Responsible Storytelling - Eden Mekonen's Full Story
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PeopleTranscript
00:00My name is Eden Mekonen. I am 26 years old.
00:04I am an art student at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.
00:11My father was killed back in 2002
00:14fighting a terrorist in the Jordan Valley while he was on reserve duty.
00:22My mother was only my age when my father was killed
00:29and my sister and I were little girls.
00:32I was four years old and my sister Noy was three.
00:38I have almost no memories of my father
00:41in that time when we were a small and happy family.
00:48I think because I was so young when it happened
00:52and the pain and the shock were so great
00:55I don't remember almost anything from that time period.
01:00After my father was killed, it was just Noy, my mother and I
01:05in our family for many years.
01:09For as long as I can remember, one family has been a part of our life
01:16supporting us ever since my father was taken from us.
01:22They have been helping us in so many ways since the incident
01:28and I have so much love and appreciation for them
01:33and all that they've done for us.
01:37One family has also supported our family at large over the years.
01:42My mother's parents, my father's parents, my father's brothers as well
01:48providing a framework for healing and recovery
01:53and a place for us to genuinely express how we feel.
01:58But the main thing is that with one family we feel like one big family.
02:08I remember the first time we went to summer camp with one family.
02:13I was 10 and my sister Noy was 9.
02:18The whole group was kayaking in the north
02:21and we joined them after they had finished.
02:24Even from that very first moment
02:28we felt an immediate connection with the children.
02:33They all welcomed us with a great genuine love
02:38and we felt a sense of belonging that we haven't experienced before.
02:45At the camp and at every meeting we have an activity called
02:51the therapeutic sharing circle
02:56where we talk about the grief from different angles each time.
03:03When we were little it was difficult for us to get used to opening up like that
03:12and we always tried to avoid it and not share very much.
03:17I remember when we were at Camp Timberlane in Canada
03:22for the first time in 2011
03:25we were a group of about 15 boys and girls
03:31aged 12 to 14 from one family
03:35and we had a sharing circle that was very different from the past.
03:42For some reason on the occasion something changed in all of us as a group.
03:50We all talked about the pain as it was, what we really felt
03:57and we deeply felt our togetherness and shared destiny.
04:04Most importantly we didn't feel alone any longer.
04:09After this experience in Canada
04:17the therapeutic sharing circle becomes something we all eagerly await every time we meet
04:25because we really want to share how we're doing with the rest of our family.
04:34This sharing circle is so important to us and brings us so close.
04:41It's why our personal connections are so strong
04:48because we hear how everyone else experiences their struggle
04:55and can empathize deeply not only with the people we know well
05:00but also with those whom we haven't got to get to know which is very, very special.
05:09My sister and I are very close.
05:12Yes, we are sisters of course but we are also good friends
05:18and that's entirely thanks to those sharing circles
05:25that have handled us to communicate and connect on a far deeper level than we could before.
05:36This ongoing opportunity for each of us to hear how the others experience our family's loss
05:45is what has brought us up to feel so close to each other.
05:56One family's slogan is the power of together
06:01and that's not just words.
06:04There is really something in the togetherness we feel with one family
06:13that brings us healing and strength.
06:17The feeling that you are not alone is truly comforting
06:23and the support and the framework that we so gently appreciate
06:30are not something that we take for granted.
06:34Every year, staff and friends from the organization come to the memorial
06:40for our father and for Yoma Zikaron.
06:44They always reach out to congratulate us on our birthdays
06:49and are truly there in the big, small, happy and painful moments of our lives.
06:55My friends and I all got the same tattoo, a part of one family logo
07:04which is just a sign of how significant the organization is to us in our life
07:12and how strong and important our friendship with each other is.
07:18We are now in a very difficult period in Israel
07:23and the Brevard family is growing at an alarming rate day by day.
07:38With the perspective of time since the loss of my father, I can say
07:48how strong and important one family is to all of us whom they helped,
07:56how the framework serves as a safety net so people don't feel lost and forgotten
08:06and how important it is for one family to continue to expand their blessed work.
08:15The people I have met and the connection I made with one family stay with me to this day.
08:25My best friends and the special bond I have with my sister
08:30are all thanks to this wonderful organization.
08:35This is the place that helped me to become who I am.
08:40The deeply meaningful encounter with people who are so different from me
08:49and from different places in the country have allowed me to understand
08:57that I can be and can do anything I want
09:02because I always have someone to rely on and I am never alone.