Farewell Interview: Sharon Tal, “Elifelet” CEO

 

At the end of June 2024, Sharon Tal concluded her role as CEO of “Elifelet – Citizens for Refugee Children” – after five years of work during which the organization completely transformed and expanded its activities.

“Elifelet” became an official UNHCR partner organization two years ago and has closely monitored “Elifelet’s” growth from a non-profit organization with six volunteer employees and a limited number of active children to an organization that employs 25 staff members, operates 10 after-school clubs in two schools, including a special education club, and three young-adult centers (for Grades Four, Five and Six). The organization provides a solution for about 200 children and their families, with activities ranging from Ukulele class, soccer, and robotics.

Tal’s contribution and the organization’s role have been acknowledged by many colleagues within the Refugee-Rights organizations. “Sharon has significantly increased the scope of educational services provided by “Elifelet” and expanded the organization’s activities in the field of humanitarian assistance to the families of the students.” Shares Sigal Rosen, public policy coordinator at the “Hotline for Refugees and Migrants”,  who has worked closely with “Elifelet” since its foundation. “Sharon succeeded in finding a path to provide optimal educational services within the framework of the clubs for students in segregated schools, while clarifying the organization’s opposition to segregated education for refugee and immigrant children.”

Sharon Harel, Director of Communications and External Relations at UNHCR: “We are thrilled to observe from the sidelines the creative line of thinking led by Sharon, the organizational vision and the inter-organizational partnership. The Israeli volunteer spirit for the benefit and welfare of the children flourished during her time thanks to her appeal to diverse audiences and persistent advocacy.”

Just before Tal embarked on a new adventure and handed over the reins to Eran Baruch, the incoming CEO, UNHCR sat down with Tal for a concluding conversation about the challenges, successes, and the future of the asylum-seeker children.

 

 

 

For those who are not familiar with the organization, what is “Elifelet” and why is there a need for what you do?

Currently, some 7,000 children live in Israel without legal status, whether they are children born to asylum seekers, migrant workers, or children of foreign workers who fall between the cracks. These are children whose starting point is deficiency. They were born to parents – many of whom experienced severe trauma, many of them were born into financial hardship stemming from their parents’ limited income opportunities and lack of status. Additionally, many of the children who are now in elementary school or high-school, spent their early lives in the “baby-sitters” daycare (makeshift, pirate community daycares, D.R.) which means they started with significant developmental gaps. “Elifelet”’s job is to identify their unmet needs throughout their lives and their development, and to support and supplement them.

“Elifelet” was founded as a spontaneous response by Yael Gewirtz, a journalist and social activist, out of her desire to help the population in distress and the infants at the “baby-sitters” and over the years we have transformed from a volunteer-based civic initiative to a professional organization with the support of volunteers.

Ten years later, “Elifelet” has grown with the children. Today, the majority of the youth are in elementary-school age, facing middle-school and high-school. The importance of our work is to continue to create a holistic framework for the children, starting with the morning at school and through until late afternoon. In the absence of a traditional support system, we create an alternative and provide support at home, to help parents with the children.

 

On the tenth anniversary of the organization, you published an Op-Ed in 2022. This was at a point where you had already overcome various challenges including COVID-19… Can you speak about Elifelet during that period?

With all the challenges of COVID-19, it also created opportunities. It was then, and through our outreach to identify the needs of the community, that the connection with the school’s principals was born. Through this, we understood the dire need to support elementary school children through the afternoon. Initially, it was an informal program and then the Tel Aviv municipality adopted our response and made it more institutionalized, with “Elifelet” providing a framework that complements the municipal plan. As a result, these schools now have the same “after-school program” as the rest of the city, with the necessary support for the asylum-seeker children. We are able to provide them with psycho-social care, humanitarian assistance and a mentoring system that supports children in smaller groups and for longer hours. By entering the schools, in addition to meeting the children where they are during the day, and by using the school’s infrastructure to sustain our activities, we were able to grow and quadruple the number of children participating in our program.

Another result of the “COVID-19” period is the realization that we are part of a network of NGO’s working with the asylum-seeker population, but our work was not coordinated enough, and that was when the dream of the “House of the Communities” (Beit HaKehilot) was born. Another motivation was the desire to join forces, and to work together to feel more secure, against the threats of who expressed their displeasure in different ways. The hope was to bring as many organizations together as possible under one roof, and indeed we succeeded in establishing the House of Communities that enables the pooling of resources, sharing classrooms and a conference room, along side knowledge-sharing and mutual support, as well as a sense of security.

What are the challenges that Elifelet will face in the coming years?

There is a real deterioration in the situation of the children and families. Today we see the stronger families leaving Israel and the weakest families staying. Among them, there is an increasing percentage of single-parent families, an increase in children’s involvement in street gangs, school drop-out is on the rise, and a general sense of despair and lack of hope. All this is exacerbated by the dwindling resources over time to the dwindling resources with time, especially on days when attention is directed elsewhere. In addition, we are currently dealing with the challenges of adolescence and the need to create appropriate frameworks for them, that speak their language and give them the tools they need.

