CHW Breaking News
June 10, 2021
On June tenth, 80 dormitory students at CHW Hadassim Children and Youth Village celebrated their grade 12 graduation with an emotional and uplifting ceremony.
Prof Ze’ev Twito, Director of CHW Hadassim, spoke to the challenges that the Youth Village faced in the past year, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the damage sustained to two family units caused by incoming rocket fire during the recent security crisis.
For the dormitory students at CHW Hadassim, it is more than a school- it is their home away from home. The time spent at CHW Hadassim provides students with all the skills they will need to go out into the world as responsible young adults.
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May 18, 2021
Report from Zeev Twito, director of CHW Hadassim Children and Youth Village, on the Na’aleh students and how they and the village are coping during the current security crisis.
Zeev Twito, director of the CHW Hadassim Children and Youth Village, told us how the dormitory students from disadvantaged Israeli families and from the Na’aleh Program are functioning during Operation Guardian of the Walls, which started last week, on May 10, 2021.
At the beginning of May, we opened all the shelters in the village and organized them to be ready in case of attacks from Gaza.
You all know that our motto is: “You come to Hadassim, you come home!” and I can say that all of our students consider CHW Hadassim as their family and for us they are like our own children. We want to give them the best possible care and to envelop them with love. Don’t forget that the 197 Na’aleh students made Aliya on their own and that their families live abroad. We understand they have experienced very difficult moments since their arrival at CHW Hadassim. It is an unusual situation for adolescents.
Our dormitory director and youth counselors live on the campus with their families. They are available 24/7. They are outstanding workers and provide the children with all their needs.
We drilled the children and explained to them that when the siren sounds, they have only 90 seconds to reach a shelter. Everyone understood this and nobody panicked. Each one knew in which shelter they had to go and all of them did it quietly, without pushing one another. In each shelter, we placed snacks and bottles of mineral water.
On May 11, rockets were fired to the Sharon area and sirens sounded. Some of our buildings were damaged. We immediately informed all the parents abroad and in Israel that their children were safe and secure. Parents started to worry and were anxious. We explained that CHW Hadassim is equipped with shelters and they have nothing to fear.
The dormitory students behaved impeccably. We are so proud of them. After all, for the Na’aleh students, this was the first time they were confronted with such a situation. The Ministry of Education sent social workers to talk to the children. They were very surprised that all of the students were so calm.
Altogether, we have 225 students in the dormitories in Grade 10, 11, and 12.
Fifty-six Na’aleh students are in Grade 12. This year, they received their Israeli ID and a call up for the army.
In my eyes, these children are Israelis in every sense of the word: they have decided to link their destiny with that of the State of Israel and this is a wonderful feeling.
May 13, 2021
Yesterday, a rocket launched from Gaza made a direct hit on the modest home of an Ashkelon resident, a divorced father of two, a 5-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. The girl attends the WIZO Day Care Center in Barzilai Medical Center. The boy was home with his grandmother, and when the “red alert” siren sounded, the grandmother picked up the boy and rushed with him to the nearest shelter – saving his life.
The rocket destroyed the children’s bedroom and play area, destroying all their toys and clothes. The below photos show the shocking extent of destruction.
In response to the plea of the DCC director, our Israeli Friends of WIZO identified a devoted WIZO volunteer, who immediately made a generous donation, so that the father could purchase new clothing and toys for his children.
Here is what the DCC director wrote to us: “I told the father about the donation, he was stunned and deeply grateful. I myself had chills from this generous act.”
May 12, 2021
Following an evening of heavy rocket fire across southern and central Israel, Health Minister, Yuli Edelstein, visited Shamir Medical Centre (Assaf Harofeh) emergency teams. The Director General of the Hospital, Dr. Osnat Levzion-Korach, guided the Minister through the state-of-the-art Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit that are currently treating an influx of patients injured during last night’s outbreak of violence and the state of emergency declared in the nearby city of Lod.
Shamir Medical Centre, located just south of Tel Aviv, is the fourth largest hospital in Israel and serves one of the largest most diverse catchment areas in the country.
May 11, 2021
At around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening, one of the hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas terrorists at central Israel, fell on the west side of CHW Hadassim Children and Youth Village. Although the rocket fell in an open space, and thankfully no one was injured, it was close enough (50 metres) to the “Ela” Family Unit (Mishpachton), to cause significant damage to the structure. Additional, but less severe damage, was caused to a second family unit, called “Rakefet”, and to several staff apartments. The rocket caused significant damage as you can see from a few photos below.
When the warning sirens sounded, alerting to imminent rocket fire, the foster parents, staff, and students followed the correct procedures, which they had been taught in advance, and immediately evacuated the family unit and found safety in the nearest bomb shelter. This ensured the safety of everyone involved.
These two family units are foster frameworks for children, who have been removed by welfare authorities from the homes of their biological parents, and live and grow up at CHW Hadassim. Each unit has 10 children, aged 12-14, as well as a pair of foster parents for each unit. (Here is a short video about these family units).
The children in the more heavily damaged unit were evacuated and spent the night in other dormitories on the grounds of CHW Hadassim. The children in the other unit returned and spent the night in their own beds once it was safe to do so.
CHW Hadassim professional staff, including psychologists and social workers, are providing therapeutic support to the children and monitoring them closely.