Volume 7, Issue 7 / Tammuz 5764 / July 2004
Educating to Give
"I teach my students to give for the sake of giving," says Ahouva Elbaz, a dynamic elementary school teacher from Gilo in southern Jerusalem. A recent graduate of a Leadership Development course at the Gilo Community Center, Ahouva and other participants now have the motivation and tools to give to the entire community as volunteers.
The Gilo Community Center is twinned through the Partnership 2000 section of the Jewish Agency with the Sephardic Community Center of Brooklyn since 2001. The Leadership Development course is one of the various connections between the two communities.
Until taking the course, Ahouva's connection with the community center was as a mother whose two daughters were enrolled in various activities. Occasionally, she would praise the community center or suggest improvements which basically affected only her daughters.
Ahouva heard about the Leadership Development course from Yaffa Sheetrit, deputy director of the community center. "We came to the course without expectations," says Ahouva. "Facilitator Aliza Shevo of the Community Center Association helped us think big and try new things. We then realized that we had a sea of possibilities to help Gilo residents. I am interested in social welfare and environmental issues, but I chose education. Through improving education – you get to influence these issues also."
It was only natural for Ahouva to get involved in education given her background which includes an MA in Educational Administration, serving as grade coordinator and active in her school's management. Teaching for over 30 years, she has been a home room teacher since 1987 in the Gilo Gimmel School, a community school. Around the holidays, its students visit the neighborhood's elderly, collect food items for needy families and hold clean-up campaigns. "It takes a community to make a child", states Ahouva. "The connection between students, school and community is important. Students develop values towards their surroundings which then extend to the world."
The goals of the projects are to increase intervention and activists for education, help weak students, improve achievements, and change Gilo's image as having underachieving students compared to other Jerusalem neighborhoods. "Some students leave the neighborhood schools to learn elsewhere", according to Ahouva. "Among our goals is to have all students remain in Gilo schools which should be geared to outstanding students as well as to those with difficulties."
The four educational projects chosen by Ahouva and her team of five course participants will be implemented as a pilot in the Gilo Gimmel School. Ahouva explains their approach to the projects: "We didn't choose a project just because it is feasible – but one that would succeed. We presented realistic and unpretentious goals. Every small success would bring about some progress."
Together with the community center's summer camp, a readiness program to ease the move from preschool to first grade will offer lessons with a certified teacher, learning computer skills and educational games.
The challenging transition from elementary school to junior high is addressed by Ahouva and her team through a program of professionals giving lectures about emotional aspects like social pressures and coping in new surroundings.
Another program will extend the third graders' school day by two hours with a nutritious lunch, help in homework, learning English in a different method and activities like chess, self-defense and dance. "These programs depend on our using professionals and also on our marketing them," notes Ahouva, who has a stack of colorful fliers to give out at the community center.
During a visit in June of staff and members of the Sephardic Community Center (hosted by their Gilo counterparts) a fourth program was initiated. Throughout the year, the visitors from Brooklyn will volunteer in the Gilo Gimmel School, enhancing the students' English proficiency through conversations and classes.
Ahouva learned in the course project assessment methods. She also learned how to work with the authorities, and having access to professionals who know about these authorities. "What was really good in the course was matching the volunteers with the professional staff of the Gilo Administration. They are very helpful and we have their support and understanding." Ahouva meets regularly with them and the other team members to implement their projects. "This gives me strength," Ahouva says. "I would very much like to continue with giving to the community."
Credits: Text by Batsheva Pomerantz / Photo by Douglas Guthrie
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