Blog | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Living Safer Living Longer in Amharic for Seniors of Ethiopian Origin

We’ve described here our work to help senior citizens keep a safe house, especially during the coronavirus crisis. While before we concentrated on Jerusalem, this new situation has also enabled us to help seniors all over Israel. One example is the group of Ethiopian senior citizens, being helped by a university student of Ethiopian descent.

Living Safer, Living Longer via the telephone

University student volunteers were recruited during the lockdown of March – April, to make contact with seniors by telephone, first to make sure they were OK, and then to see if they’d like to make sure their homes were safe. The student volunteers were and continue to be a critically important part of the project, since they are in continual direct contact with the seniors over the phone.

One of the student volunteers is of Ethiopian origin, part of a Young Olim Leadership group that underwent training in guiding senior citizens over the phone in making their house safer.

After the training he decided to establish an Amharic-language group for senior citizens of Ethiopian origin, from Or Yehuda and Lod. There are 22 seniors in his group. Although the training and all the explanatory materials are only in Hebrew, he speaks with them in Amharic and goes through each room of the house, making sure each is safe. Each time he covers a different room.

Naomi Roff2020-08-09T15:48:15+00:00August 20th, 2020|Blog, Living Safer Living Longer|

Little Prince Begins Professional Partnership with Municipal Sanitation Department

The Little Prince ( “The Little Prince – Cleaning Jerusalem Together“) and the municipal operations department began their partnership about a year and a half ago.

The Little Prince activists established an extensive network of forums in which residents from all over the city met with the operations department, the division directors, the regional directors, the director of the 106 municipal hotline, the Community Services Department, and more.

Historic meeting with sanitation department

Through these forums residents and professionals could present plans, raise issues, devise solutions, develop initiatives and more.
In parallel, 5 working groups of residents were established together with: the Enforcement and Policing Division, the Sanitation Division, the Beautification Department, the 106 municipal hotline and the municipal PR and Spokesman’s office.
They created an empire of cooperation! Meetings, joint planning, consultation, carrying out projects.

And then came the coronavirus.

And, like nearly everywhere else, everything stopped.

After the lockdowns were lifted, there were those who said that this situation would not return, and that it was impossible to meet now and that it would not work via Zoom.

But this mutual partnership was important to both sides. Both the operations department and the members of the Little Prince friends did not give up. On Thursday, August 6, the first working meeting between members of the Little Prince and the Sanitation Department took place. It was an excellent meeting – professional, well organized and full of compliments and jokes. So if you’re wondering, it is possible to partner with the Municipality via Zoom. And it’s even fun!

Here’s a Facebook post about it (in Hebrew):

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund, and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for their support of the Little Prince.

Naomi Roff2020-08-29T05:53:52+00:00August 18th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Living Safer, Living Longer, in the Shadow of COVID-19

The Living Safer, Living Longer initiative was designed to provide lectures and in-person mentoring to help seniors and young families assess home safety and preventive health measures that can improve their quality of life.

For illustration

With the onset of the coronavirus crisis, Living Safer, Living Longer shifted its focus to mainly the elderly, a population at risk during this time.

It has joined with welfare department initiatives that phone seniors to check up on their welfare. Phone-based mentoring has replaced in-person individual guidance (for the time-being, at least), with an emphasis on home safety. This was especially important leading up to the Passover holiday, when many people do extra cleaning, retrieve dishes and other materials from hard-to-reach places, and more. And because of shelter-in-place directives, the fear was that seniors would attempt to do tasks regularly reserved for younger friends and family members, resulting in at-home accidents. Fortunately, this situation did not transpire.

Bolstered by university student volunteers, the initiative first called all seniors on welfare lists provided by the Jerusalem Municipality in the Gilo, Lev Ha’Ir and German Colony area, as well as in Kiryat Hayovel. In follow-up calls, volunteers went through a protocol of home safety checklists, to ensure that the seniors would be safe at home during this time of social distancing. Since April, the Living Safer, Living Longer project has spoken with over 520 seniors by phone. Many of them have asked for second consultations as well.

