Educator: Omri Cohen
Date: 03/23/2020
Place: Akko
My name is Omri Cohen and I am 28 years old. I work for the Noar Over v’Lomed Youth Movement and have been part of the Dror Israel's Educators Community in Akko for 7 years.
This past week my friends approached me with a request to start a childcare for the children of people who still need to go in to work.
Before I could understand where this would happen, how old the kids were, and for how long we’re even committing to, I jumped up and said “Yes!” That is the spirit I was brought up in in the movement- solidarity and lending a hand. I did not want to just sit at home while there were civil servants and the workers in the medical system who needed help while they were saving society.
With this drive I joined a project to have fun with the children of the employees of a hospital in Akko. We are running activities for these kids until the night before Passover and the kids are mostly kindergarten age. When I found out the age group of the kids I realized I had dove head first into deep waters- I’ve never worked with kids this age!
We quickly formed an amazing staff and together we got a figurative toolbox of how to run activities for young kids, how to build fun days and how to run a childcare that will also reduce physical contact between the kids to zero in order to stop the spread of coronavirus. Up until now we have been coloring, running, playing, dancing, yoga and even singing fun songs that we wrote about leaving Egypt! (The theme of the childcare is the story of Passover).
The days are long and exhausting, but our hearts grow from the warm thanks we receive from parents, the amazing staff we built, and seeing all the kids who end the day with a smile on their face tell us they’ll see us tomorrow. I want to thank Inbal who is leading us and my whole staff from Dror Israel- “Every morning we start anew”.
Commentaires