Press

The decisive moment in the life of Hitam Abu – Bader occurred a few days after graduating from her school in the Bedouin town of Likia in the South.

“I come from a community where it is not the done thing for young girls to be out alone in their village after dark and especially outside of the village” she says.

“A few days after I finished high school I went to have fun in Beer Sheva with some school friends and when we had finished I rang my father and asked him to come and collect me.

His answer was what’s the matter, they don’t have buses in Beer Sheva.

You have to learn how to manage in this world and to look after yourself”.

“This minor event actually had a huge impact on how I manage my life.

Since that moment I know that everything is up to me and that no-one will control me, tell me what to do, what is allowed and what not.

My parents taught me to believe in myself and my judgement and every day I thank them for that”.

Her parents educated all their children to be ambitious and independent in complete contrast to the traditional conservative atmosphere in a Bedouin village.

These attributes served her well as she forged her path in early adulthood as she was the first youngster to establish a Krembo Wings branch and began to integrate special needs children with their peers, as Krembo is the only Youth Movement that caters for both.

Hitam became aware of Krembo Wings in her role as Youth Director in the large Bedouin town of Rahat, and as such was responsible for all kinds of volunteer programs for the youth of the town.

“I was very ambitious with a strong will to succeed.

I would spend hours on the internet looking for activities that would work in Rahat.

And then I came across Krembo Wings so I rand them up and asked them to send someone to Rahat”.

Thirty one year old Hitam was born in Likia, where her father had three wives and she has 16 siblings.

Despite this large family and the wide age ranges, her parents ensured that they all got on well together, and they all remain in contact to this day.

She began to become a social activist after school and volunteered for a year of service with the Scouts.

She volunteered in villages in the south where there was no after-school informal educational framework.

“I would visit these villages where there was great frustration about the lack of facilities and all the time I asked myself why is it that these children have no framework in the afternoons”.

“Why can they not have what other children throughout the country enjoy.

I then began to get involved in all sorts of volunteer projects in my community.

In my community, children with special needs were considered sick and therefore there was absolutely no interaction with other children in fact they were even harassed.

The idea of bring children with disabilities to the Youth Centre was unheard of”.

She continued her Social Studies at Sapir College.

“My parents were unable to support me financially but gave me great moral encouragement.

Without their guidance I would not have dared to leave our village to study.

I would travel every day by bus to college and felt proud I could do so”.

After Hitam completed her studies she began her work in Rahat and subsequently brought Krembo Wings into the Youth Centre.

“This was a big thing since the only framework for children with disabilities was the local school for children with special needs.

No-one took these children into account and there were no activities available for them.

There was a great deal of ignorance and shame about these children and the idea of having activities for them in our Centre was a complete revolution”.

It was difficult at first for the residents of Rahat to accept Krembo Wings and many of the parents, both those of children with and without special needs, were fearful of sending their children to such an activity.

But Hitam does not give up easily.

“There was no appreciation of the needs of children with disabilities.

In fact there is very little understanding of this complex problem in Bedouin society and when I introduced Krembo, while the children wanted to attend their parents were reluctant to send them.

The idea that teenager was capable of looking after their disabled child was difficult for the parents to accept.

It took a long time to get over their fears”.

When the local Krembo branch opened Hitam left her position in Rahat and began to work in her current role as the Regional Coordinator for Krembo Wings.

The success of the Rahat branch led to the opening of additional branches in Bedouin villages both in the South and the North.

“There is a great feeling of satisfaction every time I open a new branch and it is difficult to express this feeling in words.

In many of the Arab and Bedouin communities there are no activities of any sort for the youth.

So while opening a Krembo branch in the Jewish sector provides an answer for children with disabilities, in many cases in the Arab and Bedouin communities this also provides an answer for all, and that is what is special about my work.

” Hitam says that her work with children with special needs has changed her and to look on her life and surroundings in a different light.

“When I first began working with the movement some four years ago, I was really quite unaware of the whole subject.

I thought that children with special needs should remain in their own framework and I had no interest in what was happening with them.

The first time I got to a special needs school I was quite terrified about entering.

But then I started to arrange meetings between them and the volunteers and I was quite astounded at the results.