Our mission is to keep these children’s heads above water, to equip them with all the necessary tools to live their best lives, wherever it may be, until they either manage to move to a third country, or until the situation in Israel changes.

 

What issues is the community facing that do not stem from the families’ temporary status?

This population struggles with issues of low socio-economic status; parents who work long hours in odd jobs, whenever there is a crisis such as COVID-19 or, more recently, war, they have no work, no income or social network. They struggle with issues relating to immigration – parents rely on the children to translate and navigate the system for them and then lose parental authority. Parents approach us with frustration: “The child does not listen to me, I can’t help them with homework” and they are very frustrated. The kids often lack a mother tongue – after spending the first few years in “baby-sitters” with women who speak poor English, they continued to Israeli kindergartens, while at home they speak Tigrinya, so they did not have language patterns established, and this makes it difficult for them to create a new language. Economic hardship brings about the dissolution of the family unit, with an increase in domestic violence. It also leads many parents to, for example, not pay health insurance and as a result the children do not have regular check-ups at the doctor, their teeth are in bad condition, their nutrition suffers like many in a population living in poverty. We see a lot of undiagnosed attention deficit issues, and undiagnosed learning disabilities.

In addition, over the past year, conflict has erupted within the Eritrean community, turning the “Tikva” neighborhood into a war zone. We see an exodus of families from Tel Aviv, and as the children’s situation deteriorates, they may lead them into crime, which has a negative affect on the lives of the residents of south Tel Aviv and only worsens relations within the neighborhood, as the segregation does not create a ground for inclusiveness and change.

Segregation in education is a sensitive issue, because “Elifelet” supports the separated children. How do you respond to claims that you are enabling the separation by maintaining this status-quo?

“Elifelet’s” position all along has been that we will be present wherever the children are, wherever there is a need, while working together with organizations that promote policies to change the future. I don’t think we have the privilege of sitting on the sidelines and not providing solutions when most of the children are in these frameworks. However, I believe that every parent should have the option to enroll their children in a school of their choice based on their area of residence and not according to the color of their skin.

You have faced quite a few challenges and the complex reality of asylum-seekers is present in you on a daily basis. Tell us what makes you smile when you get to work in the morning?

“Elifelet” is an organization that brings together the best in the Israeli society. The people who work at “Elifelet” care about an inclusive, diverse society, and bring empathy for “the other”. Our employees, volunteers, and donors are truly a group of people with generosity, sensitivity and humanity. And at the core of this, are the children, and they are joy. The story around them is not joyful, the circumstances of their life may not be happy, their options for the future are  not particularly uplifting, but they bring joy. Many of them are able, at the time we meet them, to live in a “bubble”, and we see our role in maintaining this bubble for as long as possible.

I truly believe that Elifelet changes lives. I’ve seen this countless times since 2019. We were able to assist children in distress, due to the close bond and the trust in “Elifelet’s” coordinators, when the morning schools did not have the capacity or ability do so, and this allows us to help be the advocate for those kids and promote change for the better. Our team is comprised of young people – the best of the youth – a hopeful picture of the future for Israeli society, dedicated, with a liberal humane outlook, with sensitivity, and the relationship they build with the children generates tremendous change, both with the children and with the parents. They include the parents in the processes and make them our partners.

When you enter the afternoon classes, they are a happy place. It is a place of childhood, without the worries, a place that gives security and exposes the children to many worlds that they would not have

been exposed to otherwise – such as the music program: 70 girls and children who play violin, ukulele, guitar, choir singing, sports of all kinds; soccer, basketball, gymnastics, they learn computer and robotics, Tigrinya language lessons, and the idea is that everyone will find their own spark, the place where they feel good,  where they feel fulfilled.

We are also starting to work with high-school children, and this year we launched a pilot for a “mentoring” program that will be expanded next year, wherein high-school children mentor young children as part of a “personal commitment” program in schools. It will include over 20 hours of mentoring, and each mentor will be awarded 10 hours of participation in a “dialogue circle” with a social worker and a community leader, in addition to meetings with role models from within the community.

Looking ahead, I am handing over the organization to the capable and experienced hands of Eran, who was one of the founders of the “Bina” Organization, who joins with rich experience in the world of informal education and the world of management and has dealt a lot with the concept of secular Judaism including compassion for the other, and this is what connects him to Elifelet. I wholeheartedly believe the organization has the tools to face the challenges that stand in its way.

It is important to understand that these children do not receive enrichment beyond what the children of south Tel Aviv receive. There are no institutional solutions for this community, and they do not have the economic possibility to narrow the gaps. What we are doing is trying to balance the conditions of the playing field.

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