![A volunteer driver with a patient]()
A volunteer driver with a patient
Dear Supporters and Friends,
This quarter we were excited to see 35 volunteers join our organization following the airing of a story on Israel’s TV channel 11 about our trip coordinator for the central region (see attached link). In addition to driving patients, our volunteers continue to engage in activities that strengthen connections with patients and their families. Following are two examples:
- About 15 volunteers came to the village Idhna near Hebron to console the family of a young patient who died recently. The family thanked the volunteers for helping drive the patient from Tarkumia crossing to Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv for many years and with much dedication.
- Our volunteer Doron Peled obtained from an Israeli child safety organization a brochure in Arabic that explains the proper way to secure children in car seats. We expect that the brochure will help passengers ensure the safety of child patients when they travel with our volunteers.
Recently, our volunteer N. shared the following story.
A WhatsApp message from Yoni, a trip coordinator, popped up at 6 PM “Who can take three people from Sheba hospital to the Reihan border crossing?” It was good fortune that I was close to the hospital, that the patients were released on time, and that Reihan crossing was not far away from my home. When I arrived at the Sheba Pediatrics Department, the J. family was waiting for me: mother, father, and a small child. The parents pushed the child, who was wrapped in a blanket, in a wheelchair. The child could not stand. The father laid down the child on the back seat. The mother sat near the child, the father sat next to me.
We began our drive home. We spoke a bit in Arabic, a bit in Hebrew. It turned out the boy had been in the hospital for a month. He had undergone head surgery to remove a tumor. The mother did not leave the hospital and was with the child the whole time. I wondered how she coped with having her family far away. Who visited the child and mother? I tried to imagine what it would be like in the mother’s situation, it was difficult. I had difficulty breathing, I was not sure why.
We stopped to refuel on Route 6. The car needed gas and I needed a break to catch my breath. The attendant at the station was an Arab from Baqa. Gladly he translated a few sentences for us from Arabic to Hebrew, and took a picture of the father and me. The mother refused to have her picture taken. The father told me his family was originally from Megiddo, not far from Haifa. They had run away to Jenin in 1948, and were there since.
We continued driving. Suddenly I realized, there was a reason for my difficulty breathing—their story reminded me of my own painful story. It was 1997 in Jerusalem. Yonatan was born three months prematurely. He was tiny, weighed 2.11 lbs. I realized that the little boy, who was lying on the back seat wrapped up in a blanket, took me back 21 years. We were a young couple, away from our family, helpless and fearful. Our tiny baby was attached to tubes and had to remain in the hospital. We went home without our baby. A month and a half later, Yonatan was released from the hospital. We were concerned about his health, and did not know whether he will recover or suffer long-term damage. We went home: mother, father, and a baby wrapped up in a blanket. Thank goodness, Yonatan is 21, strong and healthy. It turned out the difficult memories of the winter of 1997 were still with me.
We arrived at Reihan crossing and said goodbye. The father got the child in the blanket out of the car. Someone picked them up to take them home to Jenin, on their road to recovery. I wished: may they arrive home safely, may the child recover and grow strong, may the parents have a peace of mind, may it be so …
With your help, this quarter we funded 22 trips from Gaza to hospitals in Jerusalem. We are grateful for your support,
Yuval Roth and the Road To Recovery US volunteer team
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