Natalie
You all know the story of the old man who walked along the beach picking up starfish that had been washed up onto the sand and tossing them back into the ocean.
A young man stopped him and said
Are you crazy old man, there are thousands of starfish along the shore, do you really think that your tossing them back into the ocean one at a time will make a difference?
The old man bent down, picked up a star fish and tossed it back into the ocean. He looked at the young man and replied
To that one, it just made a difference
Natalie is sixteen. She lives with her boyfriend and his family in a 'block' in Pardes Hanah. A 'block' is an apartment building, but 'apartment' is too luxurious a word to describe where and how Natalia lives. There is no elevator in her building, no lights on the landings between the six flights of stairs that are littered with used clothes and electrical goods that no longer work. There are no paintings on the landings, no balconies, no plants. When I walk up to her apartment neighbours open their doors and curse us. There is no body corporate. You get the picture.
Natalie is bright and lovely, she is tall with long dark curls which she straightens daily with a hair iron her boyfriend picked up and fixed. She has infinite patience for straightening hair, I know because she straightened mine, and I saw in her a love for all things to do with hair that frankly I just don’t share. Why don’t you do hairdressing? I suggested from the little stool on which I sat in her boyfriend's bedroom one evening, in front of a makeshift dresser. The white wardrobe doors had disengaged revealing the contents of their shared life and it dawned on me that Natalie's boyfriend carried a tremendous load by having this young girl live with him and his aged parents.
"I want" she said giggling a little at the possibility of fulfilling a dream, of being a productive human being with a future, and then in a moment the sparkle in her eyes faded, she came back to the reality of the realisation that in all likelihood this would never happen, " maybe, one day", she said. For now, she reluctantly drags herself to school almost every day but she has no interest or future in academia. She prefers to clean my house which she has done from time to time. But it's such a waste, this young girl with so much potential, cleaning toilets at sixteen.
I ask her about her parents. Her toothless, jobless mother lives downstairs in the same block, in fact it was she who cursed us when we walked past her apartment. When her husband beat her up one too many times, accusing her of lying about Natalie being his daughter, she left him and had a breakdown. She was taken to the mental ward of the hospital where she stayed for six months and Natalie was taken in by her aunt. She was one year old. She was brought up in the home of her aunt who now receives her meagre social security benefits. From time to time, her aunt gives her a hundred shekels, pocket money. In all her sixteen years her father has not contributed one single shekel towards her upbringing, has not bought her one pair of shoes. Natalie never lived with her mother, whom I have met and suffice it to say, I can understand why.
It's not an unfamiliar story in these parts, and yes it could be far worse. Natalie was fortunate that her aunt took her in, and she was fortunate that her boyfriend took her in, and she is fortunate that she is passionate about something in her life, that she knows what it is that she wants to do - she wants to be a hairdresser, and I know she will be a great one. I also know that if she had the contacts you have, if she had the network you have if she had the opportunities you have, if her parents had come to Australia instead of going to Israel, if she grew up in a community where wealth was a given, if she woke up every morning to a fridge full of food, and a newspaper full of jobs, she could do it on her own, but here I cannot see this outcome for this young Israeli girl. Here she will stay at school because she has nowhere else to go during the days, and she will live with her boyfriend because quite frankly he is a good guy with a good heart who knows she will be on the street if not with him and then when she finishes school, if she finishes school, she will wash floors and clean toilets, probably for the rest of her life.
I would like to raise some money to put Natalie through hairdressing school, and in return if you ever find yourself in Israel, you can go visit Natalie and have your hair cut or straightened, curled or coloured. She will welcome you and make you the best black coffee ever and you will see a little star in her eyes as she smiles down the valley of her future and you will know that you helped to throw this starfish back into the ocean.
A young man stopped him and said
Are you crazy old man, there are thousands of starfish along the shore, do you really think that your tossing them back into the ocean one at a time will make a difference?
The old man bent down, picked up a star fish and tossed it back into the ocean. He looked at the young man and replied
To that one, it just made a difference
Natalie is sixteen. She lives with her boyfriend and his family in a 'block' in Pardes Hanah. A 'block' is an apartment building, but 'apartment' is too luxurious a word to describe where and how Natalia lives. There is no elevator in her building, no lights on the landings between the six flights of stairs that are littered with used clothes and electrical goods that no longer work. There are no paintings on the landings, no balconies, no plants. When I walk up to her apartment neighbours open their doors and curse us. There is no body corporate. You get the picture.
Natalie is bright and lovely, she is tall with long dark curls which she straightens daily with a hair iron her boyfriend picked up and fixed. She has infinite patience for straightening hair, I know because she straightened mine, and I saw in her a love for all things to do with hair that frankly I just don’t share. Why don’t you do hairdressing? I suggested from the little stool on which I sat in her boyfriend's bedroom one evening, in front of a makeshift dresser. The white wardrobe doors had disengaged revealing the contents of their shared life and it dawned on me that Natalie's boyfriend carried a tremendous load by having this young girl live with him and his aged parents.
"I want" she said giggling a little at the possibility of fulfilling a dream, of being a productive human being with a future, and then in a moment the sparkle in her eyes faded, she came back to the reality of the realisation that in all likelihood this would never happen, " maybe, one day", she said. For now, she reluctantly drags herself to school almost every day but she has no interest or future in academia. She prefers to clean my house which she has done from time to time. But it's such a waste, this young girl with so much potential, cleaning toilets at sixteen.
I ask her about her parents. Her toothless, jobless mother lives downstairs in the same block, in fact it was she who cursed us when we walked past her apartment. When her husband beat her up one too many times, accusing her of lying about Natalie being his daughter, she left him and had a breakdown. She was taken to the mental ward of the hospital where she stayed for six months and Natalie was taken in by her aunt. She was one year old. She was brought up in the home of her aunt who now receives her meagre social security benefits. From time to time, her aunt gives her a hundred shekels, pocket money. In all her sixteen years her father has not contributed one single shekel towards her upbringing, has not bought her one pair of shoes. Natalie never lived with her mother, whom I have met and suffice it to say, I can understand why.
It's not an unfamiliar story in these parts, and yes it could be far worse. Natalie was fortunate that her aunt took her in, and she was fortunate that her boyfriend took her in, and she is fortunate that she is passionate about something in her life, that she knows what it is that she wants to do - she wants to be a hairdresser, and I know she will be a great one. I also know that if she had the contacts you have, if she had the network you have if she had the opportunities you have, if her parents had come to Australia instead of going to Israel, if she grew up in a community where wealth was a given, if she woke up every morning to a fridge full of food, and a newspaper full of jobs, she could do it on her own, but here I cannot see this outcome for this young Israeli girl. Here she will stay at school because she has nowhere else to go during the days, and she will live with her boyfriend because quite frankly he is a good guy with a good heart who knows she will be on the street if not with him and then when she finishes school, if she finishes school, she will wash floors and clean toilets, probably for the rest of her life.
I would like to raise some money to put Natalie through hairdressing school, and in return if you ever find yourself in Israel, you can go visit Natalie and have your hair cut or straightened, curled or coloured. She will welcome you and make you the best black coffee ever and you will see a little star in her eyes as she smiles down the valley of her future and you will know that you helped to throw this starfish back into the ocean.
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