I understood that if a 15 year old volunteer could meet up with special needs children who have difficulty in communicating and yet have a normal social experience – than there is no reason why I cannot.

I was actually quite ashamed of myself.

This feeling and experience was something I wanted to explain to the entire Arab and Bedouin community.

I wanted them all to experience this feeling of shame and the barriers that exist are there to be brought down.

I was able to show to the parents what progress their children with special needs made in such a framework and the parents were quite amazed at the difference in their children, they even contacted ne and told me how their children had changed.

” Apart from having to break down these barriers, Hitam had to make many adjustments so that these meetings would be successful in the very conservative Arab and Bedouin society.

“Our branches in Arab towns and Bedouin villages are different.

Take for example the very conservative town of Arara, and when we opened the branch there the girls were not allowed out of their homes alone in the afternoons and they certainly were not allowed out to participate in hikes.

And also girls were not permitted to volunteer with boys.

Our ideas made the parents extremely worried and so we were required to make all sorts of changes to our program.

For instance we shortened the length of our hikes and changed the times of our weekly meetings to make them suitable for where we were working.

We made these changes as we were determined to succeed with this section of society.

I met with all the parents and explained to them how we worked and the progress made by the participants with special needs which was entirely due to this hard work of the volunteers.

All the parents were surprised at what their children had achieved and they contacted me and told me how their children had changed, and especially their girls.

This for me was a very powerful message – that we could introduce change into even the most conservative of places”.

“I believe that our local council heads must place the requirements of special needs children in the public discourse and that we must increase awareness on this subject and include all of those with special needs within our society.

We have caused a revolution wherever where ever we operate and made the local population see things in a different light.

These are changes we need to introduce all over and quickly especially in Arab and Bedouin society.

When I visit one of our branches there, I feel that I am in a different world.

It is quite impossible to describe when a child with Cerebral Palsy begins to communicate and to smile.

Every child with special needs to be able to have this experience, be they Jewish or Arab.

They live together in a crowded flat in Tel Aviv each learning to live with the others disabilities and they are all there in order to work with children in the Special Needs School System.

Eleven youngsters, members of the Krembo Wings Youth Movement, three of whom are on the Autistic Spectrum, one with Cerebral Palsy, but all of whom decided to give a “Year of Service’ in this first of its kind commune.

Something really annoyed Yaheli, an 18 year old on the Autistic Spectrum in the small jammed ground-floor communal flat of Krembo wings in South Tel Aviv.

It was a simple request, to tidy up their joint lounge, but it was something which made him lose his cool and shout in frustration.

“It was my turn to tidy up but I hadn’t a clue what to do” he explained.

“I simply do not understand concepts such as ‘clean’ and ‘orderly’.

I don’t understand why others think it is a mess.

I asked what to tidy up and where things go but no-one answered me.

I asked again and once more I was ignored so I didn’t bother cleaning up.

Then one of the girls asked me why was I not tidying the lounge so I shouted at her – My dear, how am I meant to tidy up if you don’t explain to me what needs doing”.

So she said “why do I need to explain to you” and went off in tears to the girls’ bedroom.

I needed to calm myself so I sat down and understood that the other commune members did not appreciate that for me things are different, that I am unable to comprehend simple social situations which for them are quite normal.

After a couple of hours I knocked on her door and sat down opposite her, looked her straight in the eyes and said “I am sorry I shouted at you, I was just at that moment very confused”.

Yaheli Pridan is one of the members of this Krembo Wings commune in which 11 youngsters, four of whom have special needs, will be doing their year of service.

This is a prototype to involve youngsters with special needs in such an activity.

For the past year they have all lived together in a small flat in the Kiriyat Shalom neighborhood.

During the day they work in Special Needs Schools.

Together they face the struggles and challenges arising from the differences within their group, experience situations and crisis’s which they have never faced in the past, are exposed to special needs, but all the time are going through a complex process of accepting others.

The commune has an annual budget of NIS350,00 which is covered by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defense, Tel Aviv municipality and by donations to Krembo Wings.

Their flat has two bedrooms, for the four boys and seven girls, a lounge and kitchen, one shower and two toilets.

When I met them in the afternoon, the lounge had already been tidied.

Meital and Inbal had come to Yaheli’s help and together had made the place tidy.

