Supporting Sakhnin: Community for the Disabled Piloted in First Arab Town

Hanna Shalata is a tremendous role model by any standards. A blind Christian Arab woman originally from Nazareth, Hanna, 27, is a social worker—a woman dedicated to helping others in emotional and physical need. She is one of the people spearheading JDC’s Supportive Community in the northern Arab town of Sakhnin, a pilot project from JDC that is dedicated to helping physically challenged people live more independent lives.

Sakhnin is a pilot within a pilot, the first Arab town to have a Supportive Community—one of more than a dozen such projects operated through JDC’s Unit for Disabilities and Rehabilitation that provide the necessary services and infrastructure for individuals with disabilities to continue living in their own homes rather than in institutions. The Supportive Community model was adapted from a similar program for the elderly through JDC-ESHEL, the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel, anticipated to number 300 communities by 2009.

One of Hanna’s first clients was Mohammed Zvidat, a 36-year-old Sakhnin resident who lost most of his left leg in a work accident 12 years ago. The father of six children ranging in age from 12 to one, Mohammed has continuously suffered from depression since his accident, and has remained confined to his wheelchair. After hearing about Hanna and the Supportive Community concept on the local news, Mohammed immediately made contact and has found that Hanna has a knack for calming him down and helping him get through his more difficult moments.

"She’s helped us a lot," he says. "I’ve thought a lot about suicide and they’ve helped me get past that."

"His kids worry about him a lot," adds Hanna. "We’re trying to improve that."

The ‘we’ is Hanna and Badran Badarne, the community father of the Supportive Community project in Sakhnin. Working together, Hanna and Badran visit with the members of the project. Badran installs the emergency call button for medical situations and is available for helping and repairing things around the house, while Hanna works with the participants and on creating events and trips that pull her clients out of the house and back into the real world.

Established in the summer of 2006, Supportive Community Sakhnin is run in conjunction with another local group, The Peace Organization, which is a day center for the elderly. When the Community was established, Hanna and Badran made 67 home visits to get to know the locals with special needs. Hanna found that members of the community derived strength and inspiration for themselves from the fact that she, as a blind woman, could do her work.

"It showed them that life isn’t over just because you have a problem," she said. Locals also like the idea that the Community could be used as a social outlet, for home visits or for therapy. "When they hear that it’s a JDC project," says Hanna, "they’re very impressed." Hanna aims to double the number of members in the project as well as accelerate the various activities.

"We want them to have things to do, to help them pass the time," says Hanna. "When everyone is together, as hard as it is, they look at each other and at their lives and they gain a different vantage point."

The group’s first trip was to Jerusalem and included members and partners for sightseeing and bonding. During the summer 2006 war, the community gave gifts to the members’ children and took them on an outing to a local park to help them cope.

"It’s all new for us," says Kamil, one of the members of the Supportive Community who lives on a third floor apartment but doesn’t let the 40 stairs deter him from getting to the center. "We have an address for anything. I feel that I have someone to turn to when I need it. And now we just want more of everything that’s being offered, the lectures, the trips, the visits."

November 2007