Parents' Room

It's an old and respected tradition at the Children's Home that each graduating group creates something durable to leave behind, that will serve the other boys and girls at the Home for many, many years.

The Peleg Group of our Junior Unit, that is graduating from the Children's Home in July, has chosen the Parents' Room as their focus of attention, transforming the current room into a warm, pleasant and inviting space that will serve both the children and their parents during their mutual visits.

On Wednesday, July 20th, a modest yet gladdening ceremony was held to dedicate the new Parents' Room, the result of a lot of hard work by the thirteen youngsters from Peleg Unit and their staff.

The boys planned the room in detail, painted the walls, went with their teachers to Ikea to buy needed furnishings, decorated the front door and the supplies closet, and drew individual paintings that were hung up on the walls.

The room is lovely and inviting! And a special thanks goes to our dear friends, members of the Christian Friends of Israel South Africa, whose gift made this project possible.

What is the importance of the Parents' Room?

The parents of the children at the Home come to visit once a week on a regular basis, at a set hour and day. The children often wait anxiously for hours and sometimes days prior to their parents' set visit. Their anticipation is marked by tension, longing and excitement. The parents travel at times long distances, they are largely without financial means, they arrive tired and tense towards their meeting with their child. The parents' longing for their children is also marked by a sense of guilt and a strong desire to please their child, but at times the meeting ends up being disappointing and frustrating. When the attempt at spending time together fails, other feelings may surface, such as deep frustration, rage and pain. This is symptomatic of the pathology that marks the parent-child relationship and the reasons behind the child's placement outside his home.

At the Children's Home, the Parents' Room serves as a place of respite and waiting, as well as a visitation space. Often the children and their parents will prefer to sit together in the Parents' Room, rather than be in the residential cottage, thus enjoying a change of atmosphere.