Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Monday in Sderot, Kiryat Malachi, Hof Ashkelon, Nov 19

late: Monday, November 19, 2012,    E-mail update from Tzachi, our TIPS Partnership 2gether JAFI Director


Dear all, Shalom
 
In today's update I would like to tell you about a day on my job in Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon …
 
All started with quiet night, some may say too quiet… in this war you may never know. But thank G-d we had quiet night. However the morning started witha  few "red alert" calls. My wife and kids are away, up north with her family; those who know me know how much I waited to be with them again and now we need to be apart…
 
6:26am – wake up call, my wife Orna, "are you ok?" early morning Red Alert in Hof Ashkelon, Shaar Hanegev and Eshkol – A.K.A the area surrounding Gaza.   "Sure! I am fine! Do not worry…" I finish the call and get deeper into my small room in Sderot to my "safe area"…
 
6:45am few more rockets,  a few more "Red Calls"… I am ok\\OK. 
 
7am getting ready try to get a shower – YES!! no calls, no alerts – I am clean!! Breakfast and off to work.
 
8am Kiryat Malachi, almost no one in the streets. I can see group of soldiers helping and supporting the local community, mainly the adults and the new immigrants… Dvora and Daliya (the TIPS chair)  told me they are going door to door making sure each individual knows where he must go if siren goes off again.
 
8:30am meeting with Dvora at the Kiryat Malachi's Emergency Operating Center, an underground bomb  shelter that was renovated some years ago with the help of our partnership communities. Perfect time to say THANK YOU AGAIN!
 
9:30am 2 vans with JFNA solidarity mission from USA arriving together with Mr. Alan Hoffmann - Director-General and CEO – Jewish Agency for Israel . Dvora and I are welcoming them, talking about KM, the partnership. We are visiting the mourning families of 3 victims; we see their house, the black hole that used to be home only few days ago…
 
11:15am on the way back to Dvora's office in city hall, SIREN… ha ha, imagine this… Dvora and I rush out of the car, lay down on the ground, hands on head, waiting… BOOM! – The report will say "another successful hit for the Iron Dome…" but for us…funny / bonding / terrifying moment.
 
12pm  Hof Ashkelon, meeting Revital at Hof Askelon's Emergency Operating Center, also a big underground bomb shelter, renovated with the help and the support of the partnership communities… Revital is supervising and organizing the logistics and transportation.
 
1pm lunch time, I am on a diet, so no thanks, I go to my office, try to reply to  some e-mails… SIREN!!! Rushing down again to the bomb shelter… shame, they didn't finish eating, food can wait – life is much more important…
 
1:15 SIREN again,,, a few minutes after the last one, again… HOW CAN I WORK?!!
 
4pm   back to Kiryat Malachi, Daliya is back from work in Jerusalem and finally we have time to chat. We dare to go out and we sit at the "Good Old Joe" – the coffee shop that looks so empty today.
 
5:45pm back to Sderot, on the radio I hear the reports "Red Alert in Sderot…" and I am thinking about my kids, up north, away from all of this…
 
6:30pm Eshkol, my other partnership, long chat with the Northeastern NY Federation, they had to postpone their Mega Mission to Israel 70(!) members… everything was ready for next week… but who can blame them?…
 
A few more calls, some e-mails, and many hopes for quiet night and peaceful days…
 
LAILA TOV
Tzachi – Sderot

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