In addition, we have been getting the word out via Zoom. Aliza, the project director, has been giving Zoom lectures on making the house safe for seniors in cooperation with the Municipality’s GimlaZoom initiative for seniors, which offers a range of enrichment activities and lectures for seniors, online. After the first lecture on July 26, 12 people requested additional individual guidance via telephone. On August 12, she concentrated on ‘Making the house safe for the grandchildren,’ also of special importance for the seniors.

Screen shot of the GimlaZoom web site for seniors

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their support of the Living Safer, Living Longer initiative.

Naomi Roff2020-08-09T15:37:59+00:00August 15th, 2020|Blog, Living Safer Living Longer|

Little Prince: Inspiring Municipal Support Neighborhood Cleanup Projects

We’ve written here about how the Little Prince has been the impetus for making Jerusalem a clean city a top priority of the Jerusalem Municipality. A new initiative, calling for neighborhood-based programs, is another example.

This initiative, published on August 7 in the Jerusalem-based Kol Ha’Ir newspaper as a call for initiatives:

The Jerusalem Municipality calls on city residents to join forces and help municipal authorities improve the city and its urban landscape through funding for initiatives to clean up the city, which will be operated in residential neighborhoods across the city.

Municipal call for initiatives

As part of the municipal reform led by Mayor Moshe Lion, the municipality invites residents to propose neighborhood initiatives to clean up and improve the appearance of the city. Initiatives that are selected will receive full long-term funding, with the goal of becoming permanent community initiatives.

The purpose of the new project, noted the municipality, “is to create a clean and pleasant public space that enables a good quality of life, while promoting and encouraging residents’ involvement, growing neighborhood leadership and strengthening the sense of partnership in the city in general and in the neighborhood in particular. Keeping Jerusalem’s public spaces clean is a high priority of Mayor Lion.”…

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, said: “This project is part of the cleaning reform that I announced when I took office. The purpose of the project is to create cooperation and involvement of residents, in changing the face of the city, along with continued municipal activities in the area of cleaning up the city. I call on all residents to submit their proposals. And be a partner in the city’s cleaning revolution. “

You can read the full article here.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund, and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for their support of the Little Prince.

Naomi Roff2020-08-09T16:00:53+00:00August 11th, 2020|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Culturally Competent Health Care for the Haredi Community in the Age of COVID-19: A Discussion with Rabbi Zvi Porat

We recently held a Zoom event that focused on caring for the ultra-Orthodox community during the COVID-19 outbreak in Israel. It was one of the most significant and exciting events – which is part of a series of Zoom meetings for cultural competence coordinators in healthcare organizations and in general – that we’ve had thus far.

Invitation to the online event

It is no secret that the ultra-Orthodox community is sensitive about being labeled, especially if it affects their healthcare, for better or for worse. For the better, this labeling sometimes helps to provide tailored and improved care, such as making sure that patients receive meals in accordance with their specific dietary (kashrut) regulations, or the best/ most culturally sensitive ways of communicating with them or those who accompany them. For the worse, for the ultra-Orthodox community, being labled also means that they’re being singled out, and they feel that they are being discriminated against based on stereotypes of the ultra-Orthodox population. This creates an especially sensitive situation since the community has been particularly hard hit during this pandemic, and causes feelings of inferiority and discrimination – and resentment – even when there is no such intention on the part of the caregivers.

About the complexity of inter-identity relations during health care

In addition, the heated public discourse fans the flames of an already sensitive situation. With the outbreak of the coronavirus, the media often portrayed the ultra-Orthodox community as disobeying safety regulations and crowding together in huge events despite social isolation guidelines that were set in order to protect the public. At the same time, positive aspects of the community’s behavior – from cooperation with and generosity to the police and the Home Front Command who were patrolling the neighborhoods during the lockdown – also extraordinary events – were barely noticed.

Inter-identity and intercultural questions that concern healthcare practitioners

Given this complexity, and in light of our familiarity with the diversity of communities within the different ultra-Orthodox populations in Israel, coupled with the necessity to engage all populations in working to both follow the current health guidelines and treat patients in the best way possible, we initiated a meeting specifically on the subject of Healthcare for Ultra-Orthodox Communities in the Shadow of COVID-19. In the meeting, which took place via Zoom on July 15, 2020, Rabbi Zvi Porat, an expert on delivering culturally competent healthcare to the ultra-Orthodox community, spoke about the complexities and experiences experienced by members of the ultra-Orthodox community in various healthcare settings. He also presented different examples of how to respond to different challenges in an appropriate manner that meets the needs of the ultra-Orthodox and does not create a feeling of being stygmatized.

Discussing the complexities of the intercultural encounter in healthcare

Dr. Michal Schuster presented the culturally competent perspective in treating ultra-Orthodox patients, as well as recommendations based on proven experience and veteran initiatives that have already provided successful responses, alongside the complexity of the ever-changing guidelines, especially for those who do not receive regular updates from television or social media.

Dr. Racheli Ashwell presented the transformative model for managing tension-filled events and inter-identity conflicts and the recommended way to avoid such events and manage them in a positive and empowering way.

One of the things that was exciting about this meeting was the number of participants: 48 people devoted their time in the middle of the day to an hour and a half session. Feedback was very positive, and the productive and constructive discussions that took place during the meeting demonstrated the importance and the need for such training during this complex period.

rachelly2020-09-11T05:01:28+00:00August 7th, 2020|Blog, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Mt. Zion Residents Meeting to Discuss Tourism

If this had been any other year, Mount Zion would have been crowded with visitors and tourists from Israel and the world. Many of the organizations and sites on Mount Zion usually host tourists, whether they are pilgrims who come to visit the churches, tourists from abroad or Israelis who come to visit the Chamber of the Holocaust, celebrations and events held at the David’s Harp, and more.

Zoom meeting of Mount Zion organization to discuss tourism

This year, the coronavirus has basically shut down the tourist industry. In an effort to think about future steps, organizations and sites on Mount Zion – initiated a ‘tenants’ meeting to discuss tourism. Especially now that the industry is in nearly complete collapse, it is a good time to think of creative solutions for tourism now, and in the future.

During the meeting, on July 28, 2020, a number of ideas were raised for improving tourism on Mount Zion, both during the corona and after the crisis.

As follow-up to the meeting, an operative body that will concentrate on tourism on Mount Zion, including organizations whose main focus is tourism, has been established. The Mayor was invited for a tour of Mount Zion, and the group will continue to develop ideas and initiatives.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its ongoing support of the JICC on Mount Zion, and for the Window to Mount Zion project in particular.

meyravh2020-09-11T04:57:52+00:00August 4th, 2020|Blog, Mount Zion|

“Traveling Forward” Meets with the Mayor

In recent months, during and in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, the Traveling Forward in Jerusalem forum, a large and growing group of Jewish (secular and Haredi) and Arab residents, has been working to promote initiatives to improve public transportation in Jerusalem. (You can read about the first, kick-off conference here.) The group consists of residents as well as professionals, who work together to develop different channels to solve problems and improve public transportation. We serve as mentors and catalysts to the group, providing the structure and infrastructure, together with and vis-a-vis the Municipality, to create a real partnership between residents, professionals and the municipality.

Public transportation in in Jerusalem (photo credit here)

In July, a meeting of activists in the Traveling Forward in Jerusalem held a meeting with Jerusalem Mayor, Moshe Lion. There were some 30 residents, Mayor Lion, transportation portfolio holder David Zohar, and representatives of the master plan for transportation.

During the meeting, four residents presented public transportation issues. Afterward, the discussion was opened up to the other participants.

The main issue raised at the meeting is the need and the residents’ desire to establish a Public Transportation Committee, to be headed by the Mayor. This committee would enable residents, professionals and council members to work together to brainstorm, plan and promote public transportation in Jerusalem. The purpose of the committee would be to advance the different issues that concern residents and professionals, and create a process of joint work that would enable both professionals and residents to improve different aspects of public transportation in the city.