Now everyone was sitting on the couches and chairs – Yaheli, Meital, Almog, Inbal, Lotem, Shelo, Dennis, Tam, Taylor, Binna and Tal.

Each of them come from a different part of the country, from Karmiel, Givat Yehoshua, Bnei Atarot, Nof Hagalil, Modi’in, Yokniam, Hadera, Givat Shmuel, Tsuriel, Rehovot and from Jerusalem.

In a couple of weeks they will have completed an important year in their young lives and move on, some to the Army others to civilian service and they will be replaced by the next cycle.

Lotem Hanoni was born with Cerebral Palsy.

She has a limp and suffers when she has to stand for lengthy periods.

She studied in the school system with the help of an assistant and was successful in her studies.

“My teachers were so pleased to give me my graduation papers but socially it was very difficult for me.

My peers did not accept for who I am, they saw that I limped and therefore thought I was weak, that I could not be part of their social group and that hurt me greatly.

They did not mock me to my face but always looked at me as if to say where on earth did she come from, there were some days when I go home I burst out crying.

My mother helped me all the time, encouraged me to continue and not to give up.

Through her I understood that I am not the problem, I am what I am, it is the other children who are unable to appreciate the other and the different.

” In tenth grade her life changed when her Mother took her to the local branch of Krembo Wings in Modi’in, to where they had moved after her Mother divorced.

“From my first branch meeting I found my second home.

Suddenly I felt, for the first time in my life, that I am an equal, that I am accepted with all my difficulties.

You have absolutely no idea how that made me feel.

I was in the clouds because all of a sudden I was surrounded by a supportive social framework and I felt my self-confidence growing.

I was counsellor to a slightly backward sixth grade member and I felt I was doing something important.

Then I was given another two members, one also slightly backward and the other was in a wheelchair.

I gave them my heart because that is what I see in others.

I am not judgmental but try to give each child the belief that he is not alone in this world, but rather that they can totally rely on me.

My members became close to me, I become close to them – it was most empowering".

Lotem was a Krembo counsellor for three years in her local branch and on graduation wanted to continue her involvement with Krembo Wings.

She was fortunate because just then the decision was made to open the first diverse commune.

Krembo Wings was established in 2002 with the slogan “together to make a meaningful place for all” to day operates some 65 branches from North to South with 6,000 active members, youngsters, counselors, coordinators, and other leaders.

The idea of a commune was first mooted last year.

“There was a groundswell demand for it from those with special needs who very much wanted to integrate into the Year of Service program” says 27 year old Gaya ben Sira, the Mother and Father of the Tel Aviv commune.

“We understood that we needed to establish a commune in which we would be able to integrate youngsters with special needs.

We knew it would be a big challenge and that it would require a sizable budget and that it would need my own personal involvement as well as that of a psychologist.

As a movement which believes more than anything in the integration of youngsters with and without disabilities we decided that it was important to start this project and face whatever difficulties may arise”.

Over 120 youngsters applied to be accepted for our first commune, including Lotem.

But only 40 were able to be accepted for the communes which opened in Tel Aviv, Hod Hasharon, Kiriyat Gat, Beer Sheva and Nof Hagalil.

“I wanted to continue in the movement for another year before volunteering for the army” says Lotem “I was interviewed for the commune by Gaya and Daniel (Daniel Ofek – responsible for the Krembo Wings Year of Service program) and when Gaya told me that I had been accepted I was both overjoyed and a little nervous.

I was worried about living in a flat with 10 other youngsters I had never met and also form living away from my parents for the first time.

I was concerned that they would not take into account my walking difficulties and that I would require extra sleep because of the efforts I would need to make.

I am also very close to my Mother, who always cared for me, so that leaving her and home was a big move.

” In August 2017 Lotem and 9 others arrived for their first day in the Tel Aviv commune.

“In the beginning it was really difficult for me” she recalls “We had rows about every small issue, what to eat, where to shop and all sorts of silly things.

And then I had my own personal issues.

Sometimes they would urge me to walk quicker from the bus to home or to the shops, and this would upset me.

I even rang my Mother and cried down the phone that here, of all places, they did not understand my disability”.

“The others got angry with me, some thought I was not making a big enough effort, didn’t tidy up or cook, and it took me a long time to do more but in the end I learned.

