Israel
Tikun Olam Project TEN aims for the stars
Project Ten Durban’s activities in its first two months show the incredible passion and creativity that this group of young Israelis is using to assist South African NGOs and government agencies in KZN.
ANT KATZ
After his first experience of a South African township two years ago when he arrived in South Africa as the new shaliach of the Israel Centre and other Jewish Agency (JAFI) projects, Aviad Sela says that “I knew that Project TEN was something that JAFI and the South African Jewish community could do to make a difference for underprivileged communities.
Sela was speaking at the welcoming of the first cohort of young, skilled, Israeli volunteers in Durban last month. “The entire purpose of this project is based on tikkun olam,” Sela told Jewish Report at the time. “It is not advocacy, not hasbarah or politics. We just want to share what our heritage has taught us, namely to help those less privileged than ourselves.”
And have they ever…
South Africa Director of Project TEN, Shani Silove, has worked tirelessly for several months getting the project up and running, bringing in Volunteers and actioning her agenda (see links below).
The centre, only the sixth of its kind outside Israel, is already making its mark. It will be officially opened in February by none other than long-serving JAFI head Natan Sharansky, who will be retiring shortly thereafter.
In her closing message for the year, Silove told JR Online that she wished to express a huge thank you to her talented volunteers, and especially to Tamar Unger and Dori Hauser for writing and designing their “fantastic December newsletter.”
The Project TEN concept is based on Jewish volunteers who come for three-month rotations to the country – young dynamic Jews who want to make the world a better place, says Sela. They pay their own way and simply want to do something to improve the world.
“While we may not have the scale,” Sela told JR Online last month, “Jews and Israel have incredible values to give. Every time there is a mass disaster in the world, be it in Haiti or Nepal, the question is always who will be the second to be there.”
He said: “As Israelis are always the first responders on the ground.”
To communicate with Project TEN by email, click here: ten.project.dbn@gmail.com
Related Reads
- SEVEN MORE STORIES on Project TEN Durban on JR Online
- November 2016 Newsletter (PDF)
- December 2016 Newsletter (PDF)
- Project TEN’s own website
- Tikkun olam is the moving force behind Project TEN