„Gottes Worte sind starke Felsen in der Wüste, Felsen, aus denen Quellen fließen,
damit die Seele nicht verdurstet.“ Dorothea Unbehend
“God's words are strong rocks in
the desert, rocks from which springs flow, so that the soul does not die of
thirst.” Dorothea Unbehend
Ursula, a German Hineni volunteer
who was unable to fly back to Germany and is stuck in Israel for the time being,
gave us this encouragement today.
Despite the fact we didn’t have a
delivery to make yesterday, the Hineni volunteers had been very hard at work
and many meals were prepared.
Today it took a while before
Kochava received the final order from City Hall – who continue to drive them
crazy with changes in addresses and totals. “Two deliveries,” she texted. “One
to Pisgat Zeev and one to Gilo.”
“We are on our way!” I texted back.
On our way to the center, we again
passed two police check points. We see an increase in drivers being checked and
read about the steep fines some people get when they are on the road when they
were supposed to be home. Some are even arrested!
The volunteers, some new faces,
were still busy filling the meal boxes with the freshly cooked food that was
still warm. An official from the Municipality came in to check if Hineni was
allowed to be open and told the workers to keep a distance of 2 meters.... Bit
difficult if you are filling the meal boxes.
More and more people are wearing
face masks, but the only one we have is a dust cap...
The Jerusalem Post reported this
morning that the Mossad (Israeli Secret Service) was able to obtain 10 million
more protective masks for Israel, a few dozen ventilators, tens of thousands of
test kits, some 25,000 N95 masks.
Mossad Director Yossi Cohen now heads
a special command center along with other national security units and the
Health Ministry. Cohen has taking over the country’s efforts to purchase
medical equipment from countries with which Israel does not have diplomatic
relations, (e.g. in the Persian Gulf).
The big question is: will they
start selling the simple masks to the general public in the supermarkets? I
decided to look for a YouTube tutorial on how to make them myself, but wondered
where to buy the elastic that is needed. That kind of ‘non-essential’ shops are
closed...
But first things first: write
today’s blogpost.
In Pisgat Zeev’s ‘Golden Colony’ we
put 50 meals near the entrance, where three female IDF soldiers appeared who
are now assisting the general public.
“We only need 30,” the Russian resident
said.
“No problem.” I set aside the 20
meals. “Can I take a picture, please? These meals were donated by Dutch
people!”
“Wait, wait!” a woman sitting in a
parked car called. “Can I also be in the picture? With my new yellow vest? Is
there Gouda cheese in the meals?”
We love the quiet roads, but it’s an
eerie quiet. From northern Jerusalem we drove south again to Hostel Gilo where
we could bless Roslan and Israel with an extra 20 meals. They are always so
grateful.
“What kind of hostel do you run?” I
wanted to know.
“We look after people with mental
handicaps, who live on their own, but in a protected environment,” Roslan
explained. “We are expected to provide three meals a day, but how can we do
that, if there is no help from the Ministry of Social Welfare?” Both men looked
haggard and stressed. “We didn’t receive any meals yesterday, so today is such
a blessing!”
I know that there are hundreds of
people like Roslan and Israel, who have the responsibility over many special
needs people, and have to make do with almost nothing. It’s about time
journalists start writing more stories about the hardships many are facing on
this side of society instead of constantly droning on about the political
situation...
We know that Israelis are becoming
more and more stressed because they are stuck at home and not allowed to work,
(or who lost their job) worried sick about how to pay for food, rent, etc.
Daily, we encounter the people that have to work, sometimes extra hard and long
hours. These Israelis look tired and stressed, not because they are afraid to
lose their income or their job, but they are worried about getting infected.
Often, they also have their family at home.
We try to encourage people as much
as we can, but it’s so little and the needs are so big.
Today, we received our official “Mitnadev
basherut Iriat Jerushalayim”- “Municipality Jerusalem Volunteer” permit
which we’ll show if the police stop us.
We’re ready to do what we can,
blessed and honoured to be able to serve the people of Israel.
