Background:
Though the Second Lebanon War lasted only 34 days, its effects deeply linger one year later in northern Israel, where more than 4,000 Katyusha rockets fell, killing nearly 162 soldiers and civilians, injuring hundreds more leaving a wake of trauma felt most keenly by children and teenagers.
A recent study of 500 northern residents found that over 40 percent of adults and 60 percent of children live in fear of another war, and separate research now being analyzed by the Israel Trauma Coalition from information provided by schools suggests that 28 percent of students show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. Further, 25 percent of elementary school and 20 percent of high school students said their studies were impaired and they are fighting more with their friends since the war. Thirty-nine percent of students said they felt bad things may happen again. Two-thirds of elementary school students and half of high school students in the north reported functional problems as a result of the war.
Need:
There is an acute need to provide practical stress release techniques and coping strategies for children, youth and adult caregivers to deal with the aftermath of the war. There is a particularly critical need for youth with special needs.
The handicapped, dependent upon others at the best of times, were particularly helpless during the war without the ability to run to a shelter in a short period of time. Shelters are not wheelchair accessible, leaving the students displaced, and in a particularly vulnerable position which exaggerated their disability because they become doubly dependent. Marginalized as pariahs of Israeli society, the physically disabled suffer complex levels of post trauma.
Located peripherally in the far north, the Galilee receives scarce community funding or services. There is not one government representative in the Knesset dedicated to serve the needs of this area. Support and services are distributed to the densely populated areas "closer to the plate" in the center of the country. In the north, people are left to fend on their own. Post-traumatic stress disorders as well as educational and economic stresses continue to cause hardships for many in the economically disadvantaged areas Akko and Nahariya close to the Lebanese border, both of whom were heavily bombed during the war.
Voices of Eden Healing Music Programs provide practical tools to deal with these pressures. The medically proven healing music of provides an effective means of stress release and post trauma treatment with multiple benefits:
1. It immediately calms and focuses the listener whether they are passively listening or actively engaged in making music. Develops specific methods for caring for oneself, so that in turn, we better know how to care for one another. This unique music's ability to invoke collaboration makes it a natural experience for community building.
2. The wordless modality bypasses the language barrier allowing the multilingual population to connect with one another. This also saves money for the social services system which in the north, suffers from financial pressures as well.
3. Long Term Strategic Impact by providing practical tools addressing sustained post trauma, for youth, the physically disabled and that they can carry share with others, thereby widening the reach.
The Program:
This year it is critical to follow through as research shows that the first year response to post trauma is shock. A report written by Joanne Loewy, head of the Louis Armstrong Music Therapy Department at Beth Israel hospital in NYC, who directed the post trauma program after the 9/11 incident, found that the most crucial time for successful intervention is the year following the direct trauma. During the first year, the body is still in shock and operating at a survival level. Sustained intervention begun in the second year has been found to be most effective.
Healing Music Project for Physically Handicapped & Disabled Terror Victims
Last year we began our new research with Kivunim-Knafayim (House on Wheels), an organization for young disabled people born with physical handicaps, injured through acts of terror, and victims of the second Lebanon War. The program last year provided an immediate means of stress relief for the handicapped youth following the war. Their participation in the scientific research project conducted during the project provided them with a sense of importance.
There have historically been very few programs available for young people with special needs after high school and NO options that encourage or facilitate their leaving home and becoming independent adults capable of running their own lives. The few programs that do exist, and which House of Wheels often works with cooperatively, typically address only one aspect of the person’s needs and do not focus on self-determination and real adult freedom as a central goal. Self care, social skills development are critical needs for this group. Following the war, it is even more critical.
While the program last year was successful (see attached letter of recommendation), it also taught us the importance of meeting within small groups to overcome the embarrassment, self consciousness, and other negative effects caused by group pressure.
This year's program consists of three phases to reach the following milestones:
1. Self Care Development. Through a weekly small group meeting, students will address issues related to acute post trauma through:
a. Learning stress release techniques
b. Listening to medically researched five element healing music
a. Learning communication skills through the five healing music elements
This phase consists of eight to ten meetings.
2. Social Skills Development. Within the small group meetings, the five healing music elements will be taught to the students for practice within small groups:
a. Listening Skills
b. Receptivity to others
c. Response to the other
When the students express themselves, it builds self confidence. This phase consists of eight to ten meetings.
3. Leadership Development.
A monthly meeting will enable the students to incorporate what they are learning within the smaller groups. This will culminate at the end of the year, with a music program that the students give themselves. Using the music to express social skills and develop leadership qualities provides the students with self confidence. The self care techniques that they learn help them to clearly express themselves and to take more risks in public. This same skill is crucial for taking care of oneself in times of trauma.
This phase consists of four to five meetings
2007-2008 Program Expenses: $36,800
Project Direction, Training and Supervision $25,000
1. Weekly workshop and intervention - consists of individual treatment and small group intervention of 2-3 people for a group of 17 people including a staff of three volunteers.
2. Monthly group intervention program.
$400 x 24 weeks
$ 9,600 Gas and Supplies $500
Sub-Total $35,100
(501c3) Administration - World Trust Foundation $1,700
Total $36,800
A report will be provided at the end of the year to show how the funds were used and what the results were of the program. Updates will be also given during the year as special milestones are achieved.
Voices of Eden is a project sponsored by the World Trust Foundation (
www.worldtrust.org) whose mission is to IGNITE, EMPOWER and UNITE the youth and young leaders of the world, to create a culture of peace. This project facilitates solutions in the areas of: Social Change and Music and the Arts.
Please make donation checks out to:
World Trust Foundation – Voices of Eden Project
World Trust Foundation
3727 West Magnolia Blvd. #467
Burbank, CA 91505
The Voices of Eden project has been supported for four years by a small family foundation and donations from private individuals. I have been running this project by the skin of my teeth and it is time to grow. Your contribution provides the proverbial and literal glue enabling this very worthy project, proven medically and in practically in the field to provide practical means for stress relief which can help to transform the lives of many people.
Thank you so much for your consideration. You truly make a difference.
Sincerely,
Eliana Gilad
Founder