I learned to initiate, to join in and now I already know how to make whatever type of eggs are required even excellent pancakes, just ask anyone”.

Meytal immediately nodded her head “Lotem makes great pancakes”.

“One day, Inbal turned on the light and I got really angry as it woke me up and she was angry that I slept so much.

I had to explain that I got tired easily and needed more sleep.

One of our team, without special needs has other problems, everything worries her but none of us appreciated this difficulty.

Any loud noise would disturb her even in the middle of the night.

Sometimes we had to call Gaya to come and help.

But after several incidents Gaya explained to us that she has a nervous disposition and we just needed to understand.

That is the great thing about the commune, you learn to understand the difficulties of others.

I feel that over time they all appreciated and accepted my difficulties.

Today when we all go out together, we allow an extra 15 minutes so we are not pressured for time and sometimes if we have been out late we come home by taxi to make it easier for me.

I have also learned to live in a group, to make compromises, to realize that I am no longer living with my Mother.

I have learnt to shop, to participate and contribute as much as I can”.

In the mornings Lotem slowly walks to the bus stop, it takes her 12 minutes and then by bus to her school in north Tel Aviv, as school specially for children with serious difficulties.

She helps them get to their classrooms, feeds them at lunchtime and generally helps the teachers any way she can.

At the end of the school day she returns to the commune, has something to eat and then goes to the Bat Yam branch of Krembo Wings and works helping the counsellors.

Nineteen year old Almog Shimchon comes from Karmiel.

Until last year she had never heard of Krembo Wings until she heard about them from a friend.

She thought this would be a big challenge and decided to join.

In the beginning she was worried about life in a commune “This living together concerned me.

I had never worked before with people with special needs and was anxious as to how I would manage.

I had too many preconceived notions.

I was concerned that we would not be able to go out and have fun together, that I would need to look after them all the time.

When I first got to the flat I was in shock.

Not because of the special needs as I immediately saw they were well able to cope but because of the disgusting state of the flat.

It was filthy.

A different Youth Movement had used the flat previously and never tidied anything when they left.

That first night I cried and we all slept together in the lounge as the bedrooms were not yet fit for use.

It was difficult for me to understand the huge change in my life.

After a few days we held our first joint evening activity in a nearby park.

I sat and was bitten to death to such an extent that I had to return to our flat.

Ten minutes later the whole group arrived back at the flat and said that if I couldn’t be with them then they would be with me.

Suddenly I felt part of a group”.

They all go home once a fortnight.

“The first weekend I stayed in the flat” says Almog “I couldn’t stop cleaning everywhere and felt that all the others were doing nothing.

I really got fed up with them all.

It was only after a long session with Gaya and Lior (Lior Dayan our psychologist) that I realized the need for compromise and acceptance”.

The notice boards are full of notes with instructions of what needs to be done including one long list of all the names and their special needs.

One had written ‘I have severe OCD’ and another ‘I have changing moods’ neither of whom had been diagnosed with special needs.

There is also a daily schedule and the evening options range from sundown on the beach, pizza evening, film, sushi night, and more.

Almog continued “We have gone through a lot here.

For instance I have learnt to sleep with the light on and to wait my turn for the shower when we come back from the beach.

We have also got over our food issues as sometimes we argued over ridiculous things.

At the beginning we did not talk about the fact that we were a mixed group – and that annoyed me – why not talk about the elephant in the room.

We felt we could talk about anything but not about our special needs”.

The commune leadership were also unsure as to whether it would be a good idea to hold such a discussion.

However a couple of months ago they talked to all the youngsters and for Almog this was a huge relief.

The discussion was open, frank and valuable to the group.

Yaheli is sitting on the couch wearing a blue skirt, her movement shirt and sneakers “I have begun wearing a skirt recently.

I suffer from sensitive skin and slacks bother me as do jeans.

Generally I do not like being hugged and I hate noise.

When 10 people all speak together it annoys me so I put on my headphones and go to my room.

I also suffer from too much light and certain types of food.

For instance I cannot eat salad so whoever is making breakfast prepares me something different so that I can also join in breakfast.

” He grew up on Moshav Bnei Atarot with two older brothers.

He speaks with great fluency while all the time playing with his hands and often doesn’t look you in the eye.

