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Yahel - Israel Service Learning

Program Reviews

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Danielle
25
Non-binary
United Kingdom
1/5
No, I don't recommend this program
Program:
Yahel Social Change Fellowship: The Grassroots Israel Experience

Wouldn’t recommend

Mar 11, 2022

While I really loved my placements, the programme itself was an experience I wouldn’t want to repeat. Staff were unsupportive and created an environment of intolerance. 20% of the Yahel programme of 2021-2022 left early. Plenty of conversations were opened about what could improve the programme but they were not open to hearing this. More than half my city left early. They failed in their duty of care numerous times and I experienced prejudices and discrimination. Wouldn’t recommend. After countless attempts at trying to talk to them, I emailed Masa and was asked to leave the following day. I was the 4th person to leave that week.

What would you improve about this program?
Firstly, I would take into consideration accessibility issues and accommodations.
Secondly, I would introduce a zero-tolerance policy to discrimination from placements. People I lived with were exposed to Antisemitism, which caused them great distress multiple times, and the response was gaslighting. I would introduce a policy whereby programmes who do not take prejudice seriously would not benefit from fellows. I experienced discrimination based on my LGBT identity and disability and I believe these are protected characteristics.

Thirdly, I would invite speakers from multiple political positions and backgrounds. There was a real shortage of mizrachi and female speakers. Issues were also presented in a very biased way with the intent for fellows to absorb their coordinators politics; which I think is immoral.

Fourthly, I would locate options for fellows to access therapy. A lot of the placements are emotive and having one therapy sessions (where the contents of discussions are told to the programme) is insufficient.

Finally, I would make some serious changes to the health and safety on this trip.
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Alexa
30
Female
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program
Program:
Yahel Social Change Fellowship: The Grassroots Israel Experience

The best summer of my life

Jun 12, 2018

I spent a summer with Yahel’s Jerusalem service learning trip and it was an incredible experience. We had a home base in a big building in Kiryat Yovel, where we all worked in different capacities in community service. I worked for the most part in manual labor projects with teens from the community. Despite the language barrier, I learned so much from them and from the program and felt amazing about the physical impact we had on our environment. We did everything from gardening to picking up trash to painting houses. As a program, Yahel also took us on amazing excursions to meet all kinds of people and we discussed our intended impact for social change in sessions as a group. I loved every second of it.

What would you improve about this program?
This program was amazing, but could have been improved by open and honest discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was the one subject that was really tiptoed around.
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Jacob
31
Male
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program
Program:
Yahel Social Change Fellowship: The Grassroots Israel Experience

A Great Post-University Experience

May 4, 2017

For the last seven months, I've been volunteering in Israel under Yahel. It's been a complete and total blast. I'm doing a lot of volunteering for the local community of Rishon LeZion, mainly teach and tutor kids English. I also had the chance to learn Hebrew, meet some great people both inside and outside my program, and explore Israel in new and exciting ways, like learning all about the Ethiopian-Israeli community.

I'd highly recommend this program for anyone who just graduated from university and is looking for a great way to spend the year.

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Ilana
30
Female
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program
Program:
Yahel Social Change Fellowship: The Grassroots Israel Experience

Participant's Experience

May 4, 2017

I had a great time as a participant on the Yahel Social Change Program! As a member of the Lod Cohort, I volunteered in schools, an after school program for Ethiopian-Israelis, and led an English club for Arab high schoolers, however everyone was really able to shape their experience and volunteer with whatever type of organizations inspired them.

Our apartment was a beautiful two story space with a giant porch that wrapped around and all the amenities one could hope for. The neighborhood was close to the center and a mixed population. While Lod wasn't the safest city in the country, the program did a good job of keeping the participants safe while still showing us lots of sides of the country we wouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity to see.

The staff did a good job of helping out when we needed it and keeping their distance when we could figure things out on our own.

Overall would highly recommend.

What would you improve about this program?
The program is a little small which meant we really had to build connections outside of the program which was a little difficult with the language barrier. Yahel would be perfect if it was a little bigger and did a better job of teaching us Hebrew.