Haiti and Israel

It’s been 10 days.

Ten horrifying days filled with death, destruction, fear, horror, sadness and loss. But yet, there is hope. There is community and camaraderie. There is song and prayer. There is a world coming together to help a neighbor who has suffered the pains of a natural disaster.

There has been tremendous praise for all the volunteers who have devoted countless and sleepless hours, digging, searching, calling out for survivors. They too are in danger for the Earth has not stop stretching. Witness the rumbling of the aftershocks, almost as fierce as the first quake.

In all of this chaos, there has been an extraordinary example of order. The Israeli Defense Forces arrived on the scene just hours after the devastation became known to the world. Two planes, two 747s—one filled with sophisticated medical equipment, the other with medical specialists—left Israel and flew to Haiti to set up a field hospital that rivals many permanent facilities in many parts of the world.

The IDF field hospital in Haiti has a fully equipped children’s department with nine pediatrics doctors, where the young victims of the earthquake,  are being treated. Dozens of children have been cared for, including a young brother and sister who were rescued by an American team, after being trapped for seven days in the rubble. As with other rescue teams, the Americans transferred them to the Israeli hospital, because it is the best equipped and offers the best care.

There is a maternity ward. IDF nurses delivered seven babies to mothers who must have been so scared that they would never make it to a hospital or that they might not deliver their babies alive. Yet, the first baby born after the quake was a boy. He was born with the help of Israeli nurses. Healthy. His grateful mother named him “Israel.”

So far, 383 people have been treated in the hospital, among them dozens of children. 140 life saving operations were performed.

Who are these people who have committed to stay in Haiti for more than a month? To leave their own families behind, 6000 miles away?

These wonderful citizen-soldiers are ordinary people who serve in the military after high school and remain in the reserves for 20 or more years. Each year, they are called for duty, leaving families and jobs behind for weeks at a time. Dedicated, devoted, diligent, and dutiful, these men and women may very well be the creative artists who, when at home, sit in comfortable studios and craft the most beautiful designs from metal and gemstones. The same Earthly elements that came crashing down on the heads of the Haitians. These are the people I usually write about, whose jewelry you can see on my website. They are artists and they are soldiers. It is the same nurturing spirit and emotion that drives them to help others and also sparks the artistry that we can pin to our lapels or drape around our necks or adorn our fingers.

Israel is a remarkable country, as I’ve told you before. Only the size of New Jersey, with a population of 7 million, it is surrounded by enemies sworn to her destruction. In spite of, and because of, this neighborhood, Israel has honed its emergency skills. What this expertise allows them to do is on display in Haiti. They are always the first to offer help and arrive on the scene whenever and wherever disaster strikes.

In the days after Hurricane Katrina, even while she was under missile attack from the terrorist organization Hezbollah, Israel loaded a plane with clean drinking water, food rations and experts in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and flew to the stricken areas of the Gulf. Israel was on the ground in Turkey, Spain, Kenya, Indonesia, all corners of the planet, when there was a catastrophe.

It’s part of the Israeli soul, this worldwide caregiving. More than just chicken soup, Israel’s recipe for being a member of the world community is to jump in when needed. Without being asked.

Please watch these videos. If you are human, you won’t be able to keep from shedding a tear. It’s a joyful one. So go ahead and cry.

~ by From Israel To You Jewelry on January 23, 2010.