“Up to third grade I went to a regular school but I got thrown out in the middle of the school year due to behavioral problems.

Due to my social difficulties I began hitting other children so everyone distanced themselves from me.

The headmistress really hated me.

I was diagnosed in tenth grade everyone thought I was ‘hyper’ with attention and concentration difficulties so I was given more and more Ritalin.

It helped but made rather lethargic”.

He studied in both regular and special needs schools “In the special needs schools the relationships between the pupils was quite appalling, we would shout insults at each other.

In tenth grade I went back to a regular school and there I understood that I had to take myself in hand and make a serious effort to get on with the other pupils.

I really suffered in school.

There were tests when I never even went into the classroom as I knew I would fail miserably.

And then I was diagnosed with Asperger which is on the Autistic spectrum.

I then started to get all sorts of help.

Oral tests, help with reading and on computers, they forgave my spelling mistakes, and so on.

Suddenly the teachers understood my difficulties and so did I”.

At age fifteen he joined the Krembo Wings branch in Yahud.

“A good friend of my joined and persuaded me to come along.

I never said what my difficulty was – It’s not that I have a problem talking about it but did not want to raise it immediately.

I had a member called Orly who was also on the Autism spectrum.

I helped her with all sorts of things, became close to her, and that was important for me.

Despite all my difficulties it did not stop me from doing good and important things just like normal people.

In the commune I have learnt something important, that there are people with obvious special needs and others where it is hidden.

Each of us have our own particular disability”.

For the entrance test for the ’Year of Service’ program despite his great motivation he was not accepted.

Gaya explains “We were not aware he had been diagnosed, all we saw was that he had communication difficulties so we thought the commune would not be suitable for him”.

But he did not give up and tried again.

His school contacted Krembo and explained what his difficulty was and so a month later he was given another opportunity.

“This time I brought my diagnosis with me and I spoke about my difficulties, about who I am, and also that I very much wanted to be accepted and to be accepted as part of the group, an equal among equals, and this time I was accepted.

He describes his first day in the commune thus “It was as if I had landed on Mars.

The flat, looking after ourselves, living with others in such a small flat – all seemed to me to be totally weird.

In the beginning I was a loner as that id how I deal with new situations.

On the other hand I am very vocal and make my opinion heard.

I always thought that arguing helped me learn and develop, but this was unacceptable to the group so gradually I learnt to be more tolerant with others in the group.

For instance one of our members observes Shabbat so we agreed we would leave a light on during Shabbat in the lounge and kitchen.

The first Shabbat it really disturbed me as I need complete darkness to be able to fall asleep.

So I found a book, went into the lounge and read all night long.

But I needed to find a permanent solution for Shabbat so I completely covered my bed with sheets and blankets so that no light could penetrate and thus managed to sleep”.

He also travels by bus every morning to the school to help the children with their studies and in general.

“I help to feed them, to wheel about those on wheelchairs, whatever is needed.

In the early afternoon I return to the commune, have lunch and a short rest, and then go out again.

Part of the week I spend with ‘at-risk’ children in Beit Danny which is in the Hatikva Neighborhood helping the basketball coach give lessons.

The rest of the week I go to the Krembo branch in Ramat Gan”.

I decided to accompany Yaheli and Inbal, an energetic and charismatic 19 year old from Jerusalem, on their way to the Ramat Gan branch.

It was easy to see that the members who were waiting outside really love them.

“Here’s Yahelli” one shouted “Wow, great haircut!” It was not difficult to feel and see Yahelli’s satisfaction while another of the members was busy hugging Inbal “I haven’t seen you for three whole days and I miss you”.

Yahelli is going over the equipment list with one of the local leaders when he sees one of his favorites, someone with Downs Syndrome.

“It really is so important that someone like this has such a supportive environment.

” It is evening and all in the commune are summing up another long day.

Inbal picks up her ukulele and begins to strum.

Bina and Tal come to listen as do Taylor and Yahelli.

Lotem is completely exhausted after her work in the Bat Yam branch.

“This has been such a wonderful year for me” she says “I began with great fears and tears and here I am finishing up with great satisfaction and a great feeling.

And by the way I have now volunteered for the Army and in three months I will be joining the Intelligence Corps.

” I ask her for what position.

That, she answers with big smile, is a secret.

