גוינט ישראל | עט השדה גליון 14

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The second Field Journal article is Ronit Bar’s journal of three days

of learning in Eastern European communities. Bar, who heads JDC-

Ashalim’s VolunteerismArea, shares with readers the experience of

her professional trip on behalf of JDC to Russia and Moldova and

also enables the reader to see the interesting connection between

theory and practice. In contrast to the other articles in this issue,

Ronit’s journal offers a professional story from the standpoint

of an expert on volunteerism who is in the midst of the program

development process and who knows the theory well. Ronit Bar’s

journey gave her an opportunity to see and to learn from up close

in a different environment. The professional experience , which

she was exposed to on this trip, was an opportunity for her to

conduct a discourse with the practical work being done in Russia

and Moldova, and to raise questions and new insights. There is no

doubt that the professional trip was a challenge. On the one hand,

how does her previous knowledge and familiarity with volunteerism

connect with promoting volunteerism in the new communities that

she met in Russia and Moldova? On the other hand, how does

all she has just seen, influence what she already knows about

volunteerism in Israel?

Reading Corner, the part completing the current issue, enables a

close-up view into the lives of children, youth and young adults

who are in situations of risk. Itzik Zehavy, head of Ashalim’s

Interdisciplinary Unit, participated in Dror Education Centers’

annual conference and suggested sharing with readers the words

that were written by children and counselors from the Eshbal Youth

Society. How appropriate. Too little, but not too late. The words of

the two poems that Itzik chose, again remind all who accompany

populations at risk, from service developers to policymakers, of the

importance of listening to, of discourse with and of the participation

from the children and youth themselves. As it arises from all of the

materials in the current issue, the power of relevant and authentic

practice does not rest only on the various theoretical discourses,

but rather also and mainly on their relevance to the voice of the

population for which they develop solutions.