The Mayor noted that while he wanted to establish a Working Committee, he felt it was too early, especially when the city and entire country are dealing with coronavirus crisis. To work up to the establishment of the committee, it was decided to establish a Learning Committee for Public Transportation, which will study the issues and potential planning processes and solutions. The Learning Committee will include residents, professionals, and City Council members David Zohar and Laura Wharton, and it is hoped that a working committee, led by Mayor Lion, will be established in the coming months. The first meeting of the Learning Committee members will take place in early September, and all members of the Travelers Forward in Jerusalem initiative group will be invited. They will decide together what the committee will concentrate on, what and how they will learn from the field in preparing to move forward.

And, of course, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund and the U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Branch Office and U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem for helping us to advance tolerance and cross-cultural activism in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2020-09-11T04:59:50+00:00August 1st, 2020|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, Traveling Forward in Jerusalem|

Living Safer Living Longer for Young Families through Zoom

As the world moved to Zoom, as did Living Safer, Living Longer.

Since June, we’ve held two workshops on Zoom for young families. There were about 10 families at each meeting. After each one, about 60% (6 of them) call the receive further guidance in making their homes safe.

Young Families Workshop.

Here’s one example: After an online lecture, a young father called Living Safer, Living Longer Director Aliza Shabo-Hayut with a question – he and his wife were going away for the weekend and he’d like for his mother – who would be watching their young son – to receive direction in maintaining a safe household. So we called her, and provided the necessary guidance. The weekend went by fine, and all were well.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of Living Safer, Living Longer.

Naomi Roff2020-08-09T15:34:26+00:00July 30th, 2020|Blog, Living Safer Living Longer|

Santé Israël – Go-to Site for Updates on the Coronavirus

We’ve posted here, here and here how Santé Israël has been helping French speakers – in Israel and even abroad – navigate the health care system in Israel.

Current page on coronavirus

Yesterday, on July 26, the Santé Israël web site broke its record – with 580 entrances to the site in one day! This was after posts on Facebook reached 7,500 people, with 600 engagements. This, too, was a record for the Facebook and website pages.

How did the word get out to so many people?

Well, there seem to be a number of factors. Over the previous week, Santé Israël director Marie Avigad shared the post to 50 groups and pages serving the French-speaking community in Israel. She also spoke about the coronavirus landing page at a Qualita Forum meeting. She also discussed it in a WhatsApp group for professionals and invited them to check out the web site. This was also just after many of the guidelines had changed, so there were a great number of people looking for reliable, comprehensive information, which can be found on the dedicated page for the coronavirus.

Keep up the good work Santé Israël!

Here’s the record-breaking post:

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their continued support of Santé Israël over the years.

Naomi Roff2020-08-13T04:41:41+00:00July 27th, 2020|Blog, Cultural Competence, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

MiniActive Youth: Providing Critical Enrichment in the Shadow of COVID-19

It wasn’t easy to be a young person in East Jerusalem this spring. As COVID-19 hit the region, East Jerusalem Parents Associations took an unprecedented step – they were the first to close schools in early March. And when restrictions were lifted in May, and Jewish schoolchildren returned to school, children in East Jerusalem did not – schools stayed closed until the end of the school year.

A festive day to kick off the summer

So when the month of Ramadan finished (end of June) and July came around, Palestinian children in East Jerusalem were going quite stir crazy. Fortunately, MiniActive youth was there to fill the void, with activities planned in accordance to Ministry of Health restrictions.

Activities kicked off with a special event, replete with clowns, and games, and parachutes and fun.

MiniActive Youth also met to work outside, helping in two different places.

Working outdoors, improving the environment

This past week MiniActive youth also started another environmental project. The curriculum was designed especially to reduce tensions that built up as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

For now, the girls are also able to meet inside

Here’s a post from the MiniActive Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Model for their support of this summertime initiative for youth. And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

Naomi Roff2020-07-31T09:45:45+00:00July 24th, 2020|Blog, MiniActive|