Ambassador’s little brothers and sisters
IT was fun and games for Australian Ambassador to Israel Andrea Faulkner when she visited the Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS) Israel clubhouse last month.
Speaking in English and Hebrew, Faulkner laughed and played with groups of children from the organisation, which partners young kids from broken homes with trained and
committed older mentors.
More than 450 children and teens growing up in single-parent homes, some of them at risk, have benefited from a BBBS relationship in the past seven years. Pairs meet weekly in order to create a supportive and long-lasting relationship. Some BBBS pairs have maintained weekly meetings over more than six years.
“It was such a pleasure spending time with such wonderful children and their Big Brothers and Sisters,” Faulkner said of the visit.
Initiated by Paul Israel, director of the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce, the visit is part of efforts to further ties between the Israeli and Australian branches of the BBBS organisation.
“It was a real honour for us to welcome the ambassador and I hope her visit will help to cement a mutually beneficial relationship between the two communities,” founder and director of BBBS Israel, Libby Reichman said.
Reichman, who established the Israeli organisation based on the US model in 2003, is planning a trip to Australia later this year.
The organisation has branches in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Gush Etzion, with many children also on waiting lists.
Enquiries: www.bigbrothers.org.il.
DALIA SABLE
Photo: Emil Salman
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