Metro

TEEN MISSION

Report From Israel

Editor's note: Detroit's Federation Teen
Mission '08 in Israel is a 33-day educa-
tional trip that includes 106 teen-agers
from Detroit. This is the third report
from the participants on their trip.

I

Photos by Debbie Hill

Right: Staffer Amy Margolin

leads a movement at the

actor's workshop with the

Tikun Olam group in
Migdal HaEmek.

Below: Jamie Peters, 17,
of Temple Kol Ami in West
Bloomfield, right, and Youth

Future's participants play a
trust-building rope game in

Nazareth lilt.

A Helping Hand

Hillary Hacker

Teen Mission '08

T

Seth Greenberg, 17, of Congregation Shir
Tikvah gives a Youth Future's child a

lift in a forest in Nazareth Hit.
The Tikun Olam group participated with

children in rope games.

een Mission tried an experiment
this year — Special Interest week.
We chose between three options:
a sea-to-sea hike, an army training experi-
ence or tikun olam, community service
projects. For me, the choice was obvious. I
chose tikun olam because I knew I had to
give back to my homeland.
Our main project on tikun olam was
working with a group called Youth Futures.
We learned that our Detroit Federation
is supporting this program, designed to
mentor youth at risk. There were two big
challenges in our interaction with the Youth
Future seventh-graders. Most of the kids
did not speak any English, and it was hard
for them to trust us as new friends. The
youth had been hurt by people so many
times, we knew it would not be easy for
them to open up to us because we were
strangers.
Even though we had some major
obstacles to overcome, we knew we could
befriend them. Prior to our first day with
the youth, we participated in a theatrical
workshop to learn communication skills
and woke up each morning to learn some
Hebrew.
On the first day, we met our new friends

and, much to our surprise, they were all
smiling and excited to see us. We talked and
got to know each other even though there
were some language problems. Together,
we attempted a high ropes course. Shouts
of kol hakavod were heard from all over as
we cheered each other on and conquered
our fear of heights. After a zip line down to
the ground, it was time to say goodbye for
the day.
The second day, together with the Youth
Futures kids, we began a group project to
repaint a clubhouse where elementary-age
Youth Futures kids go for an after-school
extended-day program. There they get help
with homework, have a hot lunch and even
sleep there if needed.
When we pulled up, we heard our names
being called by the friends we had made
the day before. We talked as we turned the
gray fence to green and the chipped walls
became white. We learned what kind of
music they liked and what TV shows they
watched.
Though painting was hard work to do,
we still had fun doing it. By the end of the
day, everyone was covered in paint that still
won't come off, but the building looked new
again and everyone was extremely proud.
We spent more time together that day on
jeep rides, a real treat for them.
The third day was bittersweet, our last

day with everyone from the Youth Futures
program, whom we had grown to love
and care about over the past two days. We
started by putting the final touches on the
clubhouse and left our mark with a mural,
which said "dream" in Hebrew and English,
signed by TM08.
Tired, but satisfied with our work,
together we went to a park with natural
pools to go swimming. As splashing and
dunking contests went on, we learned the
life stories of our friends. We learned why
a middle school girl burnt the name of her
ex-boyfriend on her leg because he was the
only one who loved her. We saw a boy, who
had not swum since he was 2 because he
almost drowned, cling to a beach ball just
so he could be with us in the water.
And we realized how much of an impact
we made when tears streamed down their
faces when it was finally time to say good-
bye.
I have never had a better feeling than
when I realized I had touched the life of a
peer in need of a friend. Even though we
were strangers from opposite sides of the
world, we cared for each other. We may never
see them again, but I know I will remember
them and this experience forever. ❑

Hillary Hacker, 16, is a member of Congregation
Shir Tikvah in Troy.

Report on page A14

July 31 a 2008

A13