A summer of healing for Israeli kids
Camp helps children who’ve lost family to suicide bombers

MSNBC, July 12 2002

http://msnbc.com/news/779671.asp?0bl=-0&cp1=1

NEGBA, Israel, July 12 — There are those too young to vote or to fight, but who are victims in the Middle East violence: the children. It’s summer vacation time for kids on both sides of the conflict, who’ve lost brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. And there is a special summer camp for Israeli children, inspired by a terrible common bond.

NINE-YEAR-OLD Pesi Roth kisses her parents goodbye and heads off on a bulletproof bus for a week of summer camp like no other. On a guarded kibbutz in southern Israel, Pesi is part of an experiment in rebuilding shattered lives.

“I try not to think about it because when we think about it it makes us really sad,” says Pesi.

The Israeli girls are casualties of terror.

“These kids have had their parents blown up; they’ve had their siblings exploded from being healthy, vibrant people to nothing,” says Sherri Mandel, co-founder of the camp.

Pesi’s older sister, Malke, was killed with 15 others in August, when a suicide bomber set off an explosive full of nails in a crowded pizzeria in Jerusalem.

Many of the targets for suicide bombings, like that pizzeria, have been rebuilt. Life in Israel goes on, but for the hundreds of families of the victims of terror, it will mean a lifetime of coping with loss and pain.

The camp is a start. Pesi makes friends with girls like Noah, whose brother was killed when Palestinian gunmen attacked his school. The girls are living the same nightmare.

“Hyper-arousal, unease, feelings of extreme tense throughout the day,” says psychologist Tamar Levi.

At camp, the children learn to bond, playing games that rekindle trust and bring back a smile. The camp is a place to share horrible secrets without feeling different from other kids.

“They tell me what happened to them, I tell them what happened to me,” says Pesi. “We say what we feel like.”

But camp therapists admit progress will be slow.

“Sometimes they are very tired, and sometimes you can see a girl or two going aside and don’t want to do anything,” says child therapist Lali Alexander.

Seth Mandel says the idea for the camp came after his own son was murdered in a terror attack last year.

“His spirit at least, his strength in the world — it keeps him alive and it gives me a purpose,” says Mandel.

The camp is soon to be followed by one for boys, then mixed groups, as the healing grows.

“I feel happy because it’s fun here,” says Pesi

The camp is part fun, part therapy, and a big dose of love for these innocent victims of hate.