Story Time with Orly

1)  Connection people feel toward Israel and the brotherhood sort of comradeship entailed by this relationship can be seen through Gal's first story. Prior to my interview Gal had just met with a father who appealed to have a documentary filmed bout himself and his son and their experience with the second Lebanon War. Four days before the incident the father foresaw that something was going to happen to his son but he could not clearly see his negative vision. He shared his nervous feeling with family and friends and everything thought he was crazy. Then the fourth day came around and around 1 o'clock there was a knock on the door and his wife started to cry...The day had come. At the door stood IDF soldiers saying that "a direct missile hit the tank their son was in." Their son was still alive but in critical condition and severely burned with holes in his body. As the war was ending and people were returning home the parents drove to the hospital in Haifa and for 11 days sat with him as he was between life and death. Luckily their son made it and when he had finished his time in rehabilitation he asked to go back to the army and is now an officer. NATAL became a saving organization for the parents who needed to remover that they are not alone and needed support. 

2)  The hotline is their for "everyone." The second story is about a little girl who used the hotline to relax. When the 7 year old's family had to go into the shelter the only way she could come calm down was to sing but her singing bothered her family in the tightly enclosed quarters and made them anxious. So instead she called the hotline and would sing to the people on the other end of the line.

3) The mobile unit helped one little girl and her family move past serious trauma when the father called this past winter. For two years his daughter had been sleeping fully clothed with one foot off the bed in case the sirens rang and they would have to go to the shelter. She had been scared to shower...just scared to do anything that made her slightly more vulnerable. The mobile came in and his been working with the little girl and her family to come up with better coping techniques and how to create a more nurturing home environment in a harsh reality. 

4)  The last story I will share on this post is about the helpline. Last Hanukkah a man called and said that he was "very lonely and dreaming to light the candle with someone." So the volunteer on the hotline said that they would light the candles together over the phone. 

I believe that these four stories give some important insight on the vastness of NATAL's resources.