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24 HASHALOM March
2017
March 2017
HASHALOM
25
A photo with Yoav and his wife and myself in Israel before Rosh Hashanah
When DIVOTE brought
Yoav to South Africa
By Cheryl Unterslak
On my very first trip to Israel working with DIVOTE, I went to deliver
gifts of love and support to a family who had suffered from acts of
terrorism twice that year, which was at the beginning of the second
intifada. The family had lost one sister in a bus bombing and a few
months late another sister was injured in a suicide bombing.
They are a wonderful loving Moroccan family, who have suffered
physically, emotionally, mentally and financially. The family had a
son by the name of Yoav who was a teenager of fifteen at the time,
and I was so impressed with him as he was such a mentch. One
of the gifts that DIVOTE gives to the children affected by terrorism
is the opportunity to go to an after school lesson of their choice
that can help with their healing and to give them some happiness.
Some choose, art therapy, horse-riding, backing lessons, and this
wonderful young man Yoav chose to learn to play the guitar.
DIVOTE paid for him to attend guitar lessons for three years and
he absolutely loved them and we always got such lovely feedback
about how well he was doing. DIVOTE also brought Yoav and five
other children affected by terrorism to South Africa to go to camp
at the end of the year and to see a bit of South Africa, this was done
to also give them a break from the trauma in their homes and Israel
and for them to relax and to have some happiness.
Over the many years Yoav finished school (he was the youngest),
and DIVOTE was not in contact with the family any more.
In the middle of 2016, I received a message via Facebook asking me
if I was the Cheryl Unterslak from DIVOTE and it was from Yoav. I
was so happy and excited to hear from him again and below is the
first message that he sent.
“Hi Cheryl, this is Y oav, a lot has cha nged i n my life si nce
we last spoke. I am now ma rried a nd soon we will be havi ng
ou r f irst child. I wa nt you to know that beca use of you a nd
DIVOTE
givi ng me gu ita r lessons, I went to u niversity to study music
a nd I now have a masters i n music a nd I tea ch music a nd
I have concerts, a nd pu blish my music.
Cheryl I wa nt to tha nk you a nd DIVOTE for a ll
that you gave to me; I will never forget what
you did for me a nd my family. I lea rnt a lot
about bei ng good a nd about givi ng to others,
from you.
If you still ru n DIVOTE I wou ld like to help by
tea chi ng a ny of the family’s music or a nythi ng
else that you need”
During my last trip to Israel, I meet with Yoav and his very lovely wife,
and we had time to catch up. I was able to give him a baby bag for
their baby son, filled with gifts from the DBN community, as well as
a brand new pram that was given by a lovely family in Johannesburg.
It was so special to see how the love and support from the South
African community had touched Yoav and his family’s life, and how the
generosity of DIVOTE and the Moshal family had changed his life and
had given him a career!!
Soon after chatting with Yoav we heard about a sixteen year old girl
who was badly burnt a year ago in a bombing and was recovering.
Adi asked if we could help her to learn to play the guitar. When we
discussed this with Yoav he was very excited and went to see her
immediately and started teaching her guitar once a week at no cost,
and he tells me that she is very talented. Yoav was so happy to have
the opportunity to be able to give back.
DIVOTE and one of the DIVOTE volunteers in Israel gave money to
purchase a good guitar for Adi and Yoav went to pick it out for her and
gave it to her. The guitar lessons give Adi a lot of happiness and
perhaps it will also give her a future career.
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