Seventy years after her great-grandfather volunteered as a medic with the Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service, Ilana, who was born and lives in Brazil, closed the circle after she arrived in Israel to volunteer with MDA.
More stories:
She is a participant in a special MDA program for youth from abroad run by 'Israel Experience' company, an educational subsidiary of the Jewish Agency.
Moshe Darevski, Ilana Smaletz's great-grandfather, who was born in Poland and immigrated to Israel in 1933 as a young pioneer, volunteered for many years with MDA in Tel Aviv. He fought in the 1948 War of Independence as a medic and is commemorated in the Builders of the City Square, a monument to those who built the city of Tel Aviv.
Miriam Smaletz, Ilana's grandmother, left Israel on a trip to Brazil in the 1960s, fell in love with a local Jewish man, and settled in Sao Paulo. Ilana's father, Oren, an oncologist, represented Brazil in the World Bible Quiz in Jerusalem in his youth and dreamed of coming to live in Israel.
Ilana went to study medicine in Boston, but the story of Moshe volunteering with MDA inspired her, and she decided to volunteer to save lives in Israel like her great-grandfather.
Ilana, backed by the Habonim Dror youth movement, arrived in Israel recently to participate in the MDA program under the auspices of Israel Experience, which enables about 400 young Jews between the ages of 18 and 30, to come every year from around the world for theoretical and practical training in first aid and volunteering in the MDA emergency service stations and ambulances in the center and peripheral areas in the country.
Hanna Pri-Zan, chair of Israel Experience, described the impact of the program on the participants: "They meet Israelis in the most difficult moments. As a result, they have a special connection with the county and many of them later choose to continue their journey here in Israel. Ilana is one story among many in which the young Jews in the Diaspora realize that this is finally their home."
MDA Deputy Director General for Community Dr. Eli Jaffe said, "We are thrilled to welcome Ilana alongside hundreds of volunteers on the 'MDA Overseas' program who have joined the MDA family, and we are certain they will be able to save lives and provide professional and uncompromising medical aid.
The 'MDA Overseas' program is part of a Jewish Agency project, through which the volunteers undergo a professional course with MDA, and then serve as part of professional teams on ambulances and MICUs, saving lives all across Israel."