a special course in medical interpreting.

Interpreters and training staff at Cinema City

On Tuesday, November 27, we all said thank you.

In the Cinema City VIP room

This special event – for both the medical interpreters and the cultural competency instructors who run the regular workshops at Sha’are Zedek – was held at Cinema City. The event began in Cinema City’s VIP room and included a pampering breakfast and other goodies, as well as a lecture by Michal, followed by the movie Bohemian Rhapsody in one of the complex’ theaters. Appropriate to the setting, Michal spoke about how interpreters (oral translators) are presented in movies, TV shows and in literature – how they view their role, and how society views their role.

Part of Michal’s talk

Many thanks to all the volunteers, who endeavor to make patients’ experiences more comfortable, who do this with love and dedication in addition to their regular hospital positions. Many thanks to Sha’are Zedek, for its efforts to train its staff in cultural competency – and equally as important, to recognize their contribution. And of course, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, which has been our strategic partner in Cultural Competency since its establishment more than 10 years ago.

Here’s what Michal had to say about the meeting (Hebrew):

Naomi Roff2018-12-08T17:53:08+00:00December 8th, 2018|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Living Safer, Living Longer – Expanding Our Ranks

We’ve described here and here our Living Safer, Living Longer program, which helps young families and older adults be safer and healthier. Last year we developed four Volunteer Lead Teams – two in the Haredi sector, one in the ‘general’ Jewish sector (religious and secular) and one in the Arab sector.

Dr. Jonathan Scholdenfray speaking about home accidents

Last week, on Wednesday, November 29, we expanded our ranks, opening up a second Non-Haredi-Jewish Volunteer Lead Team, which will help to improve health and home safety among Jerusalem residents. These volunteers are mostly from Gilo and Arnona. They are secular and religious, men and women, and a range of ages and professions, from a nurse to a lawyer to a former school principal to a real estate agent to social workers and more. Interestingly, there are 3 married couples in this group. We originally spoke to the wives (independently of one another) about joining the Volunteer Lead Team, and in all 3 cases, the women thought that it was very important that their husbands join as well.

The first step in developing the Volunteer Lead Team is the training, and Wednesday was the first meeting. Opening the meeting was Dr. Yonatan Schuldenfrei, from the Pediatrics Department at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus, who spoke about household accidents that bring children to the emergency room. What an interesting – and important – subject.

Wishing many hours of learning and meaningful work for the new team!

Naomi Roff2018-12-08T17:50:30+00:00December 6th, 2018|Blog, Living Safer Living Longer|

Learning from Cultural Competency in Design and Business for Health Care

What’s the most usable cup? What is the most communicative object?

At first glance, these are the most banal questions. But when an answer needs to be given, neither the questions nor the answers are trivial.

Yifat Keinan speaking

And the following questions might seem slightly more relevant for our coordinators for cultural competency in health care systems:

What’s the connection between a charm bracelet and child vaccinations? And why do older Haredi women come to physical therapy sessions with baby carriages?

Different characteristics of cups and glasses, which can be quite important to the end user

On Thursday, November 22 Iifat Keinan-Guy, industrial designer and lecturer in the Inclusive Industrial Design Department at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem, spoke to our forum of Jerusalem-based Cultural Competency Coordinators in health care. Ifat’s research focuses on rehabilitative environments in medical centers and treatment and advancing rehabilitation through design.

Difference in design, up close

In her presentation, Ifat opened up a window to the deliberations and brilliant ideas for medical devices, in which end-users are involved in the design. And a perfect example is the Immunity Charm, the answer to the charm bracelet question:

It was a fascinating meeting. And we discovered yet again, the importance of meeting and exchanging ideas and knowledge, for the benefit of patients throughout Jerusalem. The meeting’s 12 participants wasted no time, and took advantage of this opportunity to begin discussing a variety of partnerships and research ideas that would further the issues covered.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its continued support of Cultural Competency over the years.

Here’s our own Michal Schuster’s Facebook post (in Hebrew):

Naomi Roff2018-12-08T17:30:43+00:00December 3rd, 2018|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Third Annual Tolerance Week Hits the Streets

Some would say that it’s almost part of the daily conversation about Jerusalem – how much tension there is here, how difficult it is here, how divided it is in every direction. And then, in the middle of the election campaigns, despite all sides were pulling in different directions, we continued our tradition of Tolerance Week – an entire week of events dedicated to advancing tolerance.

Mention of Tolerance Week in a local Hebrew newspaper

We asked the general public to become a part of a wave of change and independent action. And the public has spoken – more than 30 initiatives, and many more events that popped up, that painted Jerusalem tolerant during our third annual Tolerance Week, between 16 – 23 of November. Initiatives ranged from “Jerusalem Mosaic” at the Old Yishuv Court Museum, a journey to 19th century Jerusalem within the Old City walls, to a Jerusalem Hyde Park, where a range of speakers spoke about a variety of issues;

Jerusalem Hyde Park

Climb4Change – mixed groups of Jews and Arabs demonstrating rock climbing in the Hinnom Valley. This event was produced in cooperation with hostels for mental illness in East and West Jerusalem.

Climb4change

Learning sign language, together with a teacher and student at the Kiach (Hattie Friedland) School for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired;

Learning sign language

Singing in the Garden, sing-along together with Israel Elwyn, which is a special needs village. The whole evening was produced at the Elwyn village.

Singing in the garden

The Meeting Place discussion in Zion Square focused on the tensions in the city as a result of the mayoral elections, and how we can continue working to make the city better together even if we are different. There were also events by the ArtShelter Gallery, which targets Haredi artists. They held a tour in the neighborhood and also hosted an evening for women, Haredi and secular.

At the ArtShelter Gallery

Tours of the Old City, commemorating the Holiday of the Birth of Muhammad, in cooperation with the Open Holidays initiative.

Tour explaining the Birth of Muhammad

Here’s a full list of activities that took place. Here’s a full list of activities in English. Our Michal Shilor, Coordinator of our Grassroots Campaign for Tolerance, summed it up:

“This is an important lesson for us, as people, as a society, as part of the city. All that was needed was to lend a helping hand in calling for tolerance, and it can almost stand on its own. We invite you to lend a helping hand to such an initiative, when it crosses the street, daydreams on the bus, sits next to you in class, in the office or on a park bench, every day here in Jerusalem. To dare to peek on the other side of the wall (the wall in our hearts), and to connect.”

Here’s the Hebrew Facebook post summarizing the week:

And another one too:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Leichtag Foundation and Natan for their support of our efforts to advance tolerance in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2018-12-29T10:44:51+00:00December 2nd, 2018|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Palestinians/Arabs, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Monthly Archives: December 2018