Trauma makes it feel like time has stopped…
Dear Friends
As we approached last Rosh Hashanah, we prayed for a better year ahead. However, although we see a gradual return to happier times, life as we knew it has not been fully resumed and we feel the effects of the impact on our quality of life.
As Israel moved from one crisis to another, from pandemic to conflict, the lives of vulnerable and at-risk children and youth in WIZO’s care were further traumatised by the ongoing disruption, uncertainty and insecurity.
The continued barrage of rocket fire resulted in long stays in bomb shelters, many bare of basic creature comforts. This crisis highlighted the escalated threat and the need to make shelters more comfortable and less daunting.
Therapy has always been an integral part of WIZO’s programmes to support those in our care, and the impact of the last year on our young people has necessitated increased and additional therapies.
With your help, we can minimise the long term effects of these frightening and traumatic experiences by transforming all our shelters into friendlier refuges, and developing our range of therapies to support the emotional fallout.
Wishing you and your families a healthy, happy and peaceful New Year.
…help our traumatised students feel time is moving again
Our students have gone from one crisis to another – pandemic to conflict
When the siren blares any hour of the day or night, children and teenagers residing in WIZO’s
Youth Villages have to leave their rooms and make their way to bomb shelters situated on
the Youth Village campus, many below ground.
During the recent conflict, youth and staff were spending close to two hours at a time
in basic bomb shelters without any comforts and distractions to ease their anxiety and
minimise the trauma. These shelters need modernising. Comfortable chairs, a table, TV
and a kitchen area will enable them to be used as everyday student lounges, making them
familiar and less frightening when functioning as a shelter.
When crises such as the rocket fire and the pandemic strike, the need for therapy particularly
among our dormitory youth, most of whom come from experiences of abuse and neglect,
increases significantly.
With your help we can make all of our shelters less daunting with furnishings, first aid kits,
activities, food parcels and essential chemical toilets.
With your help we can extend and develop our life-changing therapies, which include art,
music and psychotherapy.
With your support we can reduce and heal trauma enabling our vulnerable young
people to overcome emotional challenges and move forward to a better TIME…….
