Paul Calvert talks with Dov Hirth from Aleh about the incredible work they are doing in Israel to help children and their families.

Dov: Absolutely. Their entire day is based on different therapies - physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, occupational therapy, creative arts therapy. Even within the special education school, which I mentioned briefly, there are therapies going on throughout the day. I've witnessed many lessons. So in an average class say you were teaching the Hebrew alphabet, the alef-bet, you would use a projector maybe or some toys. With these kids everything is sensory. I'll use English as an example; so A is for apple, the teacher would walk around with an apple. Each child would touch the apple and she would say over and over 'A is apple.' 'B' is for a ball and she brings a ball. Everything is sensory.

Throughout the day you could walk into any typical classroom and you'll have the teacher there with 5 or 6 of the kids and one of the kids is with a therapist, on the other side of the room, having occupational therapy. One of the things we strive for at Aleh is to give the kids anything and everything that they need to reach their fullest potential.

We do get government funding; often times it's not enough for what the child needs so that's where our generous donors come in. I'll give you an example; we have a girl, her name is Sara. Our professional staff see that Sara would benefit greatly from hydrotherapy every day of the week. The government would pay for three days of the week and the rest of it would be fundraised. The cost for the parents to come to Aleh is zero. It is all covered by the government and our generous donors. The cost of living is very expensive in Israel and to have a child with disabilities is quite difficult. This is where the kindness of our government steps in and they say we understand your situation and you can put your child in a place where he or she can be helped and we'll make sure you don't have to work 5 jobs to cover the cost.

Paul: Obviously, a child is disabled so you're not necessarily going to see a change in that disability but do you see a change over the years from the first time they came in to maybe the day they leave?

Dov: 1,000%, we've had children come to us who were not communicating. For us, that doesn't mean sitting and having a conversation like we are now. Communicating means they are making eye contact and that when you are speaking to them, asking them a question they blink to indicate that they're happy with what you're saying or unhappy with what you're saying. We have other kids who communicate by wiggling their tongue; that means they're trying to tell us something. The staff have to learn the way each and every child communicates so they can understand them. We often use the eye tracking system quite. This is a device connected to a laptop or an iPad and the child can through eye movements communicate words and make sentences. It's amazing. We have so many cases where the kids come in and they can't feed themselves or walk by themselves and with our therapists and teachers and services at Aleh they're walking on their own and feeding themselves, No, they're not talking but they have a smile from ear to ear and a beautiful glow on their face.

One thing that I find extremely special: if you come to the Aleh centre and look in these kids' eyes, you'll see their eyes are very, very clear. My personal belief is they say the eyes are the windows to the soul and the souls of these children are so pure because they've never sinned in their life, never done anything wrong, the window to their soul is completely clear. And it's a beautiful thing. These kids are super, super special and they're the diamonds. They're the reason that humanity has to push ourselves to become better people. These kids are a constant reminder. Aleh is not a sad place. We're not walking round all day saying oh my gosh, look at him, look at her. It's a happy place. It's a home. And like any home, if you walk around our centres, there are pictures all over the walls of the children in various activities. We're always having a good time. Afternoons are geared towards therapies but in a fun way; clown therapy, medical therapy, animal therapy. It works wonders.

Paul: Why do you do what you do?

Dov: I've been working for this organisation for 12 years. I consider it a privilege to come into work every single day. The kids are truly amazing. There's a great feeling of accomplishment and of love when I'm able to assist them in some small way. Someone contacted me recently here in Jerusalem. She's redoing her living room and she has a very nice couch. Would one of the centres be able to use it? That makes me feel amazing. Of course, go there, pick up the couch, bring it in and now the kids have a nice place to sit. One of the greatest feelings you can have as a fundraiser, as a person that's out there trying to change and help is actually seeing that happen. When I walk into a building and I see the wheelchair that I helped provide, through my efforts, this child now has an electric wheelchair whereas before he had a manual. It's a calling. It's not easy work, that's for sure, not for me personally and not for any of the staff, especially the staff that are hands on; the teachers, caregivers. They are there day in day out.

A couple of years ago we had a severe snowstorm here in Jerusalem, very rare, and the staff in the building at the time collectively said OK, the next shift is not going to be able to come in, and the next shift after that. They ended up staying in the building to be with the kids and to be on call for an entire weekend, without going home, without having their proper beds. Because it's a calling, you really have to be a certain type of person to do it and we are blessed to have a large staff of those types.

Paul: Are you making a difference in the community?

Dov: Yes, 100%. One of the goals of Aleh is not only to help the children but also to change the outlook, the way that people see disability, to market and promote disability inclusion. We do it very well. A lot of things have changed in Israel because of Aleh. A lot of laws have changed, a lot of outlooks. We are not a home hidden away in a corner. We are a community home. Our doors are always open, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anyone from the community can come in. We constantly have community events that integrate the community and our population.

We have a beautiful program with middle school and high schoolers; it's called tikkun olam. It means changing the world, fixing the world. On the tikkun olam program we start with the kids at a very young age, teaching them about disability and inclusion. They learn about it in the classrooms and then they actually come to the various centres and work with the kids hands on. We've seen tremendous success. The most beautiful thing that these teens have said to us is this guy is not my 'case', he's my friend! I became friends with Baruch. I became friends with Sarah.

In our Negev facility we had an amazing innovation a number of years ago. We took a regular Ed kindergarten and we combined it with our special Ed kindergarten. Initially the parents' response was 'I don't want my child learning there'. Now there's a waiting list, fights between parents to get in because these parents see from the tiny little kindergarten aged children that these kids are growing up kinder, more understanding, more polite, more accepting. They'll walk into a supermarket and see someone in a wheelchair and instead of shying away behind Mum's skirt, they'll run over and give the person a hug. The parents are seeing tremendous change and these are the things we are trying to do throughout the country.

Paul: Finally, what's your prayer for the disabled children who come to your centre?

Dov: My prayer is that they should have peace. They should be happy, they should be healthy; they should feel and know that God is watching over them and they are God's children, he showers his love onto them. And through us, the staff, the caregivers, everyone who is involved he's showing them guys, I know you had to come down to this world in a certain situation but I love you, I'm here for you and I'm taking care of you. These are the kids that keep the world on that even keel of kindness, helping, hand in hand. I pray for the children of Aleh every single day that they should be happy, healthy and content and feel good in every possible way.

Paul: What's your website again for people who would like to know more, perhaps even want to volunteer?

Dov: www.aleh.org. If you're in the UK it's www.aleh.org.uk. But through our main website you can get to any of our various country websites. We have centres only in Israel but we have volunteers from all over the world. Even if you just want to come and visit, if you're in Israel drop me an email, just send it to info@aleh.org, tell me you're going to be here this and this day, you'd like to come and see firsthand, no problem. We thank you all for your time and for opening your hearts to our amazing organisation. And God bless.