Achuzat Sarah
- Bnei Brak, Israel
The children who live in the Achuzat Sarah Children's Home consider this
their home. There are 160 children between the ages of 5 and 14. Nearly
70 percent of the children have backgrounds of parental rejection, abuse
or neglect. Others are recent immigrants with no family in Israel. For
all of them, a strong sense of identity and self-worth is the key to succeeding
in education and interpersonal relationships. Thus, each child receives
intensive individual attention and encouragement from the dedicated staff,
which includes a full-time doctor, dentist and mental-health professionals.
Fifteen young women doing National Service are always available to listen
and help with homework or special activities. The kitchen and maintenance
workers also develop living skills and responsibility.
Achuzat Sarah has well-equipped facilities for a wide range of after-school
activities. The children are encouraged to develop their talents and capabilities
in areas ranging from music to computers, from sports to sciences. They
become involved in community activities through
volunteer work such as delivering food to the homebound elderly or visiting
patients
in hospitals and nursing homes.
In the years since it first opened its doors in 1955, the Achuzat Sarah
Children's Home has given hundreds of children the basis for successfully
completing their education, serving in the army, becoming self-supporting
adults and building stable family units. 40-50 children are on waiting
lists for each available bed. These children are desperately crying out
for your help. They are the hope of our future, and if we neglect them
it will be our loss.
The path back to emotional security and normalcy is often long and difficult.
A whole team of counselors, care givers, psychologists, psychiatrists
and special teachers are always there for the children. In our EMUNAH
residential homes, the children find an atmosphere of
warmth, love, and stability.
However, for all of these children, success in their studies requires
intensive help. EMUNAH is committed to providing the children with the
assistance they need - psychologists to help facilitate trust in building
healthy relationships; special education professionals for the many
children who suffer from severe learning disabilities; physical, occupational
and speech therapists are necessary to help those with developmental delays.
All children receive tutoring and remedial help to ensure that they can
keep up with their class.
Bet Bogrot
Bet Bogrot, EMUNAH's newest project for girls ages 13-18, offers continuity
of care to our most vulnerable teenage girls. After experiencing the horrors
of abuse, domestic violence or extreme poverty, Achuzat Sarah has been
the haven providing security, love, and encouragement needed to grow and
mature.
Our goal is to keep the girls in this warm homelike atmosphere. With
the assistance of the counselors and staff that they know and trust, the
teens can continue to gain self-esteem, grow emotionally and spiritually,
and become responsible and productive adults in Israeli society.
Our girls in Bet Bogrot continue to blossom. One graduate is now doing
Sherut Leumi. Next year she will attend university. Three additional girls
will receive their high school diploma this year. Two girls will do Sherut
Leumi and one will enter into the army. The most important issue being
that they will be going into society as an equal among equals and deal
with life. These girls have been at Achuzat Sarah since they were 3, 4,
and 5 years old. We are all excited when we say that not only do they
have a chance to succeed in life, but perhaps they have succeeded to break
the vicious cycle of distress.
Today we can truly say that the Bet Bogrot was not only a necessary endeavor,
but also a successful one.
