VISIT TO THE COMMUNITIES IN FRANCE - SUMMARY

Following a long and difficult journey between the Jewish communities in France, the volunteers of the French Desk returned to Israel, tired but satisfied.  The last section of the journey is described by Shalom Galil, Paramedic in Magen David Adom.

"I promised to update you at our last stop in Marseilles, so here is my report.

At the start of our journey to the communities, we mainly traveled around northern France, with short stays in the centre (just to remind you that for these "Jumps" - short stays- one has to travel a few good hours on fast trains.....)

All along the way we met good people who welcomed us warmly and opened up their homes and hearts to us.  The word Israel awakens in the hearts emotions and even people whose only link to Judaism is the synagogue on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) respond to the calls of the Friends of Magen David Adom in France to come to conferences and lectures and shed a tear on hearing the personal stories we told.

During this period we had pleasant weather in the North, whilst in the South an amazing amount of rain fell, real floods.  All the Southern area was cut off from the rest of the country for a few days - no one could come and no one could leave - it was good that we stayed in the North!!!

At the beginning of the last week, we started our journey to the South - the train was delayed every now and again whilst they cleared the way after the floods of the previous weeks.  Michael and I were under a bit of pressure hoping we would not be late for the meetings which had been set up for us (Israelis, Israelis, but there was still a little bit of the French in us to want to be on time....).

We arrive in Marseilles and there we change trains with the equipment which was enough to use for a medic training course - CPR dolls, advertising placards, presents for those coming to conferences and of course our own personal equipment.....all is arranged, within a few minutes we are already on the next train to some forsaken spot where we had not believed Jews could live.  And once again a warm welcome and a lot of love (it would appear that love in French is connected to food because everywhere we went the community was certain that we had not eaten for a fortnight and a buffet, fit for a king, was set up for us - it would seem that calories are not counted in Euros....)

In addition to our meetings with the communities we do not forget our friends, the firemen from Marseilles, who took part in the MDA Olympics last month, and of course a return visit to them includes a shift on their Intensive Care Unit.  As when enlisting in the army, we sign a number of forms and after a short visit to the store room manager we are dressed in the uniform of the Marseilles Fire Brigade and ready to go to work which does not take long arriving....

Chest pains are a routine event and in the next case we are called to a suicide attempt.

During the journey we still manage to instill a bit of Zionism into the young firemen of Marseilles and we fixed up with them that in two years time we shall meet again in Israel for the next competition.

After the shift we went on a short tour of the Radio Judaica of Marseilles, and there we brought the community of listeners up to date about our arrival in their city - the reporter who hosted us on her programme is non other than Mrs. Ben Attar, wife of the President of the Friends Organisation in Marseilles.  She wants to hear from us our impressions of our journey to the communities in France, the response of the community to helping Magen David Adom, and we answer and tell some emotional and funny stories that happened to us on our journey.

The final event of our journey takes place in Marseilles, where we were invited by the leaders of the city to a special evening in a magical villa on the outskirts of the city.  At an impressive reception, we moved around amongst those who had come, shook hands and smiled and very quickly reluctantly became the heroes....MDA uniforms opposite those in suits, ranks opposite those in ties, telling in short about the activities of the organisation in Israel and abroad and not forgetting to say, in the name of the thousands of workers and volunteers - thank you, thank you for the strong backing and unwavering support which the Friends give us, the personnel of Magen David Adom.

Did you think that was the end?

So did we!!!  Tired and missing our families and children, we want to go home......

But something unexpected on our part happened....a strike!!!  Whilst in France that is not a dirty word and react to it as a joke, no one can enter or leave the country and we see ourselves stranded yet another night in France, waiting in the hotel for a flight.  Our misfortune did not end there.  The bonus at the end was a delay of an hour in the flight on the next day, which caused us to arrive home just at the start of Shabbat - a restful Shabbat...."

These words summed up the central activity of the French Desk amongst the Jewish Communities abroad.  From the French Desk we are told that the project was considered very successful, which goes to show the high capability of volunteers and the good heart and welcome of the  Friends of Magen David Adom in France and of the French Jewish community.

The activities of the French Desk continue and in the coming month there will be meetings with members of the Jewish community in France who will come to holiday here in Israel