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Nirim Shchunot Transforms Troubled Teens into Passionate Israeli Citizens
 Click here to listen to an interview with Shlomi and watch a video about the Nirim Shchunot program  Growing up in Or Akiva, a Northern coastal city in Israel, amidst extreme poverty and crime, Shlomi's life took a 180 degree turn when he became a member of one of Israel's most elite military units, Shayetet naval commando unit. When he reflects on his childhood, Shlomi, a polished and very bright young man, talks about the challenging circumstances in which he grew up. "I remember uncles who were addicted to drugs and who never went to school or the army. Thankfully, my parents educated me in our home and put me in a high school outside of Or Akiva," explained Shlomi. But on weekends, Shlomi always returned to his old neighborhood to hang out with friends. After completing six years in Israel's equivalent of the Navy Seals, Shlomi could, literally, write his ticket into Israel's most prestigious government jobs. Instead, after completing university, Shlomi chose to return to the home of his youth in Or Akiva to live and work. His goal was to help young disenfranchised Israelis get back into school, prepare them for army service and provide them with the tools and inspiration to give back to their community and to their country. This was no easy task, as Shlomi explained, because many of these teenagers had resorted to violence, gangs and drugs. But Shlomi with his handsome, calm and strong demeanor remained unfazed. For seven years, through the Nirim Shchunot, Shlomi, an organization Shlomi founded, he has succeeded in instilling a sense of meaning for youth that has led to concrete results: Scores have now entered the IDF, many in combat units, and have gone onto University. 
In order to grow his organization, Shlomi established a partnership with JDC-Israel's Education and Youth Department. The partnership has helped Shlomi and his organization reach the next level. As Shlomi explains, "JDC helps us both financially and in reaching our next goal which is to expand the program into other cities and neighborhoods so that it becomes sustainable and far-reaching."
For Shlomi, his work is very personal. Each participant becomes one of his 'children'. Nirim Shchunot has many aspects, from intense retreats that are a combination of boot camp, education, fun and discipline to prepping young adults for the IDF exam. The counselors in the program are so dedicated that they will go to a student's home and wake them up and escort them to school until they get into the routine of doing it themselves. Shlomi looks at his organization as providing high-tech informal education. He beams when he explains that once the "kids" are involved they feel pride and this pride motivates them to excel and begins to instill values in them and a sense of team spirit. "My work," Shlomi said, "has transformed my life." When I came back to my old neighborhood and spoke to the Mayor about starting the Nirim program, I told him that I wanted to change the destiny of kids like the way my parents changed my destiny. I wanted to create interventions to reach the toughest cases which everyone ignores like gangs that use drugs, verbal and physical violence." His legitimacy is that he is a "native" to the neighborhood and speaks the language of those he is trying to reach. His credibility also stems from the fact that he was able to overcome the social barriers and enter Israel's Navy Seals. Thus, the participants in Shlomi's programs, mostly young men, have great respect for Shlomi and, in turn, he for them. February 2007 |
