2008 Woodie Awards
Undergrads Address Situation in Sderot
Liat Segal
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Israel
On March 2, Stern College for Women (SCW) hosted an inter-campus event to fundraise and generate awareness about the danger-fraught situation in Sderot, Israel. Coordinated by Ayala Kurlander (SCW '10) and Max Saltzman (YC '09), the program was sponsored by TAC, SOY, the YU Israel Club, One Family Fund, and Hagshama.
Undergraduates from across the city attended, including eight students from Queens College, five from Baruch, and half a dozen from New York University. In total, approximately 200 students attended.
Noam Bedein, founder and director of the Sderot Media Center, addressed the attendees and informed them of the background and current state of affairs in Sderot. After his presentation, students were given the opportunity to decorate gifts and cards for the town's children.
The town of Sderot was established in 1951 and is currently populated by approximately 20,000 lower and middle class Israeli citizens. During the past seven years, more than 8,000 rockets have targeted the town, launched from Palestinian terrorist cells in Gaza. "Every single street, road, family… has experienced a rocket slam nearby," Bedein explained.
Using several video clips, Bedein demonstrated how Sderot residents run for cover from qassams (homemade mortar rockets) upon hearing the "tzeva adom" or "color red" alert blaring through loudspeakers all over town. From the moment the red alert is sounded, residents have a mere 15 seconds or fewer to find shelter. For this reason, Sderot inhabitants must take special preventative action, such as not wearing seatbelts while driving so that they can exit their cars more quickly if necessary. Bedein described the difficult decisions with which parents are often faced when they hear the alert, such as "which child to grab first and protect?"
Through both his talk and multimedia presentation, Bedein portrayed the psychological damage that the current circumstances in Sderot inflict on people living there. Residents interviewed in the videos reported that many among them are now dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), often characterized by panic attacks, severe nightmares, bed-wetting, or even seizures. These symptoms appear among children and adults alike.
Undergraduates from across the city attended, including eight students from Queens College, five from Baruch, and half a dozen from New York University. In total, approximately 200 students attended.
Noam Bedein, founder and director of the Sderot Media Center, addressed the attendees and informed them of the background and current state of affairs in Sderot. After his presentation, students were given the opportunity to decorate gifts and cards for the town's children.
The town of Sderot was established in 1951 and is currently populated by approximately 20,000 lower and middle class Israeli citizens. During the past seven years, more than 8,000 rockets have targeted the town, launched from Palestinian terrorist cells in Gaza. "Every single street, road, family… has experienced a rocket slam nearby," Bedein explained.
Using several video clips, Bedein demonstrated how Sderot residents run for cover from qassams (homemade mortar rockets) upon hearing the "tzeva adom" or "color red" alert blaring through loudspeakers all over town. From the moment the red alert is sounded, residents have a mere 15 seconds or fewer to find shelter. For this reason, Sderot inhabitants must take special preventative action, such as not wearing seatbelts while driving so that they can exit their cars more quickly if necessary. Bedein described the difficult decisions with which parents are often faced when they hear the alert, such as "which child to grab first and protect?"
Through both his talk and multimedia presentation, Bedein portrayed the psychological damage that the current circumstances in Sderot inflict on people living there. Residents interviewed in the videos reported that many among them are now dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), often characterized by panic attacks, severe nightmares, bed-wetting, or even seizures. These symptoms appear among children and adults alike.
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