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May 5, 2000/30 Nisan 5760, Vol. 52, No.35
Oases of hope
Donations aid 'slip-through-the cracks' causes
LENI REISS
Senior Contributing Editor
Noga Shiloah sits at her desk. The poster behind her advertises the Jerusalem Rape Crisis Center.
Photos by Leni Reiss |
Just minutes from the tumult and traffic of Jerusalem's Ben Yehudah pedestrian mall, up three steep flights of stairs and in five rooms overflowing with people and paperwork, the Linda Feldman Rape Crisis Center is an oasis of hope for women in need of its services.
Founded by a group of American-born women living in Israel in memory of a friend who was killed in an automobile accident, the center provides services and other assistance to survivors of rape and sexual assault.
Center staff members work as well within the community to reshape societal attitudes toward sexual violence.
One of the many small "slip-through-the- cracks" causes supported in part by the Scottsdale-based Tzedakah Fund, the center has been in operation since 1982 and only recently moved from cramped 1 1/2-room quarters to its new location.
Since the fund's inception in 1984, founder Stan Mayersohn has signed checks totaling $331,000 to numerous special needs throughout Israel, including $193,700 in the past five years. Distribution is determined on the basis of allocation ballots received from Valley contributors.
Center Director Noga Shiloah notes that most of the rape center's financial support comes from similar private donations.
"For many years it was 90 percent from North America," she says, "but now Israelis are starting to lend their support." Giving money, in addition to time, is a new concept for Israelis, she explains, one that in recent years is becoming more prevalent in the Jewish state.
"By a conservative estimate," Shiloah says, "one out of every five women in Israel has experienced or is experiencing sexual harassment, in childhood or inside the family. What we need to do is to get to these women. Silence (in the Middle East) is so strong within the family, even more than abuse. Most rapes we deal with are rapes by people the victims know and trust."
"We have gotten permission from the Jerusalem municipality to escort victims through the legal process," she continues. "We have learned how to put pressure on the system and pursue justice. But it is a very hard process - and not all women are up to it."
Among the center's goals are for women police to do the questioning of the victims, and for longer punishments for perpetrators.
The center maintains a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week hotline, with 70 volunteers manning the phones.
All volunteers complete a rigorous three-month training process. They learn listening skills and techniques, "but most importantly," Shiloah says, "they learn to be non-judgmental and to help any woman who calls, Jew and Arab alike."
There is a separate Arab hotline, "because Arab women have different needs. You try to get a name - to get them to meet you. Getting them to admit anything is a real challenge."
The center's paid staff of six and a dedicated volunteer base of more than 100 women and men facilitate workshops in schools and army bases and escort survivors to hospitals, to police stations and to court.
Among the volunteers are five Arab women, "some of whom come here in their traditional garb," Shiloah says. "We were surprised at first to see them, but we have come to realize that this is beyond politics. It is a sisterhood."
Across the city is another Tzedakah Fund beneficiary, Mish'aul ("Pathway"): The Israel Center for Augmentative Communication and Assistance Devices. It is located within the rehabilitation department at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus in East Jerusalem.
Established by a group of rehabilitation experts, the program aids individuals who aren't able to communicate through normal channels of speech and writing, due to severe motor and neurological impairment. Coordinator Judy Wine, a speech and language clinician, explains that this includes children with cerebral palsy, children and adults with Down's Syndrome or other forms of mental retardation and those who are deaf and autistic. Patients also include adults recovering from strokes and from closed head injuries due to accidents, and those with progressive diseases including Parkinson's and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), she says, is a relatively new multidisciplinary field designed to meet these patients' communication needs.
"To give you an idea, she says, "we use sign language, communication boards with pictures, symbols and/or words and letters of the alphabet, portable computers and devices specifically dedicated to spoken output."
She talks about Amir, who, at age 49, suffered a stroke and now is non-speaking and wheelchair-bound.
"Amir communicates by pointing to letters on an alphabet board, a laborious process for him and his communication partner," she says. "New developments in the field, though, will enable him to communicate more effectively using an enlarged computer screen."
And then there is 19-year-old Shoshana, who suffered two strokes at age 12 which left her severely disabled and with a serious speech impairment. "Shoshana has just completed high school with high marks, and did her exams orally because she is unable to write,"
Wine says. "She now is learning to use a word processing program. By operating a single switch, she can take notes during class."
Communications systems for Amir and Shoshana were developed at Mish'aul. The goal is to provide such individuals with programs that can be implemented in their natural environments, Wine says, "so they can interact to the best of their ability."
"No one else in Israel is doing this work," Wine says. "We concentrate on assessment, on consultation, on the dynamic discovery of the abilities of the people whom we serve. Our tools range from low to high technology, from battery-operated toys and pictures cards to sophisticated, computer-based programs."
Wine credits past gifts from the Tzedakah Fund with the purchase of a small, lightweight voice output communications aid that makes it possible for children "to engage in a meaningful conversation for the first time. What an exciting moment that is," she says, with a catch in her voice.
For information about Tzedakah Fund, contact Stan Mayersohn at 7840 E. Camelback Road #301, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 or call 602-945-5354.
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