An initiative to find replacement dolls, toys, stuffed animals and even comfort blankets for Israeli children made homeless by the Gaza war is the brainchild of an 11-year-old Israeli girl.
Ori Rum Zemet, who lives on Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, near Jerusalem, had the idea while stuck at home because Israel’s schools are shut.
“I was kind of down, feeling scared, frustrated and bored,” said Ori, whose family returned to Israel last year after three years in London.
“I didn’t know when the next siren was going to go off. I couldn’t go outside, obviously.
“And then my mum told me how fortunate we are that we can be at our grandparents’ house with all of our belongings.
“There are children who had to leave their homes very quickly, with none of their things. I thought of younger kids and how they must really miss their toys. So I thought: how about we try to find an almost exact replica of their favourite doll? Parents or people who know the children will send us photos of the dolls, or stuffed animals, and we’ll find them. We’ve also had requests for blankies [comfort blankets] that got left behind.
“Really, anything that helps the kids get through this hard time, we’ll try to find it.”
Ori’s mother, Yonat, posted on Facebook about the project, Booba BeAhava (Doll of Love), and received thousands of likes, comments and shares. The internet firm Wix offered to help create a website to make it easier to pair children with what they are missing. Almost 200 people have already been in touch with offers of help.
“I’ve decided that this will be my bat mitzvah project, to do something about the situation we are in,” says Ori, who is being helped by friends Leviah and Yulie. “When you help somebody, you also help yourself. It feels good to be part of something bigger than myself right now.”
Contact Booba.BeAhava@gmail.com
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