Meeting Achiya and Joy

I once again spent an amazing week at Camp George, and, as always, I was able to see our kids enjoy water skiing, swimming, overnight trips, arts and crafts and so many other activities. Camp is a safe place where our kids can together openly enjoy that they are Jewish! They meet other Jewish kids from Ontario, northeastern US and, of course, many campers and counselors from Israel. They attend daily services, sing the blessings, before and after meals, do a lot of socializing, and have a whole lot of fun.

And there is one other aspect of camp I want to share with you, and that is the excellent social action opportunities that the kids are involved in weekly. It is a program called ‘Barak Gives Back’. This is a program that weekly has the 12,13-year-olds help out in and learn about the Parry Sound community, the Indigenous people in the area, and oft times, something very special about Israel.

During my week, the campers in the Barak Unit were divided into groups. One group volunteered at the local Sobeys, encouraging donations (and got a lot of food and monetary donations) and making lemonade for the donors. Another group did some gardening for the Parry Sound Museum. The 3rd group went to the seniors home and entertained, played games with, and talked to the seniors. And the group I was with went to CMHA, and learned, from the Indigenous presenters, about the healing programming for troubled youth/ adults in the community, and the use of Indigenous symbols to help in this healing. The Camp George kids then decorated rocks for serenity and peace (many painting the word Shalom on the rocks), and then we took a 2 km walk to add our rocks to the healing path.

The last program I want to share with you was for the entire camp population (although done in 2 parts- one for the junior campers, and the other for the senior kids.) This was a very sensitive presentation done by a group called “Israel Guide Dog Program” and that is the place we met Achiya and his dog Joy. In 2013, Achiya was leading his men into one of the Hamas tunnels to stop it from being used to enter Israel and attack. Unfortunately, the tunnel had been booby trapped and a bomb exploded burning Achiya’s entire upper body, breaking numerous facial bones, leaving many bits of shrapnel in his body and permanently blinding him. He took the brunt of the explosion, and his men were only slightly injured. Achiya’s presentation only briefly touched on the explosion and, for the younger campers especially, was explained in a gentle – not terrifying way. Achiya’s main goal was explaining how he was able to overcome the tragedy, stop just feeling sorry for himself, regain his independence and create a bold and fulfilling new life. With the help of his special and loving guide dog, Joy, Achiya has made a new life. He has married, had 2 children now, has continued to work on logistics for the Israel Defence Force, is actively involved in the para-Olympics and does many presentations in both the Jewish community and the wider community. He shows us all how to be strong, how to meet adversity with resilience, and how we, as Jews, know that the commandment is to keep living! He explains how important Joy is to his independence, and how these guide dogs become best friends with their owners, As Achiya did his presentation, Joy lay beside him, and in a smaller audience, Joy could have been petted, but there too many kids in the audience. The lessons that Achiya’s survival taught are invaluable. The children saw strength, confidence, faith, hope and the power of not giving up, of seeing that life can go on even after tragedy. It would be wonderful if we could get Achiya and Joy out to Solel, and I am looking into that possibility. But even if that doesn’t work out, I just wanted you to know about Achiya and Joy and this amazing organization called the “Israel Guide Dog Program!

And now from the Botnick family (and I am including my recently born first great grandchild Rachel) Shanah Tovah Umetukah!

Filed under: Educator's Message

« Read more articles

---