Responsible Storytelling - Odelia Horgen's Full Story - video Dailymotion

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00:00My name is Odelia Horgen, daughter of Benyamin and Ester.

00:04I am the eldest of six children in our family,

00:08Akiva, Betalel, Avigai, Lilel, and Elishiv,

00:12and I'm also the aunt of a sweet Ofekenin bar.

00:17On a sunny and pleasant Sunday morning in December 2020,

00:22after a long, windy week, my mother,

00:27Mamon, to me, Ester Horgen, went for a run in the forest

00:33near our home in Tal Menashe.

00:36Mamon was young, both in body and spirit.

00:41She loved life,

00:44she loved the beautiful family she had built with my father,

00:48she loved the nature, and she loved God.

00:51On that day, she went to do what she loved the most,

00:56to connect with her nature, to connect with her body,

01:00and with her soul.

01:03On that beautiful day, a despicable terrorist

01:06ambushed her, waiting patiently for her to return from her run,

01:11and then attacked her with full force, eating her again and again with

01:18stones, until her soul returned to

01:23the Creator. It was only after much organized

01:27searching through the forest until we finally found her,

01:32serene, in the place she loved the most, connected to Earth.

01:39Mamon was not just a mother to me. She was like a sister, she was my best

01:45friend. Sometimes I really felt like I was the

01:49only child when I was with her. We traveled the

01:52world together, we went out together, we did silly things

01:57together, but I was not alone there. I had five

02:02younger siblings and two nephews, and she knew how to give

02:07exactly the right amount of attention and love to each one of them.

02:12Then suddenly our lives were turned upside down. There was the life

02:18before, and now there is the life after.

02:22Suddenly you have to learn everything about life from scratch.

02:28What is everyone's role at home? How do you live without your mother?

02:33How do you continue?

02:37Immediately after the attack, the One Family organization reached out to us,

02:41offering help and comfort. My younger sister,

02:45Abigail, immediately connected with there,

02:49meeting a group of friends her age, each with a similar trauma, each with their

02:55own story that they shared together. Every meeting

02:59was because of light,

03:03became light to Abigail, a reason to get out of bed, which had become a real

03:09struggle for her after the attack.

03:15I knew that my trauma needed to be treated

03:18as early as possible. Otherwise, the scars would become permanent, and then the

03:25pain would remain. So right after the attack, I went to a

03:28range of treatment therapies, psychology, art therapy. I found exercising in the

03:35beach, in the sea, was very helpful to me.

03:41I worked a lot on my soul, but something still was missing,

03:46because after the attack, I felt very disconnected from people.

03:50I couldn't find topics of conversation to engage

03:55and start feeling somewhat strange.

04:00Then, sometime later, it was my turn. A phone call from Murad.

04:08Odelia, we are organizing a therapeutic trip to Ethiopia.

04:14Would you like to join us? I, as someone who loves to travel and

04:20travel the world, immediately answered, as you expect,

04:26of course, my two great loves, traveling and now therapy.

04:35Perfect. And indeed, we went to a journey to Ethiopia, a therapeutic journey

04:42that was incredible. For the first time, I met others who had gone through what I

04:48had gone through. I didn't feel so odd anymore.

04:52Others were expressing what I felt, because I couldn't put it into words.

05:01Words which opened up a whole new

05:07friends to me. Eight days of journey into the soul. Workshops, talks,

05:14lectures, hearings, hearings, 50 horror stories, but also meeting 50 new

05:20families, members of one family, my new friends.

05:28Now they finally helped me realize that I'm okay. I not got crazy. What's

05:35happening to me, it's okay. And it's gonna be okay, because we are

05:40together.

05:46The therapeutic journey we went through together was truly exceptional.

05:54Our conversation, therapies, various activities,

05:59breathings, and yoga workshops, one-on-one and on group sessions with

06:03therapists, psychologics, and friends. The pain and the difficulty that we

06:09surfaced,

06:12but in a place far from home, made it easier to engage with the pain.

06:18In our daily lives, there are distractions everywhere,

06:22but instead, by the time together, far away from that, really help us

06:32to connect together and give us strength.

06:38Going on this journey together, traveling

06:42so far away, disconnecting from all the stress

06:47with everything's going on in Israel, this all

06:51did me so much good to be 100% engaged in the journey, away from all the

06:57distractions.

07:03Then, October 7, 2023. It's a holiday, Simchat Torah. The whole

07:10family is gathered in my father's house.

07:147.30 in the morning, my brother, a drone operator,

07:18is the first one to be called to the army. Two hours later,

07:22my other brother in the artillery is called up.

07:27And then, of course, I also got the call. There is a war.

07:35This is a real alert. Come to the reserves.

07:40I, who had been doing reserve duty for 10 years

07:45in the elite role, never believed that I would actually be called up for it.

07:50But it happened. Of course, you know the stories of October 7.

07:571,400 new families join us, the family of the

08:02preferred. Since then, my story had been one of

08:10Since then, my story was the reserve. 12-hour shift, bombing Gaza, protecting

08:16our soldier in the field. I have only one motive,

08:21to destroy the terrorists so that all of our soldiers can return

08:27home safely, in body and in soul, because I know firsthand what

08:33happened to a family that lost her soul.

08:38One day, during a lunch on the base, a new friend from the army told me,

08:45you have regards from Al-Awwah. It took me a moment,

08:50and then I realized he had also joined the family,

08:54the one family, family. My brother fell in Gaza,

08:58he said. My heart shattered into thousands pieces.

09:06He then continued and shared, I am not the only one here.

09:11There is also another girl who lost her brother in Gaza

09:15from our base. One story after another, it never ends.

09:22Of course, immediately I told them about one family

09:27and what they have to offer, and highly recommended

09:30any journey they could take with them. Indeed,

09:34they both went to a one-family caravan trip

09:37in the Czech Republic with a group of those

09:41lost their brother or sister in the war. They both returned invigorated and with

09:47renewed strength. For them, leaving the country,

09:51especially now during the war, was essential for healing their spirit

09:55and calming their soul. And now, after nine months of fighting,

10:02it is with a very heavy heart that I'm leaving the reserves,

10:06and at least for now. Because for me too, after so much

10:13has happened, I also feel that my soul is a bit

10:17depleted, and I need to recharge with new energy. After all, I'm an

10:23architect, I'm a yoga teacher, I'm not a child,

10:27I'm not a soldier. I didn't sign up for it.

10:32I want to thank you for inviting me here tonight,

10:36listening to my story, which is just one out of many

10:40thousands of stories. Thank you to one family

10:43who brought me back to the life and introduced me

10:46to my new family, which will stay with me forever.

Responsible Storytelling - Odelia Horgen's Full Story

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