26 Sep Meaningful ‘Knowledge Exchange’ Volunteering in Africa
Meaningful ‘Knowledge Exchange’ Volunteering in Africa
Through The Jewish Agency’s TEN program healthcare delegations, Avivit and Shira brought their physical therapy knowledge to Uganda and Ghana and learned from locals in an incredibly impactful five weeks of volunteering.
Meaningful ‘Knowledge Exchange’ Volunteering in Africa
Through The Jewish Agency’s TEN program healthcare delegations, Avivit and Shira brought their physical therapy knowledge to Uganda and Ghana and learned from locals in an incredibly impactful five weeks of volunteering.
When Shira, a physical therapist in the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Medical Center’s neurological department in Ra’anana, Israel, heard about TEN’s healthcare delegation to Ghana from a colleague who participated in a previous cohort, she knew it would be a meaningful thing to be a part of. So for five weeks from June to July 2024, Shira left her job and life in Israel behind to volunteer in Africa.
“It was a really great experience and gave me more confidence in myself as a therapist,” reflected Shira. “I also loved that we got to live together with the local coordinators as well as a few British Jews who had come to volunteer with TEN’s informal education cohort in Ghana.”
The Jewish Agency’s TEN (Tikkun Olam Empowerment Network, formerly known as Project TEN) program offers participants ethical volunteering opportunities in developing communities worldwide. TEN’s healthcare delegations bring healthcare professionals from Israel and Jews from around the world with careers in occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech and language pathology to Ghana and Uganda for five weeks to work alongside locals to develop and enrich the community’s health and rehabilitation services.
During her time in Ghana, Shira worked in the hospital’s physiotherapy department and then also at a local center for kids with developmental challenges.
“For each volunteering location, we set a few goals of what we wanted to achieve during the delegation. For example, one of the goals in the hospital was to enrich the active therapeutic tools utilized by the physiotherapy department staff,” shared Shira. “Overall, we really want local staff to be able to meet the community’s needs but it’s truly a knowledge exchange as we shared information about current therapies and learned how to adjust our treatments to use only their resources and be more creative.”
Avivit (right) teaching therapy exercises in Uganda | Image provided by TEN
At the same time Shira was in Ghana, Avivit, a physical therapist who works in Israel at a public health center with adults and also in a clinic that helps kids and adolescents with walking aids, was volunteering with TEN in Uganda. She worked in a school and at a hospital and also did home visits in the village to assess the community’s needs and help serve local residents of all ages.
“The vision of TEN is to share knowledge with local professionals in order for them to learn and be able to better treat their community using local resources to make it sustainable. I learned so much and feel privileged to have been a part of the ongoing chain doing good in that community,” explained Avivit. “Through TEN, we learned to help in a better, more productive, and meaningful way, developing our own skills such as thinking outside the box and becoming more creative and adaptable.”
Now back in Israel, Avivit thinks often of her TEN experience, and she thinks it has made her not just a better therapist, but a better person.
“Every small treatment we do can make a big impact – in Uganda, we saw firsthand how minor things we did could make a tremendous difference,” Avivit added. “And that’s a lesson I keep with me… that we don’t always need a lot to make a change.”