[ Jerusalem Post] Ehud Zion Waldoks - Many Israeli schools in the Gaza periphery have received red-roofed secure rooms that formerly served the residents of Gush Katif. Smaller concrete shelters dot the campuses near where students get dropped off. On bad days, movement narrows to quick walks between shelters. "We go from shelter to shelter," Sha'ar Hanegev School geography teacher Zohar Nir Levi said Wednesday. "Last week, when the Kassams were falling all the time, I was taking a bunch of students from the bus to the school and a Color Red warning alert went off. We were too far away, so we just threw ourselves down in the field and hoped for the best. I was thinking about how to choose which of the nine kids to throw myself on top of if a rocket fell." "Some kids come from out of Kassam range, into range here at school," said Nir Levi. To try to achieve normalcy, the school has a strong network of psychological professionals who come to talk to the kids. "We do exercises where I will ask: how do you deal with stressful situations? Water, food, calling mom, Internet. It helps other kids find new ways to relieve stress. Every kid has permission, no matter what is happening, to call their parents or to get calls from their parents after every Color Red alert," Nir Levi said.
2008-03-07 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive