|
VISIT
OF THE SINCLAIR HOUSE PROFESSIONALS (LONDON, UK)
TO JCC BEITH DAN (KHARKOV, UKRAINE)
This visit became possible as a
continuation of the Mentoring programme launched by the WCJCC and the
AJJDC. The results of the four visits to Kharkov JCC by Neil Taylor
(Jewish Care Community Programs Director) were so
overwhelming that all the parties felt urgent necessity to
pursue the project ahead with a possibility of establishing a
PARTNERSHIP between Kharkov JCC Beith Dan and a JCC in London
– Sinclair House.
On February 5 – 9,
2006 a group of JCC professionals headed by Zhanna Maistrenko (Beith
Dan director) made the first work visit to Redbridge (London, UK) to
learn about the Jewish Community and organizations supported by Jewish
Care and look into the possibility of building a strong partnership
between the two JCCs. Their main destination was Sinclair
House. The programme also included visits to Jewish Primary and High
Schools, JCCs in other parts of London, meetings with the staff and
board members of these organizations as well as with the local
authorities (see the PowerPoint presentation of the visit here).
On October 16-19 Kharkov JCC Beith Dan welcomed a group of
professionals headed by Mr. Carmel-Brown, manager of Sinclair House
JCC, for their return visit from London.
During
the four days of their stay in Kharkov the professionals from Sinclair
House learned about the Jewish community of the city: they visited
Hesed Welfare Centre, OU Jewish school, Synagogue, Holocaust Museum and
execution site, and made home visits to Hesed clients. All the four
days were saturated with work meetings and communication between the
specialists of the two JCCs in the premises of Beith Dan.
During
the first day the introductions took place and expectations from the
visit were discussed. On the second day the
director of Sinclair House Daniel Carmel-Brown made a presentation
about the Jewish community of Redbridge. This presentation provoked
much interest with staff and volunteers of JCC Beith Dan. The
third day had the busiest schedule: Sinclair House professionals
together with their Kharkov colleagues met with the representatives of
the city authorities. During the meeting Mr. A. Sterin, Head of
department for work with national and cultural communities, told the
guests about the department’s work on developing the
cooperation between different national communities in Kharkov, and in
particular about the work with the Jewish community of the
city. Daniel Carmel-Brown, in his turn, spoke about
the relationships of the Sinclair House JCC and the municipal
authorities of Redbridge, and about the Jewish community in London. JDC
Representative in Northern Ukraine Ms. Shira Genish thanked the city
administration for their attention and cooperation with the local
Jewish community. The delegations exchanged souvenirs, and after the
meeting a short tour of the sites of Jewish interest took place.
In
the afternoon the work groups of the two centres gathered in JCC Beith
Dan to have a training workshop on cooperation and projects
development. All the professionals were divided into three groups and
prepared the projects for possible cooperation between the
centres. Later on, the coordinators of different programs had
the chance to work in small groups, to share their experiences, to
discuss their work and the proposed projects in more detail and to ask
questions about the challenges they face in every-day work.
Every
day of the visit was concluded by a special event prepared by Beith
Dan’s clients and staff for the guests:
-
On October 16
a youth party took place in the Jewish Youth Association, which
informed the guests about the structure and programs of JYA in an
informal way. The Sinclair House professionals spoke to the JYA
students, listened to the songs and danced together with Kharkov youth;
-
On October 17
the guests from London together with JCC staff and volunteers
participated in the Klezmer Evening, where they learned songs in
Yiddish, danced Yiddish dances and listened to the music of the famous
Kharkov Klezmer Band;
-
On October 18
a farewell concert was performed by the JCC Beith Dan vocal, music and
dance groups. The guests enjoyed the performances of Vocal duet
“Anna-Maria”, Dance groups
“Latina-Club” and “All stars”,
and well as heard a new song prepared by “Aviv”
vocal studio, saw the youngest JCC singer Stasia Fishkina and admired
the performance of the visually impaired musician Sergey Kovalyov;
In
the end of the visit the work groups of the two JCCs summarized the
three days of their cooperation and made the conclusion that they have
a lot in common and the joint projects are more than simply possible.
The managers of the two JCCs have chosen two partnership projects to
start with:
1)
Information Exchange project between the communities of Kharkov and
Redbrige;
2)
Professional Exchange to share the practical experiences and start up
new programs in both the JCCs.
Thursday
was a sad day as the long-awaited visit of our guests came to its end.
The words of the Sinclair House director during the final meeting
summarized the whole cooperation endeavor best of all. Daniel
Carmel-Brown said,
“After your visit to London we became friends, after our
return visit to Kharkov we became a family!”
See
photos here.
KHARKOV
JCC “BEITH DAN” DELEGATION VISIT TO JEWISH
CARE’S SINCLAIR HOUSE, REDBRIDGE, LONDON, UK
This visit
became possible as a continuation of the Mentoring programme launched
by the WCJCC and the AJJDC. The results of the four visits to Kharkov
JCC by Neil Taylor (Jewish Care Community Programs Director) were so
overwhelming that all the parties felt urgent necessity to
pursue
the project ahead with a possibility of establishing a PARTNERSHIP
between Kharkov JCC Beith Dan and a JCC in London – Sinclair
House.
On February 5 – 9, 2006 a group of JCC
professionals headed by Zhanna Maistrenko (Beith Dan director) made the
first work visit to Redbridge (London, UK) to learn about the Jewish
Community and organizations supported by Jewish Care and look into the
possibility of building a strong partnership between the two
JCCs. Their main destination was Sinclair House. The
programme
also included visits to Jewish Primary and High Schools, JCCs in other
parts of London, meetings with the staff and board members of these
organizations as well as with the local authorities.
The
visit was scheduled very efficiently and allowed Kharkov delegation to:
• Learn
about the Jewish Community in Redbridge
• See
different models of JCC cooperation with other Jewish community
organizations
• Understand
the general system of Jewish Communities functioning in the UK
• Have
a clear understanding of Sinclair House activities
• Establish
good working relationships with the professionals from Sinclair House
• Share
experience in running JCC programmes
• Identify
the reasons for developing partnerships
• Discuss
ideas for future cooperation
What the JCC
Beith Dan professionals particularly liked about the visit and what
they learnt from their British counterparts:
• JCCs
although functioning in completely different places still share the
same objectives and face the same challenges
• Peer
work with Sinclair House specialists (Ukrainian and British
counterparts shared experience of similar programs running in their
JCCs)
• Resource
centre at SH (variety of books, tapes, CDs and other resources
available to all the community)
• Information
Board at SH (two-way exchange of information: Centre to clients and
backwards, Suggestion Box)
• Reminiscence
Rooms in all JCCs (work with elderly clients and at the same time kind
of museums for the young generation)
• Youth
Leadership programmes (an idea of continuous cycle of life and work in
the community)
• Sports
programmes (mass programmes, an excellent tool of clients attraction)
• Workshop
with a Rabbi on partnership (“Who is wise? Whoever learns
from
all people”. Partnership is needed for both sides.)
• Case
studies in small groups (experience of team-work on developing a joint
project revealed possible problems and the ways of handling them)
The
JCC Beith Dan is now working on promoting the partnership and is making
the first steps towards establishing close and strong relationships
with Sinclair House.
The visit of the Sinclair House professionals to Kharkov is looked
forward!
|
