Summer of Opportunities - voices

“For the first time since the Gerush I haven’t thought about it for a whole day.” So said a 12 year old former resident of Gush Katif to his counselor.

This poignant statement was made during the course of a very special camp, the result of a unique collaborative effort of One Israel Fund, the Koby Mandell Foundation and Va’ad Mityashvei Gush Katif, the umbrella organization of the former residents of Gush Katif. The financial responsibility was borne by One Israel Fund, whose mandate is to support the communities of Yehuda, Shomron and Aza. OIF raised over $100,000 for this program alone, adding to the quarter million dollars raised for other needs of the refugees this past year. The staffing, administration and running of the camp was the purview of the Koby Mandell Foundation, experts in teaching terror and trauma victims the coping skills needed to deal with their situations. This is the 5th year KMF has run camps for terror victims, some of which ran concurrently with this camp. The Va’ad’s part was to choose the children from a broad range of the communities they represent.

The ‘Summer of Opportunities’ camp took place at Kibbutz G’vulot in the Negev from July 9th to 19th. 125 children ranging in age from 10-14 attended the sleepover camp, along with 40 staffers and professionals. They enjoyed swimming, trips to Luna Park, sports and other fun camping experiences, boys and girls separately. They laughed and played and drew pictures, stayed up late, were silly and carefree. Like campers everywhere.

They also, however, had many group support sessions with therapists specializing in children’s trauma, psychodrama and body/mind balance methods. Animals were brought to the kibbutz for animal therapy, and a local gardener and carpenter did therapy through their own areas of expertise.

Jackie Grossman, coordinator of counseling and support services for the camp, recounted the tensions inherent in the camp. One of the main issues was the dissonance between those from the ‘mamlachti’ mindset and others who are not; those who left the Gush ‘voluntarily’ before August 15th and those who didn’t. There is tremendous ambivalence and pain vis a vis the IDF, whose soldiers took them out of their homes and whose D9 tractors then destroyed them. Some of them have brothers and sisters who refuse to serve in the army; others have siblings who are doing national service or fighting in Lebanon. That seems to be the main distinction between their camp and that of the terror victims; the latter have anger against Arab terrorists, the former suffer from feelings of betrayal by their own people.

The children are also suffering from tremendous guilt, that they didn’t so enough, that they were too passive. The events of Amona made a huge impression on them in that regard. Some left for Shabbat, explaining that their parents needed them; others had their parents ask them to come home for Shabbat although they didn’t want to leave. The balance of their families has in many cases been disrupted,

Sagi Eckstein, the head counselor, shared feedback regarding the other counselors, many of whom are from Gush Etzion and Efrat, some who are themselves victims of terror and/or refugees from Gush Katif. The kids felt a tremendous level of warmth, caring and dedication from their counselors, that they listened to them, strengthened them and got them to cooperate and behave responsibly. The counselors quite quickly formed incredibly strong ties with ‘their’ kids, one even refused to leave ‘his boys’ although he was sick

Avital Sharansky spent the entire 10 days at the kibbutz, giving shiurim, talks on faith and many, many hugs. Her husband, MK Natan Sharansky, came for Shabbat and in addition to patiently playing endless chess games- including 7 simultaneous ones –he shared stories and answered questions about his many years in Lefortovo as a Prisoner of Zion. His oft repeated message was that he was able to hold out against the KGB and Soviet Union because he knew that the Jewish nation was behind him, that when there is unity amongst ourselves we can overcome even the most evil enemy. His words were underscored by the background booms coming from nearby Aza, and the news trickling in from the north.

Seth and Sherri Mandell were there for Shabbat as well; 2 of their children were counselors. Some of the children know them for their other camp, since even before the “’Disengagement’ some Gush Katif kids, sadly, attended the terror victims camp, begun by the Mandells after their son Koby was murdered 5 years ago.

One mother wept when she picked up her son on the last day. She hadn’t seen him so happy, smiley and extroverted in months, and had no words to express her gratitude for the wonderful time he had during the Summer of Opportunities

There has been media coverage of the risk taking behaviors that some of the Gush Katif teens have fallen into as a result of their anger, helplessness and frustration at their fate. As Jackie explained, children who are allowed to express themselves in a safe therapeutic environment have a better prognosis. It is a sincere hope that this camp may have provided some of these pre-teens with the tools to deal with the trauma of the last year and all the uncertainty and moves so that they will not go in that direction. There is no doubt that follow-up sessions- even a long weekend reunion in a few months- will only deepen those feelings of security, in an understanding, loving group environment supportive of the emotions that have been suppressed to a great degree.

If anyone would like to participate in a reunion mini camp please be in touch with…..