The youth movement delegation from Krembo Wings was invited to bring its message of social change, which it is leading in Israel, and explain its activities to the member countries of the United Nations.

It was the International Day for Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities and attending the session were Youth Delegations and UN Agencies working with the future generations.

The UN headquarters chose to place the subject of the integration into general society of people with difficulties on the world agenda in 2015.

Representatives of Krembo Wings, the only Youth Movement in the world that integrates in its social activities youngsters with and without disabilities, had been invited to the UN with the aim of revealing its mode of operation and also in order to bring the message of social change and equal opportunities for all in the framework of a Youth Movement that caters for youngsters with and without disabilities.

Participating in the delegation were Nir Bronstein, Chairman of Krembo Wings, Hadass Shtenger, Head of the Training Division, and Mai Ophir, a member of the Hod Hasharon branch.

The members of the delegation spoke in the framework of a discussion on “Bridging the Gap – social involvement of youngsters with disabilities”.

Mai Ophir, aged 17, told the audience, “Krembo Wings is the only place where I am not judged by my appearance.

I understand that it is difficult for people to look at me because of my disability.

Separation between children causes alienation and isolation, and this is some ting we must change, and quickly, because everyone deserves a social framework”.

Nir Bronstein, Chairman of Krembo Wings, and father of 15 year old Tal, his daughter with disabilities and a member of Krembo Wings added “One day, Noam, Tal’s sister, brought home a friend.

As their father I was worried how Noam would introduce her disabled sister and whether she would feel any embarrassment.

Noam was showing her round the house.

She entered Tal’s room and quite openly explained that she was her sister, and that she didn’t talk, but that she is charming and much loved.

At that moment I understood two things, firstly that Noam was not in any way embarrassed and that for her to be Tal’s sister was absolutely normal.

But more importantly I learned that children, have a far better understanding and acceptance level than adults, and as such they are better equipped to lead social change and to make this world a better place, just as thousands of youngsters, with and without difficulties are doing in our Youth Movement Krembo Wings”.

This week saw the beginning of our three day Summer Camp which is devoted to giving a special holiday to children with disabilities.

Thousands of our members and counsellors met on the Golan Heights to participate in the annual Krembo Wings Summer Camp.

This was an ideal way for them to end the summer break.

“Here, they are able to enjoy a Summer Camp experience like participants in all the other Youth Movements”.

Despite many efforts over the past few years, to formalize activities for children with disabilities and their parents during the summer holidays in a suitable framework, there is still no legislation covering this problem.

Inevitably, whenever there is such a vacuum, then the various NGO’s such as LifeLine, Akim, Alut and others step in to fill the gap.

All of them are dependent on donations to allow them to carry out their vital work.

Krembo Wings is no different from any of the others in this respect.

So this week saw the beginning of the annual Krembo Wings Summer Camp.

Thousands of our members look forward to this annual event the whole year which is held at the Golan College in Moshav Hispen, which has been specially adapted to make it accessible to all.

Together, members and counsellors, parents and family members will enjoy three days of action packed fun filled activity specially designed to allow all, irrespective of their disability, to join in the fun.

The cost for this three day camp ranges from NIS2,000 to NIS5,000, as the activity has to be specially adapted to be accessible to all.

This is a huge sum for most of these families, and due to this high cost and even with a special Krembo Wings subsidy, there remain some 3,000 members we are unable to accept for budgetary reasons.

Apart from the activities provided by various organizations, The Ministry of Social Welfare provide a very minimal subsidy for participation in summer camps.

However this small subsidy is only available for certain places none of which are suitable for children who require accessibility.

“Without Krembo Wings, these children would not have such an activity, they cannot go to the Scouts Summer Camp or any of the other Movements camps, but here they enjoy all activities just like everyone else” says member Tal Bronstein.

“It’s great fun to go away for three days and to be able to enjoy oneself and to leave the ‘disabled’ feeling behind.

Here I am accepted as an equal” says Michal, a summer camp participant.

“This is the pinnacle of her summer” says Michal’s father Harel.

“Since the end of school, she has been waiting for the Krembo Wings summer camp to begin.

This is the first time that Michal has been able to enjoy a summer like any other child, because everywhere else accessibility problems prevent her from attending”.